The Pirates and Astros pulled off a major trade yesterday with RHP Gerrit Cole going to Houston in exchange for 4 players, RHP Joe Musgrove, RHP Michael Feliz, 3B Colin Moran, OF Jason Martin. Cole was an ace in 2015 when he went 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA, but has not pitched to that level since. He's still a very solid SP who will strengthen the Astros rotation and could return to ace level in the process. Like a lot of pitchers last year, the HR/FB bit him hard. If that regresses, he's likely back to sub-3 ERA's. The Pirates get a 4/5 SP with a ceiling of #3(Musgrove), a RP who sports an impressive K rate but a less impressive ERA, a MLB ready 3B who should hit for average with gap power and a promising OF prospect who played at A level in 2017.
Cole settled on a $6.75 M salary for 2018 the day before the trade and has one more year of arbitration before hitting free agency. By trading him, the Pirates sent a clear signal that they are rebuilding and wanted to get maximum value while they could. While they got good players in return, They were not able to land either of the Astros top 2 prospects, OF Kyle Tucker or RHP Forrest Whitley so the return has to be a disappointment for Pirates fans. I mean, would we be happy if the Giants got this return for Madison Bumgarner? Could they have gotten more from another team? Maybe not. The Yankees were reportedly not willing to include either Gleyber Torres or Miguel Andujar in earlier trade talks with the Pirates. Could they have gotten more by waiting until the trade deadline? We'll never know, but the White Sox did very well for themselves at the deadline last year and there is a better than even chance Cole would rebuild some value in the first half of 2018.
I would say this trade increases the probability that the Pirates will trade Andrew McCutchen and be willing to accept less in return just to get rid of his contract. That might be good news for Giants fans!
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The Padres agreed to a contract extension with LHP Brad Hand for 3 years/$19.75 M. The deal includes a team option for a 4'th season at $10 M with a $1 M buyout. Hand was widely rumored to be on the trading block early in the Hot Stove season. Maybe the Padres think they can contend within the next 3 years and want Hand to be part of that. Maybe the 3 years of cost certainty will make him more attractive to potential trading partners.
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The Twins further bolstered their bullpen for a playoff run by signing RHP Addison Reed to a 2 year/$16.7 M contract. They had previously signed RHP Fernando Rodney and LHP Zach Duke. Reed and Rodney both have closing experience. Reports suggest Rodney was less than thrilled by the news of Reed's signing.
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1B Adrian Gonzalez signed on with the Mets in a deal that will cost the Mets just the MLB minimum salary. The Braves are on the hook for about $17 M. Gonzalez is coming off a disastrous, injury plagued season with the Dodgers, but makes it just a little less likely the Mets commit to Dominic Smith as their full-time 1B.
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1. The Pirates are getting a bit roasted over this 'quantity not quality' trade. But the problem is that sometimes the market isn't there and you're going to have to take a loss as it were.
ReplyDelete2. Panik signed a $3.5 million one-year arbitration-avoidance contract yesterday.
3. Wrenzie (Giant Prospective) put up his Top Prospects primer. It'll be interesting to see where you're the same and different.
I agree about the Cole trade: they did not get enough in return, but they wanted salary relief and took what they could get (as MosesZD noted), and this bodes well for them trading McCutchen, who is owed $14.5M.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Giants should give up even less in player value. Both had roughly the same bWAR in 2017, McC is much older, by 4 years, very poor defensively in CF, but was decent in RF, which is where I would play him, pushing Pence to LF, where he hopefully can be better, and his bat allows the Giants to start Duggar in CF, to get his great defense to cover for the two guys in the corner.