In one of the most significant trades of the 2017-18 offseason, the Pirates sent right-hander Gerrit Cole to the Astros for a four-player package. The move put an end to nonstop trade rumors centering on Cole, who had been a Pirate since they selected him first overall in the 2011 draft. Cole largely lived up to the billing in Pittsburgh, but with the Pirates being a low-budget team and Scott Boras functioning as the hurler’s agent, the club had little choice but to deal him. Cole was down to his penultimate year of control, and the Pirates knew they weren’t going to be able to prevent him from reaching free agency after 2019.
Cole has excelled with the Astros since the deal went down, though even they haven’t locked him up to an extension. The soon-to-be 29-year-old is likely to reach the open market after the season, when he could be the top player available. In the meantime, Cole could help guide an elite Houston team to a World Series championship. On the other hand, the Pirates haven’t contended since they traded Cole (in fairness, nor did they in his final two seasons in the Steel City). At 27-28, it appears the Buccos are on their way to a fourth consecutive year without a playoff berth. The package they got for Cole hasn’t really helped matters.
Righty Joe Musgrove, arguably the headliner from Pittsburgh’s point of view, came over after a year in which he moved to the Astros’ bullpen and stood out. But the Pirates shifted Musgrove back to the rotation, and aside from a horrendous showing in May, he has resembled a decent big league starter. While Musgrove has given up 27 earned runs on 38 hits in 30 innings this month, his overall numbers as a Pirate are fine. The 26-year-old has given Pittsburgh 30 starts and 178 1/3 frames of 4.29 ERA/3.60 FIP ball with 7.57 K/9, 2.12 BB/9 and a 44.8 percent groundball rate dating back to his arrival.
In the aggregate, Musgrove has been more the solution than the problem for the Pirates. He’s also on a pre-arbitration salary this season and still has three years of arb control thereafter. Realistically, there’s not a lot to complain about with Musgrove, though the same hasn’t been true of the other three players the Pirates got back.
The hope was that big, hard-throwing righty Michael Feliz would emerge as a lights-out member of the Pirates’ bullpen right away. They’re still waiting. Feliz managed a 4.13 FIP and 10.38 K/9 in 47 2/3 innings last season, but he walked more than four batters per nine and limped to a 5.66 ERA. To make matters worse, the 25-year-old has spent most of this season in Triple-A. Across the 12 innings Feliz has logged in the majors in 2019, he has surrendered 11 earned runs on 12 hits and nine walks (with an impressive 16 strikeouts, it should be noted).
Outfielder Jason Martin, who was the Astros’ 15th-ranked prospect at the time of the trade, totaled the first 38 plate appearances of his major league career earlier this season. He didn’t produce much, though, nor has the 23-year-old acquitted himself all that well at the minors’ highest level thus far. Martin got a promotion after crushing Double-A pitching last season, but he’s the owner of a meager .225/.284/.371 line in 338 Triple-A attempts.
That leaves 26-year-old third baseman Colin Moran, who has garnered the most playing time of anyone Pittsburgh got back for Cole. The former top 100 prospect has been just a guy with the Pirates – a league-average hitter whose WAR suggests he’s something between an average player and a replacement-level performer. Over 618 trips to the plate as a Pirate, Moran has hit a respectable but unexciting .274/.335/.414 (102 wRC+) with 17 home runs and 1.1 fWAR.
Including Moran’s contributions, the Pirates have gotten 4.7 fWAR out of the Cole trade so far. Last July, seven months after that deal, the Pirates traded two hyped young players (righty Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Austin Meadows) to Tampa Bay for a potential Cole replacement righty Chris Archer. That transaction has worked out far worse for the Pirates to this point, as Dan Szymborski of FanGraphs recently explained.
The Cole and Archer moves have left the Pirates with a bunch of controllable parts, but nobody from the group looks like much to write home about so far. At the same time, the swaps stripped the organization of a trio of players who have been high-end contributors elsewhere. Two of them, Glasnow and Meadows, are under control for the foreseeable future. These are mistakes a small-budget team can ill afford to make, and they help explain why the Pirates are stuck in neutral.
