Cole To Yankees 9 Years $324 Million

Murderer's Crow

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Yeah, I want to be clear: I actually think this is generally the right move for the Yankees and possibly an incredibly good one. As a Sox fan, that part def. bums me out. The difference with 2009 is that they have a young core this time as opposed to an aging one that was necessarily in a win now mode. This could theoretically set them up for a very long period of dominance.

But there is always risk committing so many resources and years to a single guy – as we see with Price (who I think has been worth his deal actually notwithstanding his injuries and crankiness). And at this point in my sports watching career, I’ve generally learned to temper my expectations in both directions – particularly when discussing guys coming to play for Boston or NY.

The option that might have scared me more would have been trading for a guy like Sale where you get three years of cost controlled dominance and the downside risk is that the guys you trade turn out to be super valuable. Of course the Sox kind of f’d that up by extending Sale, but those kinds of deals—and I guess you could consider Paxton that kind of deal—suggest a less fixed approach to roster construction that I prefer. But I guess sometimes you just have to pay up.
I don't think this is unreasonable, so let me start there. But...it's an odd take for another team to be happy that the Yankees might overpay for someone. Is the thought there that it might hold them back from a future signing a few years from now? Don't be great now so you can have a chance to improve later? Like in 6 years, Cole is a number 3 and they can't sign <ace pitcher>? First, who knows if that hypothetical would be true. Second, CBA is going to be a street fight and luxury taxes are almost certain to change. Third, it isn't like they've ever been guaranteed to sign whoever the best players are anyway. So, yea this could really be a bad contract but I wouldn't count on it somehow limiting the team's flexibility substantially.
 

mauf

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Gerrit Cole just broke the Astros’ single-season strikeout record, which was formerly held by ... J.R. Richard. Pitching is fickle.

The Yankees are going to outspend everyone, and they’re not going to be totally stupid about it. Having them commit $324 million to a pitcher when the Sox appear to be on the cusp of a couple lean years is the best we can hope for. I like this signing.
 

terrynever

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A little irony here, very little actually. This century’s World Series winners through the first 20 seasons looks a lot like the last one. Boston had five titles thru 1919. Yanks had zero. Maybe NY is gearing up for a dynastic run. This team has won 203 games over the past two seasons, without an ace. If Cole can sustain his excellence through age 32, the Yanks might get on a roll. Nobody has repeated since 1999-2000. That’s the organizational goal. Win one, and don’t stop. Try to win three or four.
 
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TheDivision

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Elite and near elite players will always break some kind of salary record when they hit free agency in good economic periods. Regardless if they are deemed worth it or not. An article yesterday quoted Boras as stating this fact. He mentioned that revenue last year, 11 billion, was at an all-time high, and the price for premium pitching dating back to Greg Maddux to Zito to CC escalates in such economic environment. Cole will generate a lot of money for NY and MLB. I’m a simple example as I usually wait for father’s day sale of MLB.TV for $49.99. Next season, I don’t think I’m going to wait.
 

santadevil

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There is always a risk. Felix Hernandez was on track to be a first ballot Hall of Famer and then just poof turned into a pumpkin at the age of 29. It happens.

But at the same time, if you are an organization like the Yankees you can afford to take on some risk.
The crappy thing with Felix is that through age 28 he had over 2,000 regular season innings on his arm already
Cole is just around 1,200

Yankees got their man, it'll make things more interesting in the AL East. I look forward to the Sox competing against these guys next year
 

E5 Yaz

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36M a year seems like a lot of money ... until you realize you could make the same amount by simply duct-taping 240 bananas to a canvas and selling them for 150K each
 

Max Power

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E5 Yaz

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36M a year seems like a lot of money ... until you realize you could make the same amount by simply duct-taping 240 bananas to a canvas and selling them for 150K each
Oops, that would be 300 bananas at 120K each
 

mauidano

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Does this blow past the tax threshold for NY? Cashman et al had their eye on the prize and got it. Very exciting for Cole ND the NY fan base but we still gotta play the games. Nine years is a long time contract wise. Some serious dough; $100MM, tied up in just four players.
 

jon abbey

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Does this blow past the tax threshold for NY? Cashman et al had their eye on the prize and got it. Very exciting for Cole ND the NY fan base but we still gotta play the games. Nine years is a long time contract wise. Some serious dough; $100MM, tied up in just four players.
They are around $246M right now, which includes Ellsbury's salary. They are expected to move Happ and his $17M salary in the near future, but even with that, they may end up over $248M for a year, but it will be easy to get below next year.
 

54thMA

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I'm not scared for some reason. Let's see how it goes.
They traded for ARod; end result, one WS appearance/one win.
They spent a quarter of a billion dollars in the 2008 off season on free agents; end result, one WS appearance/ one win. Gee, go figure, never saw that win coming.
They traded for Stanton; so far, zero WS appearances/wins.
Today they spent a third of a billion dollars on Cole; we'll see.

You shouldn't be scared.
 

