With trade talks between Yankees and Pirates for Cole heating up, can Levine swoop in?

[Richie the Rally Goat]

The earliest rumor from an independent Pittsburgh guy was Gordon, Granite and Jay for Cole. That trade sounds like a win-win for both teams and bridges the Twins until Berrios matures and Falvey's own draft selections begin to bear fruit. I might even sweeten the deal by offering a AA starter instead of Jay and ask for an arm in return.

 

If Darvish plans to hold out for $200 million until mid January (no idea what his intentions are), then I think the Twins need to move on Cole and make a deal.

as others have said, why not both? Waiting it out could hurt Darvish’s value, so maybe he could be signed for 4/120 if his other suitors get impatient.

[ashbury]

The Twins can go and Phil Hughes him in two years

Poor Phil. It's rarely good news when you get verbed.

[John Bonnes]

In another thread, I listed my pretty initial list of top 20 trade assets that the Twins have. Here it was:

 

1 Byron Buxton
2 Jose Berrios
3 Royce Lewis
4 Miguel Sano
5 Eddie Rosario
6 Jorge Polanco
7 Max Kepler
8 Ervin Santana
9 Brian Dozier
10 Stephen Gonsalves
11 Fernando Romero
12 Nick Gordon
13 Jason Castro
14 Tyler Jay
15 Adalberto Mejia 
16 Alex Kiriloff
17 Zach Granite
18 Trevor Hildenberger
19 Brent Rooker
20 Mitch Garver

 

I think I'd slot two years of Gerrit Cole as #5 on that list, so the top four names are off limits. I might not even do Polanco straight up, but I would do Rosario, oddly enough. The Gordon/Granite/Jay rumor looks pretty palatable. 

 

Would people give up Kepler and someone near the bottom of that list, like Tyler Jay?

[jorgenswest]

I would give up Kepler and Jay but I think the Pirates want better than Frazier/Adams from the Yankees. A Kepler/Jay offer isn’t in the ballpark.

[nicksaviking]

I would give up Kepler and Jay but I think the Pirates want better than Frazier/Adams from the Yankees. A Kepler/Jay offer isn’t in the ballpark.

I agree that the Pirates probably want better than Kepler/Jay, however I might guess that Frazier doesn't have nearly the prestige with front offices as he did with the media promoting him when he came up. He probably winds up in a corner OF spot, he probably has better than average power but big contact and strikeout issues.

 

If the Yankees are pushing Frazier on me I probably look at it similar to the Dodgers and Jose De Leon last year; a guy with a ton of helium who doesn't appear to have the skill to match the hype.

[jorgenswest]

Frazier v Kepler could go either way. Kepler is more established. Frazier has more years on control. Adams is the better player in the deal though. The Pirates may see him as a better prospect than Gonsalves and Romero.

 

The Pirates can be patient and deal at mid season if they don’t be the deal they want this winter.

[Mr. Brooks]

I agree that the Pirates probably want better than Kepler/Jay, however I might guess that Frazier doesn't have nearly the prestige with front offices as he did with the media promoting him when he came up. He probably winds up in a corner OF spot, he probably has better than average power but big contact and strikeout issues.

 

If the Yankees are pushing Frazier on me I probably look at it similar to the Dodgers and Jose De Leon last year; a guy with a ton of helium who doesn't appear to have the skill to match the hype.

I'm not sure I'd call Frazier a helium guy. That's a term for guys who rise high very quickly. Frazier was a #5 overall pick, whose prospect status has been pretty consistent since.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Cole to the Astros for Musgrove, Moran and a couple of other guys. What would the equivalent have been for the Twins?

 

I’m thinking Trevor May, Alex Kiriloff, plus maybe Granite and Jorge, or something like that?

[jorgenswest]

Musgrove and Moran had appearances on a top 100 list.

 

The K numbers of Féliz are hard to match but he is a 25 year old with a very good arm and experience in the majors. Perhaps Pressly, May or Duffey is a match.

 

Mejia might match Musgrove

 

Moran is a major league ready 3B coming off a strong season. Granite and Garver never had his status as a prospect but both are major league ready coming off strong seasons. Moran is just better though. He was ranked a B prospect by Sickels and the Twins has two of those in Romero and Javier.

 

Martin was graded a B- prospect and looks to be a 4th OF. Baddoo was ranked similarly as a B-.

 

I suppose Mejia, Pressly, Javier and Granite might be similar in 3 players ready to be major leaguers but I think the Pirates would still take the Astros deal because Moran is the best prospect that is major league ready player of the 8 and Granite has a pretty low ceiling. The Twins would have to upgrade on Mejia or Granite to win the deal.