I think the entire baseball world could see the Pirates got fleeced. Then to give up so much for Archer who hasn’t been a dominant pitcher in a couple years just added insult to injury. I thought Huntington was a decent GM but that was when he was picking pitchers off of the scrap heap and watching them turn their careers around. High value trades are obviously not his strong suit.
Truth.
While I obviously recognize he got fleeced in the Archer deal, Huntington has made several very good trades as well. Two that come to mind are Melancon for Vazquez and Taylor Hearn and McCutchen for Bryan Reynolds and Kyle Crick.
Archer trade will go down in the books as one of the best fleeces of all time by the Rays.
fire Pittsburgh’s GM
Any other organization would show him the door but not this one.
He also got Hearn and Vasquez for Melancon,and Crick and Reynolds for McCutcheon.
How are those trades working out?
Coulda had Clint Frazier lol. That’s what u get for tryna play hardball with cashman
Yep I recall the Pirates wanted s haul from the Yankees and then dealt him to Houston for an underwhelming return. I believe after that Neal Huntington really lost his way. NH asks for the world from certain teams and then deals such high end talent for a pitcher in Archer who was on the downswing and wasn’t half the pitcher Cole is to be honest.
The archer trade was the first time he dealt high end talent, the knock on him has always been that he waits to long on prospects
Don’t forget that the Pirates added Reese McGuire in the Liriano trade several years ago. NH has added top talent in trades before the embarrassing Archer trade
Everyone was saying giving Cole to the Yankee for a package that included Clint was dumb. I saw endless comments about none of their prospect are proven. I honestly think that they would have been a much better ROI than what they have from Houston. I actually like the pirates. Andrew McCuthen was one of my favorite players and Bell is the best player to watch right now. But I think the GM is not serving that tream right. That Archer trade was so stupid
The problem with getting only one player in return for several players is that that player has to perform to a very high level.
Cole had not pitched well for Pittsburgh for two years and did not want to stay there on a mediocre team.They were definitely going to lose him after this year and not get back anyone for him.The Astros had a lot of spare parts and that is what the Pirates received in return.They are all young and getting better and we will see if Cole stays in Houston.
NH obviously gambled with Archer.Is Glasnow going to be OK?The Pirates in one month could have six good outfielders.Should they have kept Meadows?Maybe,but he was hurt a lot in the minor leagues.We still need to wait for another year to see if this trade works out or not.It seemed to be a knee jerk reaction by NH to contend with Archer and giving up young players who had not attained any real level of success and were overdue.It is easy to be critical but the results of baseball trades take time to settle out.
Meadows is on the IR in Tampa Bay. I think Glasnow is too. Baez hasn’t really progressed the way Tampa wanted. But it’s still early to decide on that Archer trade. But as of right now, Rays favor this trade way more than the Pirates.
As for the Cole trade, I think the Astros benefited way more than what the Pirates got in return. Musgrove has been mediocre at best. And Moran is just a utility 3B at best on any other team. Moran doesn’t hit for power and more of a singles type of hitter. Anything else we got in that trade, hasn’t produced. Martin has been a dud at the majors and Triple A Indy. Feliz hasn’t even produced past Double A Altoona. This is another trade bust.
It isn’t hard to imagine what things would be like if we didn’t trade Reese McGuire or Jacoby Jones. Or Jordan Luplow or Austin Meadows. The Pirates had depth in the organization and now they have scraps. It’s tough being a Pirates fan.
Meadows isn’t on the IL and is killing it and glasnow was arguably the best pitcher in baseball before injury.
Jacoby Jones was traded for Joachim Sofia in 2015 when the Pirates were going for the pennant.His lifetime average is actually near the fictional Mendoza line of .200.
Reese McGuire was always a fine catcher but the jury is out as to how well he can hit ML pitching.
Jordan Luplow was clearly not needed although the Pirates could have given him another shot.I think that he needed a full year in AAA to establish himself.Gonzalez should be a decent utility man if he learns not to run into teammates.
Meadows was a loss but the Pirates are very strong in the outfield.
I would hardly call their outfield which is not too far from being the best in the game as “scraps”.
Way too much negativity in many of these posts.