TheDivision

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I'm not scared for some reason. Let's see how it goes.
The 2019 Astros had the equivalent of two dominant CY winners and two position players that were #s 2 and 7 in MVP results, and what happened to them? The Yankees, as great as they look on paper, have to play the games, and the offense has to actually show up in the postseason.
 

nvalvo

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He has soccer and racing to consider. Have to strike a balance.
The soccer is probably subsidizing the baseball at this point.

Given publicly available financial information, Liverpool is worth half a billion pounds, has a player payroll of ~£110m, and an annual income of ~£200m. That means the club has already appreciated ~50 percent since FSG bought it, unsurprising given the recent success, including the UEFA Champions League title. It also means Liverpool likely clears a tidy profit, and probably offers a considerably higher return on investment than the Red Sox/NESN do, even if the Sox have a much higher valuation.

Forbes puts the entire value of the racing team at less than the value of Xander Bogaerts' contract.
 
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sean1562

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t has been great that we have been able to keep them to just 2 WS wins this millennium. But I imagine that dry spell has to end eventually.
 

sean1562

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True as it may be, I do want to call out that the people who continuously say the Yankees have only one championship in almost 20 years compared the Sox's 4 sound a lot like the Yankees fans who wear t-shirts saying "27 HOW BOUT YOUR TEAM??"
lol fair enough. im really happy with the success I have been able to see the Sox go through as a teen/adult. But the Yanks are the Yanks, you are bound to have some dynasties eventually. Unfortunately for us, it seems like you are in the middle of one. Hopefully the Sox can get some solid young players and knock you out of the playoffs in one of these coming seasons. Should be fun, but next year I fully expect you to dominate us.
 

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True as it may be, I do want to call out that the people who continuously say the Yankees have only one championship in almost 20 years compared the Sox's 4 sound a lot like the Yankees fans who wear t-shirts saying "27 HOW BOUT YOUR TEAM??"
Unless the guy wearing that shirt is 110 years old, it's not a great comparison.
 

TheDivision

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Murderer's Crow

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Unless the guy wearing that shirt is 110 years old, it's not a great comparison.
I think you get the point, though. In the past 12 hours I think I've read that about 60 times from Sox fans. Not just on here but all over. The Yankees want/need one bad. That much is obvious, but it's not like the last 20 years has been some miserable dark spot for Yankees fans.
 

Pandarama

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I think we can all thank Brian "Checkbook" Cashman on delivering a much needed Ace to the Yankees, while also putting the MF back into Yankees for other fans.

We can only hope the Cashman's latest FA signing out of Houston works as well as the last time he overpaid for an Astros Ace.

Somewhere Suzy is having an orgasm.
Oh, my goodness gracious!
 

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While I'd like to be a little younger, I'm happy to have seen seven. I know we have a few members here who have seen more. Yankees fans have been spoiled, even though it has been a while.
 

jon abbey

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Rosenthal:

“ Previously unreported detail in Gerrit Cole’s contract: If he opts out after fifth year, NYY may void opt-out and extend contract one more year for $36M. That would increase value of deal to 10 years, $360M.”
 

TheDivision

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Rosenthal:

“ Previously unreported detail in Gerrit Cole’s contract: If he opts out after fifth year, NYY may void opt-out and extend contract one more year for $36M. That would increase value of deal to 10 years, $360M.”
That’s a creative contra opt-out. A long way to go until then, but it would be nice if he remains dominate enough to contemplate exercising it.
 

terrynever

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While I'd like to be a little younger, I'm happy to have seen seven. I know we have a few members here who have seen more. Yankees fans have been spoiled, even though it has been a while.
It was so easy before playoffs. Just outlast 7 other teams for 154 games, then try to win the World Series. The peak years were 1949-53. I was alive and unaware. Woke up in 1955 and they only won every other year from then thru 1964. Now you have two or three playoff rounds and the World Series. So now it’s hard. Everyone knows that.
 
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jon abbey

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That’s a creative contra opt-out. A long way to go until then, but it would be nice if he remains dominate enough to contemplate exercising it.
Britton (also a Boras client) has something similar in his deal, with way way less money and years at stake. After 2020, NY has to make a decision on exercising a $14M option for him in 2022. If they decide not to, Britton has the option to opt out then and become a free agent (after 2020) or play under the $13M already agreed on for 2021. This is another reason Hader makes sense if possible, more leverage for the team in this situation next winter.
 

jon abbey

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While I'd like to be a little younger, I'm happy to have seen seven. I know we have a few members here who have seen more. Yankees fans have been spoiled, even though it has been a while.
Championships are the pinnacle, flags fly forever, and other cliches, but from a young age I have thought/witnessed that back to back (or more) championships are so much more than twice as pleasurable as a fan, the more you have seen your team win in different ways, the more you expect it to come through when needed and the less stress you incur watching, the more you can relax and see how your boys will likely pull it out this time.

