Pirates prefer to deal with Yankees, also keeping close eye on Orioles

The Pittsburgh Pirates went into the Winter Meetings last week with optimism there was a deal to be made with the New York Yankees that would send starter Gerrit Cole to New York but [hide] Pittsburgh left the meetings without an agreement in place and trade talks have yet to progress since as MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal reports talks have “cooled” between the Pirates, Yankees since the Meetings.

Pirates GM Neal Huntington has developed a reputation around the industry for being very difficult to trade with as other GM’s/executives feel Huntington is notorious for having unreasonable asking prices on his core players. Huntington’s asking price on Cole hasn’t changed that view of him where Cole is regarded as a No. 3 type but Pittsburgh is marketing Cole in talks as an ‘Ace’.

While Pirate officials identified the Yankees as the clear cut team they wanted to make a Cole trade with, Pittsburgh is willing to let things play out if the Yankees don’t budge as the Pirates feel Cole’s value won’t change much at all between now and July 31 or even next off-season.

Another AL East club the Pirates are remaining in touch with on Cole are the Baltimore Orioles whose farm system could become much improved with a Manny Machado trade. [/hide]