The return for Archer should’ve been the return for Cole and vice versa
i had to go back and read the comments section on that deal because i remember as an outsider looking in and thinking the pirates got fleeced and should have gotten more. but i remember the comments section being littered with comments from people saying cole wasnt that great and undeserving of a big haul. well i was right but it was really just 3 idiots who look really bad now and deserving of a chat revoke. ONE FAN was replying to almost every message about how bad of a return the pirates got. quotes like “not worth that much” “heading in the wrong direction” “not worth a haul” “stunk for 2 years” …… yeah couldnt have been more wrong about cole, way to go “ONE FAN”
usernames: ALT2TAB, BEISBOLISTA and TTINSLEY also calling cole a fraud and ALT2TAB asked “why are the astros in a win now mode?” “not equal value” referring to musgrove having a higher ceiling than cole
The problem that I had with the Archer trade is that NH was sending two guys who actually did have the chance to be superstars and that is the thing that small market teams do not have many opportunities to have.
I honestly do think that he figured that Meadows may not have a fit in Pittsburgh.
It seems to me that there must have been other good pitchers available for that trade return for Archer.I also think that he should have received another good prospect in return,especially after adding their first round draft choice.
I agree that the returns should have been switched,but that is also hindsight.My guess is that he got as good of a return as he could on Cole.
I remember saying at the time the Astros taking a chance on Cole was a good idea for what they gave up. Moran would forever be blocked by Bregman, Feliz has great stuff but was never able to control it, Musgrove is probably a MOR SP (solid player) and Jonathan Martin was more or less a throw in, interchangeable with many other Astros prospects… In hindsight, any team would do this deal, but at the time a lot of people thought the Astros gave up too much for Cole. But Lunhow just got rid of some spare parts.
That is the advantage of being absolutely terrible for four long years AND now having very fine scouting and development systems.They have a surplus of good players who are extra parts.They were also wise enough to keep their top prospects.
That is how teams can win championships.
But remember that Cole is probably gone after this year,with only a draft choice in return.
Musgrove and Moran were acquired for JA Hall and Jared Cosart (plus other players), Feliz was an international signing and Martin was later round draft pick (8th rounder?)… I fail to see how “being absolutely terrible for four long years” played any part in this deal. Astros were coming off their first WS Championship, One more than the Rangers btw, and then acquired Cole. At some point you ranger fans need to get over the method the Astros used to acquire assets and accept that they are an elite team and will be for several years. Get over this little brother syndrome you’ve developed. Makes you sound whiny.
I had assumed that Musgrove and Moran were draft picks which evidently is in error.
It does not change the basic premise,however, that they have so many fairly good young players that they have an excess from which they can trade.That is a good thing.
I have been following baseball since 1961 and the only team any where near as bad as the Astros for three to four years was the first Mets teams.
Not sure how that sounds “ whiny” as I was complimenting the organization in several different ways.
By the way,I am not a Rangers fan so you have that all wrong.
Right now he’s the 5th best pitcher in the rotation. He seems to have regressed this year. Not a big loss to the Astros if he leaves. Having such a deep organization makes losing even someone of his caliber tolerable.
He is still a fine pitcher who will receive a very high contract value after this year.He would be a loss felt to any team,especially with the amount of pitchers getting injured these days.
The report above is pretty damming.
Honestly, I don’t think the package they got bad is that bad. Joe Musgrove hasn’t been pretty since coming over to Pittsburgh. His most recent start was the first start since late August of last year where he gave up more than 1 home run. Plus he had a great April. Moran hasn’t been all that bad either. He’s better suited for platoon play, but he does hit RHP well, and if you have looked at some of his numbers with RISP, he’s a pretty clutch hitter (.383 AVG, 1.071 OPS). Really the only one I haven’t seen anything impressive from is Michael Feliz. Feliz has done awful since coming over to Pittsburgh, and I don’t know why he has a 40-man roster spot still. Even if they’re not going to bring him up, they could at least replace Feliz on the 40-man with Dario Agrazal.
Feliz has a high ceiling that he will never reach.If he can limit his walks he could become a decent last reliever.
I agree with you on Musgrove and Moran.
Martin was a throw in but may be good enough as a fourth outfielder if he can begin hitting in AAA.
And remember after this year the Pirates will have four young players and the Astros will have no one.
I think that it was a fairly good trade for both teams,and the Astros got the pitcher that they wanted.If he stays healthy he will get a boatload of money after this year.
