Minnesota Twins need to trade for Gerrit Cole
It is time to make some moves. The Minnesota Twins should make a trade for Gerrit Cole.
Baseball’s Winter Meetings are upon us and while the meetings are held in conferences rooms, ballrooms and hotel rooms in Orlando, the teams might as well be meeting in the kitchen because the hot stove has been turned all the way on. The Minnesota Twins, thankfully, find themselves in the middle of all the rumors.
The hot rumor currently is the Twins trading for Pittsburgh Pirates ace pitcher Gerrit Cole. Cole is a really good target because the Twins desperately need some really good pitching and Cole checks that box.
You might be thinking to yourself that the Twins would have to give up a lot for the services of a top line pitcher. I would have thought the same thing, but according to a Pirates blog called Pirates Breakdown, the Pirates are only asking for Nick Gordon, Tyler Jay and Zach Granite.
Source can confirm pirates have asked twins for Nick Gordon, Tyler Jay, and Zach Granite.
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) December 12, 2017
Those are players you’ve heard of in the Twins prospect rankings but they also are not Royce Lewis. These are high prospects, but not exactly prospects that you have been exactly banking on to save your franchise for the foreseeable future.
Twins fans have seen Granite at the major league level already. Granite was fine as the fill-in centerfielder when Byron Buxton was hurt, but it doesn’t appear he will be a franchise changing player. He’ll be a fine outfielder in the major leagues, but probably never an All-Star and the Twins already have a logjam of easily accessible outfielders.
Let’s also keep in mind what 1500 ESPN’s Phil Mackey was preaching on the radio today about prospects. They are overrated.
If Nick Gordon (+more) for Gerrit Cole steam is true (per @pbcbreakdown), something to keep in mind: Prospects are often overvalued
— Phil Mackey 🎙 (@PhilMackey) December 12, 2017
Example: Twins top-10 list in 2010 included Ben Revere, Kyle Gibson, Adrian Salcedo, Billy Bullock, Angel Morales, Danny Valencia, Chris Parmelee
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Remember how we just labeled Granite as a non-franchise changing player? Cole is a franchise changer, especially a Twins franchise with little pitching skill at the moment.
Cole made the All-Star Game in 2015 and also finished fourth in the Cy Young voting that season. He sports a career 3.50 ERA in 127 career starts at the major league level. Simply, Cole is a really good pitcher and he’d instantly bring the Twins rotation to a higher level.
This might just be another rumor that gets more hot than it really should this time of the year, but if there is any ounce of truth to this, the Twins need to pull the trigger and make Cole a member of the Twins.
Next: What could the Twins starting lineup look like?
The Winter Meetings continue on in Florida the next few days. In just about two months, the Twins will be reporting to Spring Training in Florida.