New York Yankees Sign Gerrit Cole
The Yankees haven’t had an ace since CC Sabathia in his prime.
The Yankees haven’t had REAL starting pitching depth since 2003.
GERRIT COLE
The Yankees haven’t gone out and gotten enough starting pitching to contend for a title since 2009, their last ring. (Reminder: That season they didn’t have REAL depth and CC Sabathia-A.J. Burnett-Andy Pettitte carried the load in October with extra days off in-between games due to scheduling.)
They had to do this. They had to sign Gerrit Cole. No matter the years or the money. The Yankees needed the biggest fish in the biggest pitching ocean.
Nine years. $324 million. A player option for a fifth-year opt-out. Gerrit Cole won’t have problems paying his light bills in the Big Apple.
This does so much for the Yankees and hurts so much for everyone else. Sure, there are heightened expectations for New York, in a World Series or bust type of mode times 10, and Cole must stay healthy. But think about these five things:
1. The Yanks finally have an ace.
2. The Yanks finally have starting pitching depth and can move the likes of James Paxton and Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka DOWN in the rotation with less pressure.
3. The Yanks finally can use the bullpen the right way, without openers and taxing the arms from April-October because they lack starting pitchers and have to shorten games.
4. The Yanks hurt Houston because they took one of their CY Young aces away.
5. The Yanks completely made Boston irrelevant for 2020 and possibly a couple years after that.
Again, they have to win. This is now about winning. Many, including me, thought for some time that Hank and Hal Steinbrenner, George’s kids, completely stopped caring about winning as owners. This was true until Houston whipped NY twice in October with power arms and Boston won a fourth World Series since 2004.
Andy Pettitte
Hank and Hal gave Brian Cashman permission to blow the bank account, to go get the best arm in the game at any cost. Hank and Hal apparently do care about winning, not just about making money and signing deals with European soccer clubs and the ACC and Big 10 and worrying about building the Pinstripe Bowl and selling tons of merchandise and re-signing old players for career milestones to amp-up YES Network ratings. Did we miss anything?
Remember 2009? The last time the Yanks won it all? That was the year they went full court press on CC Sabathia in the off-season and blew away the Angels and anyone else with huge money. Seven years. $161 million. Remember Sabathia having ties to the West Coast also, just like Cole? It doesn’t matter now, and it didn’t matter then. This isn’t 1985. Guys don’t play near their home in MLB, just like high school basketball players don’t always stick to home to play college ball. Everyone is on TV and plays in Madison Square Garden and competes for facilities and has cool uniforms. It’s simply not 1985 anymore in all sports. Baseball included. West Coast ties? Doesn’t matter. Money matters. Record deals matter.
Nothing is guaranteed in sports and even the Yankees, with all the money and great players and resources “shouldn’t” win the World Series every year. No one can do that no matter the circumstances. But one ring since 2009 is borderline unacceptable for this franchise.
If you build the team the right way and lose? No problem. There was a fair fight in October and the other team simply beat you. But that has not been the case for the pinstripes.
You see, they have had the lineup and a dominant bullpen and a solid manager the last decade. Their resources haven’t changed. The front office has supposedly gotten stronger with more nerds and a somehow smarter Brian Cashman, according to baseball pundits, who has been in the Bronx forever as the acting general manager.
CC Sabathia
But the New York Yankees haven’t had an ace, a real ace in years, let’s say since CC Sabathia from 2009-2012 or 2013, pick your year. They haven’t had starting pitching depth built for October. Many others have had both, and they have won it all and made repeated runs in October. The Giants and Astros and Cardinals and Red Sox and Royals and Nationals have all won since the Yankees have. Even the Cubs broke a 108-year drought and won it all in 2016. And they mostly did it because they had an ace (Jon Lester) and starting pitching depth (Jake Arrieta, John Lackey, Kyle Hendricks).
This World Series has been played since 1903. Think of a World Series winner that didn’t have a bona fide ace. You can’t. You simply can’t. From Babe Ruth to Whitey Ford to Sandy Koufax to Bob Gibson to John Smoltz to Jack Morris to Madison Bumgarner to Justin Verlander and. …
Gerrit Cole. The Yankees took one of Houston’s two aces to go win it all. There was no other choice because of the circumstances and the need to win now with the one need you haven’t had in what seems like forever.
Remember January 13, 2018? The Yankees wouldn’t include Miguel Andujar in a package for Gerrit Cole. An ace, the same ace they actually drafted way back when in the 2008 MLB Draft (28th overall but Cole honored his commitment to UCLA at the time and wouldn’t go pro). The Yanks wanted him then but somehow couldn’t trade a replaceable third baseman for him 10 years later when the writing was on the wall that this guy was special and an ace they needed?
A photo shoot for the World Series Trophy.
The Yankees weren’t about to miss or lose out for a third time in 2019. They got their man. They got their missing piece.
An ace. Nine years. $324 million. Yes, the expectations are high and it’s win it all or bust in 2020 and beyond maybe as much as it ever has been in the Bronx, which is saying something.
But this had to be done.
The Yankees needed an ace. And they finally have one.
Now, go get the ring.
Mike Lindsley has been in sports media for 20 years. Download/subscribe to his podcast the “ML Sports Platter” on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify. Follow him on Twitter @MikeLSports.
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