The Pittsburgh Pirates have traded their ace starting pitcher Gerrit Cole to the Houston Astros in exchange for four players, most notably pitcher Joe Musgrove.
The Bucs have been trying to unload Cole during the entire off-season. It appeared Cole was headed to the Bronx, but the Yankees backed away a few days ago and appear to be pursuing free agent Yu Darvish.
I think Houston is a better landing spot for Cole who was the number one pick in the 2011 MLB draft. Cole reached the majors in 2013 and had his best season in 2015 when he went 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA. However, three stints on the DL in 2016 saw his record fall to 7-10. Cole was healthy in 2017 making a NL leading 33 starts but was a so-so 12-12 with a career high 4.26 ERA.
Although the Astros are the defending World Series champions, Houston won't be the media circus that New York is. Cole will have the added benefit of not being viewed as the staff ace. He will be sandwiched in between two Cy Young winners in Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel and fireballer Lance McCullers, Jr. and World Series hero Charlie Morton. If the Astros go to a six man rotation then Brad Peacock could also be in the mix.
Whether the Astros have a five man or six man rotation, Cole is now in a really good situation. At 27, he has a good opportunity to return to his 2015 form and for post-season success.
As for the Pirates, now that Cole is gone, will Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison follow him out the door? If so then Pirates fans will once again be back in rebuilding mode. In which case it will be Pittsburgh, not Houston, that has a problem.
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