Chicago Cubs Rumors: Showing interest in Pirates’ Gerrit Cole

Lange and Albertos

If this is a deal the Cubs want to get done, it’s surely going to cost them a couple of their top pitching prospects. Pirates Break Down has heard they’re looking at Jose Albertos and Alex Lange. Albertos was selected in the amateur free agent draft and is currently the Cubs No. 2 prospect. Not expected to make the majors until sometime in 2022, but Albertos is only 19 years old. His development is still coming along, and he could be a factor in the future.

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But the problem with something like that is that the Pirates are conceding to a full-blown rebuild. While they deal away two years of a team-friendly contract of Cole, they’ll be gaining several years of control from the Cubs.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg for the Pirates. They’re also rumored to be in on Lange as well. While Albertos is young and raw, Lange already has some experience at the collegiate level.

Drafted in the first-round out of LSU, Lange went down to the wire to sign with the Cubs. Apparently, with some concerns about his physical, they took it right down to the wire with Lange.

But with that, he went right to work for the Cubs, reporting to the Eugene Emeralds. His sample size was small, tossing just 9 1/3 innings while allowing six runs, five earned.

The two-time All-American went 30-9 in 53 career starts and became the second pitcher in LSU history to record 400 strikeouts (406).

Caratini ready to go?

Victor Caratini is the other part of the deal and is major league ready now. As it stands, the Cubs would likely go with him as their backup catcher entering the season. But if he was dealt, you can expect the Cubs to make another signing for a backstop.

Caratini doesn’t have a whole lot more to prove in the minors at the plate. In 83 games at Iowa, he batted .342 with 10 home runs and 61 knocked in. In Double-A the year before, he hit .291 in 115 games. If anything, the Cubs would like him to get some more experience behind the plate. With Willson Contreras bound to get most of the action, there wouldn’t be a sufficient amount of innings to go around for Caratini.

Hence, the Cubs problem with him. Do they give him a go as the backup catcher and hope he picks things up? Or do they sign a veteran guy to backup Contreras and trade away Caratini?

Soft pass on this one

The good news is that Cole is going to come relatively cheap in his final two years, comparatively speaking. With Jon Lester making $27 million next season, any savings for the Cubs would be welcome. The Cubs could get him for right around $7-10 million, give or take. But do they want to give up that much controllable talent for two years of Cole?

Cole has been a good starter throughout his career, but I can’t see the Cubs pulling the trigger on a deal like this. With Jake Arrieta, Yu Darvish and Alex Cobb still out there, Cole might be a “fallback” if he’s still available. But based on what we’ve heard, the Cubs will get their man in the end. And that isn’t likely going to be Cole.

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Theo Epstein is just “kicking the tires” on about every pitcher, free agent or otherwise. This also might be a good way to find out–should the Cubs be in a position to–on what teams might want for said pitchers. Whatever the case, the Cubs will land their man. Just who that is, that’s a bit of a mystery.