Houston Astros starting pitcher Gerrit Cole is on a new team for the 2018 MLB season. Michael Grennell assesses his fantasy baseball value and early ADP.

The Gerrit Cole sweepstakes have finally come to an end and the Houston Astros are the new home of the 27-year-old former first round pick.

Houston traded third baseman Colin Moran, outfielder Jason Martin and pitchers Joe Musgrove and Michael Feliz to Pittsburgh in order to add Cole to an already formidable Astros rotation. With a career 59-42 record, 3.50 ERA and 734 strikeouts, Cole will likely slide into the No. 3 slot in the rotation behind former Cy Young Award-winners Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel.

While Cole will improve the Astros' rotation, it's now been two seasons since he was named to the National League All-Star team and finished fourth in the Cy Young Award voting and he hasn't matched those numbers since. Can he return to form in 2018 against tougher American League hitters?

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A Stone-Cole Houston Astros rotation

After an injury-riddled 2016 season, Cole threw 203 innings — third-most in the National League — over 33 starts last year, compiling a 12-12 record with a 4.26 ERA. Cole did manage to match his 2015 strikeout rate with an 8.7 K/9, but his 2.4 BB/9 was up from 2015 and his 1.4 HR/9 was a career-worst for him.

While those numbers don't look great on paper, advanced statistics show that Cole was a better pitcher than his stat line shows. He had a 4.08 FIP and when his HR/FB rate was normalized to what it should have been based on the number of fly balls he surrendered, Cole had a 3.81 xFIP. This makes sense that Cole was unlucky when it came to giving up home runs in 2017, as his 15.9% HR/FB rate was 6.5% higher than his previous career-high from 2015.

Joining the Astros, Cole now gets the backing of one of the top offenses in MLB that led the majors with 5.53 runs per game in 2017. After previously being supported by an offense that averaged 4.12 runs per game — third-worst in the majors in 2017 — Cole should see an uptick in wins this year and could potentially win 20 games in Houston.

Another reason to buy in on Cole is Astros pitching coach Brent Strom. Strom has a good track record when it comes to "fixing" pitchers like Charlie Morton and Verlander. In just one season with Strom and the Astros, Morton recorded career-bests with a 1.193 WHIP, 7.7 H/9, and 10.0 K/9 while Verlander lowered his WHIP from 1.279 to 0.647 and raised his K/9 from 9.2 to 11.4 after being acquired at the end of August. Based on his potential, his underlying numbers and his previous success, it's not much of a stretch to think that under the tutelage of Strom and pitching alongside Verlander and Keuchel, Cole could become an elite pitcher in 2018.

As for the players Houston sent to Pittsburgh in the trade, the one who is likely to get the most playing time with the Pirates this year is Musgrove. Ranked as one of the top-10 prospects in the Astros' organization in 2015, Musgrove has made 25 starts over the last two seasons and compiled an 11-12 record with a 4.52 ERA and 8.0 K/9. He will be competing for a spot in the Pirates rotation out of Spring Training but even if he does win a starting job he would likely only be worth owning in an NL-only league.

After five seasons in the minors Moran looks like he could be a .290 hitter with 10 to 15 HR, making him comparable to current Pirates third baseman David Freese. A hot start by Moran or a cold start by Freese could give Moran a chance to start at third, but for now it seems like Moran will be competing for the starting job in 2019 with Freese signed through the end of this season.

Martin looks like he could hit 15 HR with 15 steals, but with the current outfielders in Pittsburgh and their minor league affiliates Martin is on the outside looking in when it comes to playing time. With a career 12.79 K/9 and 3.67 FIP, Feliz looks like an interesting high-strikeout middle reliever option, but his 17.1% HR/FB and 3.57 BB/9 suggest otherwise. Martin and Feliz are both worth keeping an eye on, but neither will likely help your fantasy team any time soon.

Our rankings said to target Cole around the 10th round when he was in Pittsburgh, but now that he's with Houston, drafting him in the seventh, sixth or even fifth rounds doesn't seem unreasonable. For those playing in keeper and dynasty leagues, now would be the time to try and acquire Cole if you don't already own him. In his All-Star season in 2015, Cole had a 19-8 record with a 2.06 ERA, 1.091 WHIP and 202 strikeouts. With all the tools and weapons around Cole in Houston, there is no reason to believe he can't do the same or better in 2018.

More 2018 Player Outlooks