The New York Yankees won the biggest prize of the MLB offseason on Tuesday night, striking a nine-year, $324 million deal with ace right-hander Gerrit Cole.
And apparently, no one else even came close.
Jorge Castillo of The Los Angeles Times notes two other known offers for Cole.
The Los Angeles Dodgers put eight years and $300 million on the table, although the contract contained deferrals. The Los Angeles Angels did not even crack a $300 million offer over eight years with their pitch, one that, just like the Dodgers, included deferrals.
Not only did Cole get the most money from the Yankees, but he also got to join the club he grew up rooting for and will get to regularly contend for championships in the process.
Yes, Cole was raised in Southern California, but the Dodgers, while really good, don't quite have the impressive roster that the Yanks possess, and the Angels are pretty far away from legitimately contending.
Clearly, this was not even much of a contest.
Cole spent the last two years with the Houston Astros and is coming off of a masterful 2019 campaign in which he went 20-5 with a 2.50 ERA, allowing just 142 hits while striking out 326 batters over 212 1/3 innings of work. He made the All-Star team and finished second in AL Cy Young voting as a result, with now-former Astros teammate Justin Verlander beating him out for the honor.
The 29-year-old was actually drafted by the Yankees back in 2008, but he elected to go to UCLA instead. He was then selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates three years later.
He made his big-league debut with the Pirates in 2013 and spent the first five years of his career there before being dealt to the Astros in November 2017.
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