Let’s not forget as we speak of Cole walking after this year, the Astros might just sign him just as they did Pressly with a 2 year deal or as the did with Bregman $100M deal with a lot of spare cap space to maneuver with. And if they let him walk the Astros have a better than average farm system working quite nicely I might add. Prospects such as J.B. Bucacaus(yes I butchered his name I’m sorry), Whitley, Corbin Martin who as of the end of May has already been called up and done quite well considering who he has faced. White Sox, Red Sox, Cubbies. Not exactly teams to laugh at as you throw new kids in and just say “go get ’em kid” No they can do what they want and with a little planning can go a long way. If you dont have information your doomed, and information is something the Astros have in droves.
Moran is just a bench piece or a back up player. Musgrove is too inconsistent. Yes, it was a bad trade for a great picture. . The pirates are the 9th most richest teams in the league. They can afford better players.
Young pitcher in Baz as well….
NH will be GM for the near future because winning is not the first priority for the Pirates’ owner.
^^^^This!
So true
trading Cole was the right decision, it’s hard to deny otherwise. However, i really can’t have as much a problem with the trade as with the Archer trade. The Pirates got back their possible 3B of the future, (or near future) a decent OF prospect in Martin, who has showed promise in the Majors so far, and a guy to fill in Cole’s rotation spot. Musgrove is no Cole, but the Pirates were not going to contend either of these years. I get they may have been able to get a better package, but his ERA had risen the past few years. yes they could have waited a year, but could they really have expected him to be better enough to get a bigger package next offseason. maybe at tye deadline…maybe.
I am usually one that says if I get 1 everyday player for a pitcher it’s a win. Moran has been serviceable enough played 3rd 2nd and of. I think he is capable of 20 homers 60 rbis Musgrove sometimes lacks a true out pitch and might be better suited in the pen but willing to give him the rest of the season to make a better evaluation. Feliz is the pitcher they also covet good stuff lack of control Martin wait in see. It’s definitely a solid trade for Houston give them a b cause he is gonna be in California this next season pirates a C.
I still believe the Dickerson deal should be included to archer trade.
NH fleeced the giants Reynolds and crick for 2 months of Andrew. And traded melocan for Nightmare.
The next big deal is Marte in July to Cleveland for pitching and C prospects
If the Pirates made these kinds of trades in my stat league they would be thrown out for creating unfair imbalances.
This article fails to mention that Cole is also not having a great year. Sure he gets a lot of strikeouts, but he’s giving up a lot of hits and homers, and his era is in the 4s. Cole is on pace to give up more hrs than his 31 during his last year in Pittsburgh. Musgrove was looking like one of the best pitchers in the NL until a few starts ago, he has one of, if not the best slider in the game. With Kang being gone 3B was a huge need for the Pirates, with Kang back and batting .100, it still is a huge need. Moran provides a solid bat and a guy who is starting to play multiple positions. The Pirates had to trade Cole, he had no interest in being in Pittsburgh, his numbers were getting worse. He topped 200 Ks once while a Pirate (which was his great all-star year) the rest of his years were average or worse.
The best slider in the game? That belongs to Chris Sale
Opposing batters .197 off of his slider to go with a 36.9% whiff rate
Funny how they also mention the Tampa trade but not the McCutchen dtrade which has largely been a success because it doesn’t fit their narrative. Or the free agent signing of Melky? Or The signing of Liriano in the bullpen? Signing of Lyles as the 5th startwr has worked well. Nope just the negative. If the article was strictly about the Cole trade i would understand since it was titled as such but if tou wanna bring up the Tampa trade then continue with the other additions.
Just another saga of bad teams continuing to end up on the wrong side of trades. It is amazing how it continues to happen to the bottom 1/3 of baseball.
Fans are gonna scream that the Pirates got killed letting Cole go but fact is he was coming off of two sub par seasons where he posted an alarming home run rate. The organization missed a chance to extend him early on and this was only going to lead to contract issues down the road.
The Pirates got a great return in this trade. Mud grove and Moran were former top 100 prospects and have been serviceable major leaguers. Moran could be a top 15 3B by the end of the year. Martin is almost big league ready; Feliz throws hard but he’s struggled a lot in the big leagues and needs to develop his out pitches.