I know New York Yankees fans are going to get mad at me when they see the Angels logo next to Gerrit Cole’s name, but I think he is set on going back to the West Coast.
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Scott Boras has had lunch with Los Angeles Angels owner, Arte Moreno, so it seems that their relationship is slowly repairing. A sign of that as when Boras’ client, Matt Harvey, signed with the Angels last winter.
Brian Cashman is going to make a run at Cole, but as I wrote the Yankees’ owner is not George Steinbrenner any longer so the Yankees fans can’t get mad when they sign more affordable MLB free agents like they did last year with D.J. Lemahieu (even if it is a position player).
An example of a more affordable option on the starting pitching market this winter would be Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel.
Getting back to the Angels, they need to sign Gerrit Cole. They have a very young rotation that got even younger when Tyler Skaggs sadly passed away in the middle of the 2019 season while the club was in Texas for a series with the Rangers.
The Angels didn’t get Joe Maddon to lead the club just to be an average team. The goal for them is that they are in contention starting next season and Gerrit Cole would be a very good start to accomplishing that goal.
GM Billy Eppler is in entering the last season of his contract and if he fails to add MLB free agents like starting pitching, his job could be in serious jeopardy.