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Yankees are Reportedly Interested in Acquiring Gerrit Cole

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Jon Heyman from MLB Network is reporting that the New York Yankees are interested in acquiring right-handed pitcher Gerrit Cole from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Heyman notes that his feelings are that the Pirates aren’t trading him. While I don’t see the Pirates refusing to trade Cole, their asking price is likely high due to the fact that he still has two years remaining before free agency. As Heyman mentions, Cole was a first round draft pick of the Yankees out of high school, so he has been on their radar for quite a while.

Cole had a down year in 2017, posting a career-high 4.26 ERA. His 4.08 FIP was slightly better than the ERA and his 1.25 WHIP was better than his 2016 total. He pitched over 200 innings for the second time and just missed his career best with 198 strikeouts. Cole allowed 31 homers in 2017, which nearly matched his totals from his first four seasons combined.

Cole is projected to make $7.5 M through arbitration this year, making him very affordable for a top of the rotation starter, if he can get back to those numbers. Combined with two years of control, it also makes him an interesting trade target for other teams. If anything more comes out, we will post an update.

UPDATE: Buster Olney also weighed in on a possible Cole/Yankees deal:

Update from the Rangers beat writer is not much of an update:

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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