Cubs Trade Target: Gerrit Cole

Sunday, SB Nation’s MLB Daily Dish noted a national report that Pittsburgh Pirates righthander Gerrit Cole is the trade target of one contending team:

The first-place Houston Astros may be looking to strengthen their starting rotation this summer, and one of their potential targets is Pirates’ starter Gerrit Cole.

The Astros, owners of the best record in baseball, are reportedly ‘very interested’ in making a move for the right hander, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.

The Pirates are off to a rough start, and as noted in the MLB Daily Dish article, Andrew McCutchen has yet to recover his pre-2016 level of performance. Thus the Pirates might decide to be sellers at this summer’s trade deadline or even before.

If Cole is actually on the market, could the Cubs be a potential buyer? Remember that the Cubs are going to likely have to reconstitute a big chunk of their rotation for 2018 and beyond, because Jake Arrieta and John Lackey are free agents and likely gone next year. Plus, the Cubs haven’t really settled down the No. 5 spot in their rotation this year, either.

Cole, who turns 27 in September, is under team control for two more seasons after this year. He’ll be arbitration-eligible in 2018. He has pitched well this year, posting a 2.84 ERA, 1.018 WHIP, good peripherals and already 1.9 bWAR.

To get Cole, obviously you’d have to ship some pretty good players to Pittsburgh, perhaps even players on the Cubs’ 25-man roster. Would you include someone like Kyle Schwarber or Javier Baez in a deal for Cole? If you make a deal like this you might have to, as you are talking about a guy who could be a No. 1 starter for the Cubs for several seasons to come.

You might remember this quote from the Pirates righthander a year ago:

This quote came right after this game at Wrigley Field, when Cole threw eight shutout innings. That was one of just four games the Pirates won against the Cubs last year.

Doesn’t matter to me. Just shows Cole is a tough competitor. I’d love to see him in the Cubs’ rotation, although the price would likely be high.

As I’ve noted here before, I’m not great at putting together trade proposals. But perhaps you are. Who would you trade for Gerrit Cole?