Recapping a few Gerrit Cole rumors from today, as talks continue mostly between the Yankees and Pirates on a potential deal:
**Buster Olney gives the Yankees options for starting pitchers, and the most notable thing here is that he says the Pirates are a motivated seller.
So among NYY SP options, 3 very distinct price ranges:
Corbin–FA after 2018, costly but not outrageous. D-Backs motivated seller.
Cole–FA after 2019, probably a lot more expensive than Corbin. PIT a motivated seller.
Fulmer–FA after 2022, very expensive, DET must be convinced.— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 18, 2017
I’ve been wondering all offseason whether the Pirates are buyers or sellers, and we’ve kind of gotten an answer from all of the rumors suggesting they would sell. But the rumors surrounding them have gone from “they’re actively listening” to this update saying they are sellers.
As for the Yankees options, I’m guessing they won’t go with Fulmer, since the trading price would be huge. Corbin might provide the only competition for the Pirates and Cole, but Cole is arguably the better option of the two, and has more years of control. It’s almost like the Andrew McCutchen vs Adam Eaton situation last year, only this time the Pirates have the Adam Eaton type player.
**The big thing here is going to be the cost, and that brings me to an article written in the NY Post today by George A. King III. Over the weekend, we heard from Jon Heyman that the Pirates were asking about top prospect Gleyber Torres. King goes on to say that Neal Huntington has a reputation of being difficult to deal with, “since he has a hunger to win the trade instead of making a move that helps each side.”
Now first, I’m going to call BS on this. We could get into the reasons why Huntington needs to win a trade, either in this case (he really can’t miss with Cole, since that is his biggest trade chip in a rebuild), or in general as a small market team (less margin for error, and no guarantees the rebuild goes well, even if the trade works out). But let’s skip ahead to the next paragraph, where King quotes an NL scout on why the Yankees wouldn’t give up Torres.
“I don’t see Brian Cashman doing that, not after working so hard to get [Torres] from the Cubs.”
Cashman got Torres from the Cubs for Aroldis Chapman.
For two months of Aroldis Chapman.
Plus three other players.
The Yankees had a player to trade that another team wanted in order to help their chances of winning, and they asked for Gleyber Torres.
Cashman worked hard to get Torres.
And now that the Yankees want a player to help them win, it’s preposterous that Neal Huntington works hard to also get Torres in a deal. It was alright when the Yankees did it, but it’s definitely not alright when the Yankees are the ones trading for a player.
Are you noticing a trend here?
This kind of stuff happens all the time, and I feel it works well in Pittsburgh, because the average angry fan and the local media are quick to destroy Huntington over the idea that he’s doing something wrong. There are things to legitimately criticize him for, but this type of stuff isn’t one of them. Especially when he gets the criticism on the other side.
When Huntington was contending, the argument through the national media was that he was hoarding top prospects, and wasn’t doing what needed to be done to win. He needed to pay the cost of winning in MLB, rather than over-valuing prospects.
Now the Yankees are trying to win, and they’re trying to trade for a player that Huntington is selling. All of a sudden, it’s a problem to ask for top prospects in return. We aren’t seeing the same arguments about the Yankees hoarding prospects, and how they’re not willing to pay the price needed to win.
If Huntington is criticized for asking for top prospects when selling, then he can’t be criticized for holding on to top prospects when buying. And vice-versa. It has to be one or the other. And honestly, there’s a middle ground here, and all of that talk is just negotiating through the media, and trying to get the local fans and media riled up against their GM, which definitely works in Pittsburgh.
The middle ground is that in every single trade discussion there has ever been, someone has asked for too much at some point. Most trade discussions don’t result in a trade because one side feels the other is asking for too much. When teams meet in the middle, that’s when a trade happens, but only after they start off asking for too much.
And don’t think that teams are going into this concerned with the other side. The Yankees aren’t concerned with the Pirates having success with the deal. They’re out to win the trade. If Huntington gave them a blank check of sorts, and said that he’d accept any value they felt was fair, do you think he’s actually getting fair value?
It’s a negotiation. Huntington should ask for Torres. He should press the issue. Cashman worked hard for Torres (who, granted, has gone up in prospect value in the last year and a half). Why shouldn’t Huntington try to work hard for him as well? Why is Cashman allowed to work hard for a prospect he really wants, and Huntington is supposed to make things easy?
I don’t think the Pirates will get Torres. I don’t think Torres for Cole, even straight up, is a fair deal. But they should ask, and they should push the issue. And the trick is that they need to know when the right time is to back off and go for a lesser deal, while still getting a good return. Once again, that applies to every trade discussion, and not this unique situation.
If you want to know why the double standard exists here, and why the Yankees can ask for top prospects, but the Pirates can’t, it’s simple: It’s the Yankees. Most articles written about their trade talks have a tone where it’s almost the duty of the other team to give the Yankees what they want, and take what the Yankees are generous enough to give them.
And the problem Huntington has right now is that he’s going to get destroyed if any return for Cole comes up light, but then stories like this come out and he gets destroyed for trying to get a big return.
Winning a trade, or at least maximizing the value on your side, is the goal of every GM. You can see why that’s especially the case with Huntington, and even more so in this situation.
