Cole trade with Yankees would stir Pirates’ pot
Chad Kuhl as returnees from the 2017 rotation, with a big void in the fifth spot. Tyler Glasnow has done everything at the minor league level, but nothing in the majors, to earn a spot, which he did this past season before pitching poorly in 12 starts and getting demoted in June. General manager Neal Huntington has discussed the possibility of Glasnow opening the year in the bullpen, along with Steven Brault, who would provide a second left-hander to complement Felipe Rivero.
Brault could get a shot at the rotation, as could Nick Kingham, who pitched well last year in his first full season back from Tommy John ligament replacement surgery. A report in a Mexican newspaper about the Pirates having strong interest in left-handed starter Jaime Garcia makes more sense in the context of a Cole trade.
There is upside here — Kuhl and Williams had strong second halves and Taillon should improve with a season not interrupted by a cancer diagnosis — but also uncertainty.
... The payroll
Talent acquisition, not money, would drive this move, should the Pirates make it. Cole will earn around $7 million or $8 million in 2018, his second year of arbitration, and possibly $10 million or more in 2019, the final year of team control. Those are good salaries for a pitcher of Cole’s caliber.
If the Pirates are reconstructing their roster to compete in 2019 at the expense of 2018, Cole is the biggest bullet they have to fire. More than Andrew McCutchen and more than Josh Harrison, Cole, because of his combination of age, talent, salary and years of control, will net the Pirates the most in terms of young talent in return. Removing Cole’s projected salary brings the Pirates’ opening-day payroll to roughly $93 million. The cuts might not end there, though, depending on how a possible Cole trade impacts … ... The other trade chips If they trade Cole, one train of thought goes, why not move McCutchen and Harrison? Getting, say, Clint Frazier and Tyler Wade in the package for Cole, as was suggested by one evaluator with another team, would help backfill those two holes. The Pirates would save around $31 million on payroll — not what fans want to hear, understood — that they could spend on upgrading the 2019 roster. There are no guarantees this ballclub will spend, but the savings — plus the $50 million disbursement from Disney’s purchase of a stake in MLB Advanced Media — should help the Pirates augment their payroll.