The first significant move the Pirates made this offseason, trading Gerrit Cole to the Houston Astros, provides a road map for how the final month before spring training could unfold.
Trading Cole with two years of contractual control remaining, for third baseman Colin Moran, righties Joe Musgrove and Michael Feliz, and minor league outfielder Jason Martin, signals that contention next season is not in the front office’s plans. It follows, then, that they could trade Andrew McCutchen.
They have discussed trading McCutchen since the 2016 trade deadline, so the notion is not a new one, and general manager Neal Huntington said Saturday that trading Cole does not necessarily signal more moves.