Gerrit Cole wasn’t getting away from the Yankees, not this time.
Eleven years ago, Gerrit Cole was drafted by the Yankees out of high school. He was at the top of the team’s draft board with the hope they’d just secured their future ace. But the right-handed pitcher had other plans in mind, like college.
Cole decided to honor his commitment to UCLA, three years later he found himself back in the draft where he was selected with the top overall pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Following the 2017 season, the Yankees tried to trade for Cole. Instead, the Pirates agreed to a deal to send him to the Houston Astros.
That was the second swing and a miss, and the Yankees weren’t about to let there be a third. They couldn’t let it happen again, not this time.
Brian Cashman, general manager and senior vice president, watched Cole help the Astros defeat his team in the American League Championship series. The same team Cashman built, and the same team he believed was good enough to win a championship.
So, when Cole hit the market this winter as baseball’s top free agent, Cashman, along with Yankees’ managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, knew what needed to be done.
With Gerrit Cole on board, expectations begin and end with championships
During baseball’s winter meetings, the Yankees figuratively pulled up to the building with a Brinks truck big enough to make Cole an offer he couldn’t refuse. Both sides wound up agreeing to a nine-year $324 million contract, the fourth largest deal in MLB history.
Less than a week later, Cole was inside Yankee Stadium putting on the pinstripes he’s dreamed of wearing since he was a kid.
“He’s an unbelievable player and an unbelievable human being, and he’s going to be an unbelievable Yankee,” Steinbrenner said. “He checks all the boxes. He’s great with his teammates, great in the clubhouse. We need to win some world championships, and I believe we’re going to do that sooner rather than later. I believe we’re going to do that — plural.”
What he brings to the Bronx is worth the stretch
When it comes to helping the Yankees bring a world championship back to the Bronx for the first time since 2009, Cole checks all the necessary boxes.
In 2019, Cole pitched to a 20-5 record for the Houston Astros. He led the American League in strikeouts with 326, his 212.1 innings pitched ranked him second on the team.
To put into perspective Cole’s ability to pitch deep into ballgames, Masahiro Tanaka led the Yankees in 2019 with 182.0 innings pitched. J.A. Happ finished a distant second with 161.1 innings pitched.
The Yankees, for as great as they were offensively in 2019, struggled for the majority of the season with their starting pitching. They lacked a legitimate number one, they were missing an ace.
The ace of the pitching rotation is the player who’s the best starting pitcher on the team. When everything is going wrong, and the losses begin to pile up, the ace is expected to be the team’s stopper. They’re the one expected to pitch deep into games when the bullpen is depleted from overuse. That player isn’t just getting the ball on Opening Day, they’re number is called for an elimination game.
The Astros and Washington Nationals wouldn’t have treated us to an epic World Series without the performance of their starting pitchers on baseball’s biggest stage. The Nationals don’t win their first world championship without the dominant effort Steven Strasburg gave them.
And that’s why the Nationals rewarded Strasburg with a seven-year deal reported to be valued at $245 million. One day later, the Yankees went all in for Cole. Starting pitching still matters in baseball.
The pitching, along with a formidable everyday lineup, will give the Yankees a complete team capable of delivering multiple world championships
The Astros, with Cole as their ace, defeated the Yankees in seven games to clinch the American League championship and move on to play in the World Series. The Yankees now instantly become favorites to win the World Series by signing Cole.
A strong rotation for this team will shift the bullpen back into more of a supporting role. Cole and Tanaka, along with a healthy Luis Severino, will form a strong 1-2-3 punch at the top of the starting rotation.
It’s been a decade since the Yankees won a World Series. A lot has happened along the way in their pursuit of another championship.
They exercised patience with their prospects and now have an exciting young core led by Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, and Gary Sanchez. When it was apparent a new voice at manager was necessary, the change was made from Joe Girardi to Aaron Boone.
Their bullpen is one of the best in baseball. The re-signing of Brett Gardner for his 13th season, all in pinstripes, indicates an awareness to maintaining the right mix of youth, talent, and experience required to push for a championship.
Gerrit Cole justifies use of the “big hammer”
The Yankees were already loaded, but the addition of Cole raises expectations for everyone involved. If this team remains relatively healthy, anything short of a world championship is unacceptable.
Shortly after the Cole negotiations were completed, Brian Cashman likened the team’s approach to their spending as “using every tool in the toolbox, not just the big hammer”. Everyone knows the Yankees have the financial resources to outbid anyone in the room when they need to.
The Yankees did indeed show restraint when it came to the availability of Bryce Harper and Manny Machado last winter. Adding either one of those bats to an already star-studded lineup would’ve given new meaning to overkill.
But Cashman did make use of his “toolbox” in deals which brought Luke Voit and Mike Tauchman to the Yankees. Both players have produced and played integral roles for this team. The Yankees don’t always have to use their big hammer, however, it never hurts to let everyone know it’s still ready when needed. You think the Mets over in Queens wouldn’t mind having that option?
Gerrit Cole is worth the use of that big hammer which brought him to the Bronx. His numbers justify the sense of urgency the Yankees operated with in order to make sure the deal was done.
Cole pitched his way to the top of the free agent market. He has a full no-trade clause in his contract with a reported player’s opt-out after the fifth season. If it wasn’t going to be the Yankees, another team would’ve given him a nearly identical deal, perhaps the Angels or Dodgers.
So, the Yankees did what very few teams can do. They reminded everyone why they’re the Yankees. They used their big hammer and made sure Cole understood just how much they needed to make this move.
The Yankees couldn’t pass on this one. Not this move, not this player, and not for where this team is presently positioned. They couldn’t let Gerrit Cole get away again, not this time.
