Will anyone outbid the New York Yankees for Gerrit Cole?
Currently, there is only one offer we are aware of for free-agent pitcher Gerrit Cole and it comes from the New York Yankees. Will anyone beat that offer?
The New York Yankees currently have a contract offer on the table for Gerrit Cole and it’s a big one, seven years, $245 million. That would be a record-breaking contract for a pitcher in terms of AAV, passing up Zack Greinke‘s $34.4 million.
The main question is will anyone surpass that offer?
If any team is going to beat that, they are going to have to be willing to either offer more money per year or lengthen the contract and go 8 or 9 years, maybe even 10 years. Normally contracts of that size include some kind of no-trade clause and player opt-outs.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Angels are the other teams rumored to have interest in Cole. I just don’t see them as being able or willing to go that high for a starting pitcher.
The Dodgers don’t have a big enough need in their rotation to give Cole that amount of cash. Especially with Walker Buehler budding into a superstar in their rotation.
The Angels would be more likely to try to match the Yankees offer. They really don’t have much in the way of starting pitching. They just signed Dylan Bundy, but that is hardly enough to put alongside Shohei Ohtani and Andrew Heaney.
Also, I’m not quite sure why it is absolutely necessary for the Yankees to sign an ace in the rotation. It seems like everyone is forgetting about their current ace, Luis Severino. I know he was injured practically all of last year, but his return was very promising.
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I get that Cole is the best free-agent pitcher around and maybe the Yankees are going to return to their practice of purchasing titles. The Angels have a greater need, but in the end, Cole will more than likely end up in Yankee pinstripes.