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).