Yankees Get Their Man, Sign Cole to $324 million Deal

Just hours after the New York Yankees lost Didi Gregorius to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Bronx Bombers scooped up free agent pitcher Gerrit Cole on a record breaking nine-year, $324 million deal. 

Didi who? Exactly. 

The Yankees got the pitcher they have coveted for well over a decade when they drafted him out of high school in 2008. Back then, Cole spurned the Yanks for college and UCLA. Cole would eventually make it to the Big Leagues, but with Pittsburgh, before being dealt to Houston in 2018.  

The Yankees always wanted to have Cole on their team for so many reasons, the obvious being he was a combined 35-10 with a 2.68 ERA in Houston the past two seasons, and his record setting 326 strikeout season in 2019 was certainly none too shabby. 

The guy is a difference maker, just ask the Astros who watched Cole win 20 games for them and lead them to an American League title this past season. 

Cole, a Yankee fan growing up in California, who used to fly cross country to see his favorite team, now gets to suit up for them every single day for the next decade. 

Let's be honest the Yankees had to do this. 

They have tremendous young stars on the field in Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, and Luke Voit, all of whom are entering their prime years. While New York's bullpen was one of the best in the Big League's last season, the Yankees  Achilles heal was their lack of quality starting pitching. The Yankees went the entire 2019 season without a defiant ace, and somehow got to the ALCS. 

Sure Mashairo Tanaka can be THAT guy, but he's as good a number two starter as there is in the Majors. The uncertainty surrounding Luis Severino and his health certainly scares the Yankees, especially after inking him to a long term deal. James Paxton had an solid first season in the Bronx, but he's no ace, and CC Sabathia just retired. The Yankees needed this marriage to happen. 

They couldn't afford to sit and watch Cole take more money to play in Los Angeles with the Angels or Dodgers. 

After watching the Red Sox and Astros dominant the American League and the sport the past three years, the Yankees wanted to get their pound of flesh. They have been so close to competing for and winning a title, that they know Cole gets them a step closer to making that dream a reality. 

For Brian Cashman and crew, it is mission accomplished. Now the rest of the off-season is about tightening up the back end of the rotation, adding pieces to the ben and improving the bench. Regardless the Yankees are entering a new decade as the favorite to win the World Series.