BRADENTON, Fla. — With his lean, 6-foot-4 frame and full red beard, Colin Moran looks like a viking. When he speaks, though, you have to lean in to hear soft-spoken third baseman.
If all goes according to plan for the Pirates, Moran will follow Theodore Roosevelt’s directive: to speak softly and carry a big stick.
Moran, 25, was the centerpiece of the Gerrit Cole trade with the Houston Astros, and favorable perception of that deal (if such a thing is possible) likely will rest with Moran. Not that he seems to be moved by the pressure.
“Getting traded over to the Astros last time, I kind of learned how to deal with it all,” Moran said at Pirate City Tuesday.