Cole trade has chance of working out for Pirates
The initial reaction to the Pirates’ trade of Gerrit Cole to the Houston Astros this past Saturday is that Pittsburgh got fleeced. Not so fast. Let’s take the emotion out of the equation. While Cole was the Pirates’ No. 1 starter, he is generally not considered a No. 1 starter by most talent evaluators throughout the game. Yes, Cole went 40-20 with a 3.07 ERA/2.89 FIP in 73 starts during his first three seasons from 2013-15 with 8.5 strikeouts and 2.2 walks per nine innings. Over the last two seasons, though, he was 19-22 with a 4.12 ERA/3.81 FIP, 8.3 strikeouts and 2.3 walks per nine innings. Much of Cole’s struggles last season came from giving up a career-high 31 home runs in 203 innings. While some see that as an aberration, it is easy to envision him struggling in moving to hitter friendly Minute Maid Park from PNC Park, a pitchers’ park. The Pirates are also getting raked over the coals --- pun intended --- for not receiving any of the Astros’ top p