Pittsburgh Pirates: Potential Gerrit Cole Trade Destinations
By Tim Boyle
If the Pittsburgh Pirates trade Gerrit Cole this winter, where could he land?
The Pittsburgh Pirates may use this offseason to unload several core members of their roster. This includes starting pitcher Gerrit Cole, whose age and affordable contract make him wonderful trade fodder. Will they do it?
Every big league team can afford to pay Cole who is still in the early stages of his arbitration years. Only some of those teams have the prospects to make a deal actually happen.
Cole isn’t a guy the Pirates are afraid of losing yet. Unlike Andrew McCutchen, he won’t reach free agency until at least after the 2019 season. There’s time to extend him should they decide he has a future in Pittsburgh.
In 2017, Cole took a step back from the performance he turned in over the past two seasons. Two years earlier he finished fourth in the Cy Young voting thanks in large part to the 19 wins he ended the year with. It also helped that he posted a career-best 2.60 ERA.
Cole followed that up with a declined performance in 2016 featuring a 7-10 record and 3.88 ERA. Most notably, injuries limited him to only 21 starts.
Health is not an issue for Cole. He led the league with 33 starts this past season and for the second time in his career, delivered 200+ innings. His age, contract, and history of not completely imploding in any single season should add to his trade value. Now, it’s just a matter of someone offering the Pirates a bounty they cannot turn away.