MLB Free Agents: 3 landing spots for Gerrit Cole
Suitor #3: Los Angeles Dodgers
This might come as a surprise to some, but I think the Dodgers should have a pretty good shot at landing Gerrit Cole.
They have money to spend and figure to be in on Gerrit Cole and/or Anthony Rendon so I would assume they will keep that stance.
As of right now, they do need starting pitching, and Cole fits that bill. Hyun-Jin Ryu and Rich Hill are both hitting the markets this winter as MLB free agents, and although Hill is likely to stay, as he is aging and won’t have a big market, Ryu is a finalist for the National League Cy Young award and he started for the NL in this year’s All-Star Game in Cleveland, so there will be some teams that could be willing to outbid the Dodgers for him. Some teams that could be willing to do so are the Texas Rangers and the Minnesota Twins.
Clayton Kershaw is pretty good in the regular season but even he has recognized that he is not a good pitcher in the postseason. Just one example of that is the back-to-back home runs that he gave up to Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto that tied Game 5 of the NLDS and the Dodgers season would end later in the night by Howie Kendrick.
Gerrit Cole has actually proved that he can pitch in the postseason, and we know the Dodgers have the money to go get a frontline starter in free agency and I don’t see Strasburg as someone who would want to come to the rival city of San Diego.
The next suitor is a team that hasn’t won it all in a decade.