The New York Yankees won the Gerrit Cole sweepstakes, agreeing with the ace right-hander on a massive nine-year, $324 million deal on Tuesday night.
The contract shattered the record for pitchers, as Stephen Strasburg had previously broken the record this past Monday when he inked a seven-year, $245 million pact to remain with the Washington Nationals.
While everyone and their goldfish knew Cole would end up being the top-paid free agent, I'm not sure anyone expected he would land $324 million. Not up until recently, anyway.
Now, putting the money aside for a second, let's talk about what this actually means for the Yankees and the MLB.
New York was already really, really good. The club just won 100 games in back-to-back seasons and made the ALCS in two of the last three years. They were just one major piece away from becoming the prohibitive favorite.
And the Yanks got it.
Cole gives the Yankees something they haven't really had in quite some time: a bona fide No. 1 starter and a guy who can stay healthy all season long and dominate hitters from April through October.
Think about it: who did New York lose to in the 2019 ALCS? The Houston Astros. Who was at the top of the Astros' starting rotation? Cole, and now, the Yankees have swiped him.
Don't get me wrong: Houston will still be formidable. A one-two punch of Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke is no joke, and the Astros still have a terrific offense.
But Verlander and Greinke are both getting older (Verlander in particular showed some cracks in the armor in these past playoffs), while Cole is in his prime.
The Yankees will now have a rotation that consists of Cole, playoff monster Masahiro Tanaka and a couple of really good No. 2 starters who can sometimes be low-end aces in Luis Severino and James Paxton.
That's pretty darn good.
Couple that with what should be a terrifying offense that includes Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and D.J. Lemahieu, and the Bronx Bombers have to be considered the World Series favorite heading into 2020 (health permitting).
For the last several years, the Yankees have been reluctant to spend big on pitching. Sure, they acquired Paxton in a trade with the Seattle Mariners last offseason and landed J.A. Happ in a 2018 deadline deal, but guys like Cole, Verlander and the like have consistently escaped their grasp. A lot of times, it was because the Yanks (of all teams) did not want to break the bank.
But now, it's safe to say that New York has broken the emergency glass with a full understanding that its title window is now and that it needed a top-of-the-line starting pitcher to finally get over the hump.
Believe it or not, the Yankees did not win a championship this decade. Their last title came in 2009, and while that is perfectly fine for most other MLB franchises, it's not the norm for the 27-time champion Yankees.
New York desperately needed Cole, and now, he will be able to contend for championships year in and year out while playing for the team he grew up rooting for. Oh, and he is making a king's ransom in the process.
Both sides won here, and big.
Follow Us
Subscribe