BRADENTON, Fla. — The back fields at Pirate City were emptying when the commotion commenced. As Josh Bell walked toward the clubhouse at the conclusion of Pirates minicamp Jan. 10, he heard someone say Gerrit Cole had been traded to the Houston Astros. Bell, who’d been linked with Cole since the Pirates drafted them with their top two picks in 2011, spun and asked, “Are you serious?”
In an instant, a sluggish offseason had snapped into overdrive.
A few miles away, Jameson Taillon was at the wheel of a rental car headed for the airport. In the back seat, teammates Adam Frazier and A.