LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Before Neal Huntington arrived at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort for the Winter Meetings, he addressed fans' concerns at PiratesFest Saturday.
Huntington was asked about payroll, specifically Andrew McCutchen's future with the Pirates, and the club's plans for 2018. His response: the plan could be to "retool" the roster, citing the trade that brought Felipe Rivero to Pittsburgh in exchange for Mark Melancon.
It appears the club could be moving in that direction. Shortly after Huntington met with reporters Monday at the Winter Meetings, reports from ESPN's Buster Olney and MLB Network's Jon Heyman indicated the Pirates are willing to listen to trade offers for Gerrit Cole and the Yankees are interested.
Although Huntington did not address a specific rumor or player, he said he's open to trading a starting pitcher.
"Well, one of the things we’ve talked about is, because of our depth, we would be comfortable with one or maybe two of our young starters being in the bullpen to start the season because of the guys behind them," Huntington said from his suite. "I guess a natural transition is if we were to have an opportunity to utilize one of our starters, be it one of our young starters, one of our veteran starters, in a trade we thought would make the organization better, we think that would make sense for us."
Read into that what you will, but Cole would be the most coveted starter, despite the right-hander being under contract through 2019. The 27-year-old is entering his second of three arbitration-eligible seasons, and he is arguably the top starter available on the trade market, despite allowing a career-high 33 home runs in 2017.
He had a 1.25 WHIP in a career-high 33 starts — 12 more than his injury-shortened 2016 — and had the second-highest strikeout total of his career while ranking third in the National League in innings. Additionally, he averaged 8.69 strikeouts per nine innings with a 3.1 fWAR — the second-best mark of his career.
But Cole allowed 1.37 home runs per nine innings — the seventh-worst mark in the National League — including at least one home run in 21 of his starts to finish with a 4.26 ERA which, according to ERA+, was 1 percent better than the league average.
The Yankees, who finalized a trade with the Marlins to acquire National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton, drafted Cole with the 28th overall pick in 2008. Cole chose not to sign, opting instead to attend UCLA. He was drafted by the Pirates with the first overall pick three years later.
The Yankees are in need of starting pitching with C.C. Sabathia unlikely to return, and prices on the free agent market could create luxury tax issues for them. Additionally, they have the pieces to make a significant acquisition since they did not trade their elite prospects to acquire Stanton.
Huntington also has a long history of making trades with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, including deals that involved Ivan Nova, A.J. Burnett, Francisco Cervelli and Justin Wilson.
Huntington said having past conversations with a certain general manager can lay the groundwork for future deals.
"Well, it’s always helpful when you have prior conversations because that club knows your interest in player or players, and you know their interest in player or players," Huntington said. "Players evolve. Sometimes they progress. Sometimes they regress. It’s always good to know that a team, what players they have interest in and their players you have interest in. Yeah, sometimes past conversations can lead to something in the future and sometimes past conversations can lead to a dead end."
With the Giants reportedly still interested in McCutchen and Josh Harrison linked to the Blue Jays and Mets, the Pirates are on the verge of a rebuild. If they do trade Cole, the rotation could consist of Nova, Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl, Trevor Williams, Steven Brault or Tyler Glasnow, although Huntington indicated Brault could be in the bullpen.
The club could also acquire a pitcher through trade or free agency to fill Cole's spot in the rotation.
La Prensa, a newspaper based in Mexico City, reported last week that the Pirates are the favorite to sign Jaime Garcia, a left-handed starting pitcher, but Garcia is projected by Heyman to receive a two-year, $18 million contract this offseason.
As of now, the Pirates' payroll is projected around $102 million, including contracts to the four arbitration-eligible players. That would be a franchise record for opening day. Cole is projected to $7.5 million in arbitration, so trading him wouldn't give the club much payroll relief in the interim.
Huntington indicated the club is also pursuing bullpen help and is gauging the market for a third baseman. But his availability with media was much like his question-and-answer sessions with fans Saturday at PNC Park.
Although Huntington was non-committal on keeping his core players, he expressed the club's goal of fielding a winning team to re-engage the fan base. After all, attendance at PNC Park ranked 25th in Major League Baseball in 2017 and local TV ratings dropped 27 percent — the fifth-largest drop in the majors.
"We are working as we head through this offseason how we maximize the dollars we have available to us and we recognize the attendance drop is reflective of a fan base that wants a winner, and we’re going to do what we can to put a winner back out there to draw them back out and reward them," Huntington said.
However, trading Cole would be counter-intuitive to that goal, especially considering the club will likely need to rely on run prevention to return to playoff contention. According to FanGraphs' ZiPs Projections for 2018, the Pirates' roster, including McCutchen, is projected to have the fourth-worst collective zWAR in 2018.
The computer-based projections of performance indicate improvement from both Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco, but warn that both Kuhl and Williams could regress.
Clint Hurdle called his current starting rotation one of the best he's ever been around in his time as a player or coach, but its most significant piece could very well depart. Both Rivero and Taillon described the five returning starters as a reason why the Pirates will improve in 2018.
"I think there’s a belief from everybody that we have a good core and we have a good group," Taillon said. "With the young pitching, specifically, the growth throughout the year, when you guys spent time in the clubhouse you know we have a lot of good, young guys as humans that are extremely determined to get better."