Buster Olney is reporting that the Pittsburgh Pirates have been very active with trade talks recently and they are making progress in those talks. Those trade discussions still include possible deals for Andrew McCutchen, Gerrit Cole and Josh Harrison. If either Cole or McCutchen are dealt, then it would make sense for the Pirates to go all in with trades this off-season. We haven’t heard much since MLB teams went on a short Christmas break, but the Pirates aren’t the type of team to share trade rumors, so it’s not surprising that they could still be busy yet we aren’t hearing anything.
Baseball's winter freeze has continued, but the Pirates are said by other teams to be active and making progress. As has been reported all winter, they've been discussing possible deals involving Andrew McCutchen, Gerrit Cole and Josh Harrison.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 3, 2018
There was also a note from last night that the Cubs might be interested in Gerrit Cole. The actual wording of the article by Bruce Levine from CBS Chicago was vague, so we didn’t post a rumor article, but it’s worth posting here just in case. Here’s the pertinent quote:
“The two starting pitchers getting the most attention on the trade market are Pirates right-hander Gerrit Cole and Rays right-hander Chris Archer, and both are receiving attentions from top clubs like the Yankees and Cubs.”
I would assume all of the other 29 teams would be interested in acquiring those two pitchers for the right price, and there’s nothing more connecting Cole to the Cubs, so not much to go on there.
If something else comes up today, we will update this post.