This comes from formative experiences in my teens with the 1980-83 Islanders (the only hockey team I have ever been into and I was quite into it), the 1978-83 Cosmos (six straight regular season titles and four championships in six years, this is the only sports team I have ever had season tickets for, my dad and I went when I was 11 and up, RIP AAA) and of course my first Yankee memories, the end of 76 into 78, a WS loss after a ALCS winning walkoff HR by Chambliss, followed by two titles over the Dodgers, thank you Reggie. Also I co-captained the 1987-88 NCAA champion fencing team, we started a run of ten straight top 2 finishes for Columbia (sorry if I mention this too often but it is another reason why I am obsessed with back to back titles as that's what I spent most of my senior year trying to make sure happened).

So yes no Yankee titles since 2009, but if people remember 2004, it's pretty likely they remember most or all of 96-01 when NY won four WS and almost a 5th, 14-1 in series before that (14-1!) and so close to somehow stealing the series from peak Schilling/Johnson, so just know when people try to mock the Yankees for not winning in a decade, that is what I think about.

I haven't seen it reported so much yet, but Cole is someone who knows his facts, so when he said today that he is hoping to help get NY to 30 titles, he knows very well they are at 27 right now. Yes, please.
 

jon abbey

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Also I hope NY visiting clubhouse manager Lou Cucuzza is getting a nice bonus in his next check, this is Cole's words today:

"I always come into Lou's office when I got nothing to do and I kick my feet up on the table, and we just talk about stuff. We were talking about my trip to Italy with my wife the other year, and he always likes to know what I'm cooking because I like to cook at my house. I showed him pictures of a meal that we ate in a cellar in Florence and there's a picture of a bottle of Masseto. He asked me what the bottle was and I said, 'It's Masseto, it's probably acknowledged as the second best red wine in the world.'

"Aaron brought a couple bottles of it and one of the vintages they brought was one of the exact same vintage from the anniversary dinner that my wife and I had in Florence. I was a little bit back on my heels. I remember trying to stay focused on the meeting and not thinking about booze the entire time, but I still couldn't figure it out.

"When I came home, I was telling (my wife) Amy, 'How the f--- did they pull that off?' Not many people in the world know that that's my favorite wine ... I laid my head down at like 11:30 at night and didn't sleep much that day. I flew back up and I was like, 'LOU!' I remembered the conversation and I guess it went from Lou to (Brian Cashman) to Boone.""

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/how-a-little-known-yankees-employee-may-have-helped-the-yankees-land-gerrit-cole/
 

EvilEmpire

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Thanks for sharing that, Jon. I love these stories. Cole's sign. The attention to detail with the wine. Good stuff.
 

TheDivision

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The Yankees got game and had Cole thinking about them all night. That is incredible. They definitely get an A+ by using Pettitte and Masseto .If only the Knicks could be as enticing.

It was indeed an enjoyable read, thanks JA.
 

terrynever

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Championships are the pinnacle, flags fly forever, and other cliches, but from a young age I have thought/witnessed that back to back (or more) championships are so much more than twice as pleasurable as a fan, the more you have seen your team win in different ways, the more you expect it to come through when needed and the less stress you incur watching, the more you can relax and see how your boys will likely pull it out this time.


I haven't seen it reported so much yet, but Cole is someone who knows his facts, so when he said today that he is hoping to help get NY to 30 titles, he knows very well they are at 27 right now. Yes, please.
This is how I’m viewing the 2020s. See if this group can do something special. Winning once is nothing. Repeating is special. Three in a row from 1998-2000 was as good as it gets. The 1996-2000 run of four titles in five years matches up with 1949-53, and 1936-39. Maybe even better than any of them.
 

graignotcraig

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Not since the 1998-2000 Yankees three-peat teams has any team even won back to back. 2016 Cubs, 2017 Astros, 2018 Sox- you would have thought one of these teams would have repeated, they were so dominant during their respective seasons. Back to back is hard. Cole said he's hoping to get the Yankees to 30. I'm hoping too- really hoping...
 

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Also I hope NY visiting clubhouse manager Lou Cucuzza is getting a nice bonus in his next check, this is Cole's words today:

"I always come into Lou's office when I got nothing to do and I kick my feet up on the table, and we just talk about stuff. We were talking about my trip to Italy with my wife the other year, and he always likes to know what I'm cooking because I like to cook at my house. I showed him pictures of a meal that we ate in a cellar in Florence and there's a picture of a bottle of Masseto. He asked me what the bottle was and I said, 'It's Masseto, it's probably acknowledged as the second best red wine in the world.'

"Aaron brought a couple bottles of it and one of the vintages they brought was one of the exact same vintage from the anniversary dinner that my wife and I had in Florence. I was a little bit back on my heels. I remember trying to stay focused on the meeting and not thinking about booze the entire time, but I still couldn't figure it out.

"When I came home, I was telling (my wife) Amy, 'How the f--- did they pull that off?' Not many people in the world know that that's my favorite wine ... I laid my head down at like 11:30 at night and didn't sleep much that day. I flew back up and I was like, 'LOU!' I remembered the conversation and I guess it went from Lou to (Brian Cashman) to Boone.""

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/how-a-little-known-yankees-employee-may-have-helped-the-yankees-land-gerrit-cole/
That's a great story. Thanks for sharing.