Pirates fans got mad at playful joke from former Yankees outfield dud on social media

The Gerrit Cole-Clint Frazier trade saga between the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees is one of the most interesting “what could have been” trade stories of the late 2010s – so much so that it's still being talked about today (by Frazier, anyway).

Reports around December 2017 and January 2018 indicated that the Yankees and Pirates had serious talks about Cole. The proposed framework centered on Frazier, the Yankees’ top outfield prospect and a former first-round pick with elite bat speed and power potential.

The Pirates were intrigued, but the Yankees refused to include Gleyber Torres or Miguel Andújar, whom Pittsburgh reportedly wanted instead. The talks dragged on for weeks but ultimately fell apart because the Pirates felt the Yankees’ offer wasn’t strong enough for their ace.

Instead, the Pirates traded Cole to the Houston Astros for right-hander Joe Musgrove, third baseman Colin Moran, reliever Michael Feliz and outfield prospect Jason Martin. Cole became an ace in Houston, and the return produced little long-term value for Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, the Yankees missed their chance to land Cole early, but they signed him two years later in free agency (nine years, $324 million). Frazier never lived up to his top-prospect billing and battled injuries and inconsistency before being DFA’d in 2021.

Clint Frazier trade jokes on social media struck a nerve with Pirates fans

Frazier, who has a YouTube channel where he livestreams Yankees games and discusses general news and his thoughts on the team, took to social media recently to clap back at New York fans who had jokingly proposed "trading" him to the Pirates eight years after the actual trade saga.

"Plz stop with the trades involving me to the Pirates," Frazier posted on X. "I don't wanna go to Pittsburgh. Trade vetoed."

Among the hundreds of replies to Frazier's post were a handful of Pittsburgh fans letting him know that Pittsburgh doesn't want him, anyway. After all, the Pirates have enough sub-.200 hitters on their roster as it is.

Perhaps Frazier's post, which was likely made in jest, hit a nerve with Pirates fans who remember the trade saga from 2017-18 not just because of how it almost happened, but because of what the Pirates ended up doing instead – and how badly that alternate path aged.

The Pirates' trade of Cole became one of the defining mistakes of the franchise’s modern era. It symbolized Pittsburgh’s short-sighted front-office mindset, preferring controllable, MLB-ready players over high-ceiling talent.

If the Pirates had made the Yankees deal and gotten Frazier, the return might still have fizzled – but the symbolism is powerful. Pittsburgh passed on a package from baseball’s biggest franchise and chose a more conservative route that failed spectacularly.

The episode encapsulates the Pirates’ cautious, small-market approach that’s haunted them for years. It became another cautionary tale about the Pirates’ inability to maximize star trade value – and one of the biggest “what ifs” in recent franchise history.