BRADENTON, Fla. — Gerrit Cole thinks Tony Watson was the informant, since Watson usually is alert to trade and transaction talks. Either way, it was a year ago Saturday when Cole’s cell phone pinged with this news: The Pirates had signed infielder David Freese to a one-year deal.
“Wow,” Cole shot back. “That’s big.”
Freese, for the uninitiated, was the St. Louis Cardinals’ MVP in the 2011 World Series. Two years later, he drilled a go-ahead, two-run homer off Cole in Game 5 of the National League Division Series. Those details were hardly relevant a year ago — Freese was just a veteran infielder looking for a home halfway through spring training — but with Freese the past seems to remain relevant.