Gerrit Cole, the ace of the Pirates' pitching staff, may be on his way out of Pittsburgh after all.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported Thursday night that a deal between the Yankees and Pirates for Cole, a 27-year-old right-hander with two more years of club control, is imminent.
Citing a source, Passan said that although the details of the trade have yet to be completed, there is "confidence" that it will get done.
Sources: The New York Yankees are working on a deal to acquire starting pitcher Gerrit Cole from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sides are talking, and while a final package has not come together, there is confidence. "A matter of when rather than if," one source said.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 22, 2017
According to Passan, the Yankees are hopeful they can satisfy the Pirates' demands without including shortstop Gleyber Torres, the Yankees' top prospect who batted .287/.383/.480 in 55 games between Triple-A and Double-A this season, or Estevan Florial, a 20-year-old outfielder who advanced to High A this season.
The Yankees reportedly want Clint Frazier, a 23-year-old outfielder, to headline the package of prospects in exchange for Cole. George A. King III of the New York Post reported the Pirates are also interested in third baseman Miguel Andujar and starting pitcher Chance Adams.
But could the Pirates acquire all three for Cole?
The first overall pick of the 2011 draft, Cole has thrown at least 200 innings in two of the past three seasons, including 2015 when he was named an All-Star. Cole was limited to 116 innings in 2016 because of injuries, which, according to Ray Searage, negatively impacted his development as a starting pitcher.
He returned in 2017 with a 1.25 WHIP in a career-high 33 starts — 12 more than his injury-shortened 2016 season — 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.
Still, he's regarded as the top starting pitcher available via trade. He's entering his second of three arbitration-eligible seasons and is projected to earn just $7.5 million in 2018. That makes him an ideal trade target for the Yankees, who are targeting cheaper starting pitchers.
After all, the top starting pitchers available on the free-agent market will command hefty multi-year contracts. Jake Arrieta is reportedly seeking at least $200 million, and Yu Darvish is asking for at least $150 million.
The Yankees would remain under the luxury-tax threshold if they acquire Cole, but would not if they signed one of the top starting pitchers on the market.
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.
Although Huntington did not address any specific trade rumors at the Winter Meetings, he expressed a willingness to trade one of his starting pitchers because of the depth in the organization. Nova, Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl and Trevor Williams are also on the 40-man roster.
They also have a number of pitching prospects, including Steven Brault, Tyler Glasnow, Nick Kingham, Mitch Keller, Shane Baz, Steven Jennings, Taylor Hearn and Greg Hinsz in the organization.
“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 told reporters. “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.”
Any confidence in a potential deal could disappear quickly, though. Huntington has leverage in negotiations considering the Pirates are likely in no rush to trade Cole. Unlike Andrew McCutchen, Cole's trade value will still be significantly high if the Pirates are sellers at the trade deadline in July because he's under contract through 2019.
Also, a number of teams could begin to show an interest in Cole once Arrieta and Darvish sign contracts this offseason. According to multiple reports, Huntington insisted the Nationals include top prospect Victor Robles in a trade for McCutchen last offseason.
The Nationals declined, opting instead to acquire Adam Eaton from the White Sox. Huntington will use a similar approach with Cole, but the Yankees are unlikely to part with Torres. Frazier is still an intriguing prospect, though.
Frazier, who was acquired by the Yankees in exchange for Andrew Miller, has graduated from prospect status, having appeared in 39 games for the Yankees this season. He slashed .231/.268/.448 with four home runs and 17 RBI in 142 plate appearances. Once the Indians’ top prospect, Frazier has become expendable with the Yankees’ acquisition of Stanton.
The Yankees could include Adams, Andujar or Justus Sheffield.
Andujar batted a combined .315 with a .850 OPS, 16 home runs and 82 RBI in 125 games for Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Adams, a 23-year-old right-hander, had a 2.69 ERA with a 1.08 WHIP in 27 starts between Double-A and Triple-A this season. He had 103 strikeouts with 43 walks.
To motivate the Yankees to part with Andujar, the Pirates could include Josh Harrison in the deal, which would shed $10.25 million in salary. New York has holes at second and third base after it traded Starlin Castro and Chase Headley.
If the Pirates acquire Frazier, they'd likely aggressively shop McCutchen, who will make $14.5 million in the final year of his contract in 2018. Trading McCutchen would allow Starling Marte to shift to center field with Frazier and Gregory Polanco playing left field and right field, respectively. Austin Meadows is also expected to start the season in Triple-A.
When the Winter Meetings concluded last week, Huntington spoke again of the Pirates either retooling to compete in 2019 and beyond or trying to compete with the current core in 2018. A trade of Cole would be the start of a significant rebuild, though.
"We’ll see where we are able to go,” Huntington said at the conclusion of the Meetings. “We don’t feel forced to do anything. We want to capitalize as best as we can on maximizing, whether it’s this year or our window gets pushed back a little bit because we’re able to acquire players we think can have a bigger impact on our ability to get back to the postseason.”
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