Nice to hear on Baz.
The more I think about it, the more I like my insanely improbable Bregman concoction (of course...). The Astros have plenty of elite young players, and the stars are aligning to give them an extremely strong chance to win it all this year. They might look to the Cubs for an example of still aggressively supplementing a dominant team, and although Bregman is better than anybody that the Cubs shipped off, the fact is he's underperformed this season and they should be focused on whatever they can do to win now.
I think you can definitely make the argument that Quintana is a better acquisition than Cole, and the White Sox would definitely trade him for Bregman, but it's not decisive one way or another. The Pirates also could package Freese in a deal, giving a standout veteran presence who can play some games at third base. Cole + Freese for Bregman, a mid-list prospect, and somebody way down on the list, which is quite deep in any case.
Houston potentially gives up an elite position player, but they have Correa, Altuve, Springer, etc., to fall back on as the offensive core of the team. Plus you add Cole right into the mix, and, here's the kicker, you basically don't have to touch your young stable of prospects. Cole would need to pick it up a bit to make this more plausible, but I can't imagine GMs would be extremely sour on him all things considered. He's had a small handful of very bad starts, and the HR problem is a real concern, but it's not like he's flaming out here. Keuchel-Cole-McCullers is a pretty devastating 1-2-3 punch when you have one of the most dynamic lineups in baseball as well, and you keep all this for the next 2.5 seasons.
From the Pirates perspective, a slightly struggling but potentially elite position player is exactly the cure that ails you for slotting somebody into the lineup immediately, and retooling for both 2018 and beyond. Trade Cutch for the best prospect haul you can get, and maybe toss Nicaso into one of the deals for some extra sweetening.
I'm trying to transition into Desiring All the Trades mode with one month to go before the deadline. For me, Bregman constitutes one of the only real ways I would trade Cole right now, since it's potentially just as easy or easier to get a massive prospect haul for him in the winter if we decide to go that route. The Astros were unwilling to move him in the winter, but maybe will be more antsy now both with seeing how dominant Sale has been and with seeing how threatening the Dodgers currently are. I'd put the odds of moving Cole at well below 50%, but for me this is the type of big swap that might actually make some sense. I'm looking beyond it at Cutch deals, possible veteran auctions, and also potential value grabs for next year and beyond. An extremely active deadline would at least bring some genuine excitement to this team.
More generally, a big splash like Bregman might be exactly the kind of shakeup the organization really needs. Sure, getting a massive haul of prospects from all hands on the trading deck would vault us towards the top of deep farms, but it's not exactly the clearest solution with the elements of a core already locked in until 2022 or so. I don't think it would be easy, and I can't see a similar analogue to Bregman on any other potential buyers, but I'm not sure what else to say. Huntington is really not in an enviable position.
