The Pirates finally pulled the trigger on a Gerrit Cole trade Wednesday trading their ace to the Houston Astros for a haul that’s yet to be announced. This is according to Jon Morosi of the MLB Network.
Source: #Astros and #Pirates have reached agreement on Gerrit Cole trade. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 10, 2018
It’s assumed the Astros got a bit of a discount on the former No. 1 overall pick of the Pirates given his less than stellar 2017 that yielded a 4.26 ERA in 203 innings. In any sense, Houston is looking to roll the dice on Cole and bet that he’ll recoup some of that lost luster in 2015 that saw him accumulate a 2.60 ERA ball with per nine rates at 8.7 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9.
The Astros also further boost a rotation that already includes Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander at the top with Lance McCullers and Charlie Morton rounding things out towards the bottom half.
UPDATE: Apparently the Cole to Houston rumors jumped the gun and everyone in the baseball media world is now calling it “false”. I’m not sure what the deal is with Houston and acquiring starting pitchers. This is essentially the same shit they did when they were acquiring Justin Verlander from the Tigers. Obviously though they were able to pull that deal off. What seems different here is guys like Morosi and Rosenthal are making the initial calls on the trade and not some fanboy reporter in Detroit cough… Chris McCosky… cough…
Source confirms: Cole to #Astros close. First reported: @JonMorosi.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 10, 2018
