Gerrit Cole, 2001: He's one of our own!
Let the "Cole hard facts" be made to a candid world.
The Yankees have signed free agent pitcher Gerrit Cole, a genuine ace, who had helped the Houston Astros win 2 of the last 3 American League Pennants, beating the Yankees in the Playoffs both times.
The contract is for $324 million over 9 years, an average of $36 million per year. This will almost certainly blow the luxury tax threshold that general manager Brian Cashman has striven to stay under for years.
Gerrit Alan Cole was born on September 8, 1990 in the Los Angeles suburb of Newport Beach, California, and grew up there, which -- along with the L.A. area teams, the Dodgers and the Angels, having money to burn -- led some people to speculate that he would be more likely to sign with one of them than with the Yankees. Turns out, he was a Yankee Fan.
He pitched at UCLA, and debuted in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2013, helping them reach the Playoffs. He stayed through 2017, and was traded to the Houston Astros, so he missed their 2017 World Championship. He went 15-5 in 2018, and 20-5 in 2019, helping the Astros win the AL Pennant, and finishing 2nd to teammate Justin Verlander for the AL Cy Young Award.
He became a free agent, 1 of 2 big ones available in the off-season. The other was from the team that beat the Astros in the World Series, the Washington Nationals: Stephen Strasburg. The Yankees had to get at least one of them, and when Strasburg re-signed with the Nats, that made it imperative that they sign Cole. They did.
This contract means that, like all true Yankee Fans, the team's operating owner, Hal Steinbrenner, has had enough, and is acting like his father, George Steinbrenner. "I'm opening the vault," he appears to have told Cashman. "Sign this guy and bring him in, or you're fired." Cashman has done it, offering Cole a contract, and he has accepted it.
The message could not be any clearer: 10 years without winning a pennant, much less the World Series -- and it will be 11 years by next October -- is absolutely unacceptable.
Coming close and not getting there is no longer good enough for Hal. His message is, "Brian, we tried it your way, and it didn't work. Now, we are going to try it my way, which was my father's way." Or, as the evil Chancellor would have put it in V for Vendetta, "We are being buried beneath the avalanche of your inadequacies, Mister Cashman!"
The 2020 season will be what, really, each of the last 5 years should have been: The referendum on Cashman. Hal is telling him, "I am giving you everything you need to win the World Series this year, and if you don't win it, it's not going to be on me, it's going to be on you. You can no longer use cheapness as an excuse. You can no longer use the luxury tax as an excuse. It is time to win."
So, as things currently stand, the starting rotation, presuming they will all be healthy, will be -- not necessarily in this sequence, but in this order of perceived effectiveness -- Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino, James Paxton, and an open slot.
The open slot could be filled by Domingo German, who was on his way to a Cy Young Award-worthy season before he was suspended due to a domestic violence accusation. That suspension, and injuries, meant the Yankees had to use the "opener" strategy in the postseason, and it may have cost them the Pennant.
Without a police report, the charge should be ignored by MLB completely. I suspect it would be if he played for the Boston Red Sox. But he's a Yankee, so, even without admissible evidence, we're probably looking at 30 games.
So the 5th starter will probably start out as Jordan Montgomery, back from a long-term injury. If your 5th starter is Jordan Montgomery, you're in decent shape.
But once German is available again, the rotation would be Cole, German, Tanaka, Severino and Paxton. If James Paxton is your 5th starter, you should be able to avoid a 5-game losing streak.
The news isn't all good. Cashman didn't lift a finger to re-sign Didi Gregorius, and he signed a 1-year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. The team gave up on the oft-injured Greg Bird.
But with Cole, the Yankees have a real ace for the 1st time since CC Sabathia became injury-prone.
This is not a good time to be an Astros fan. They lose Cole, on top of the accusations of cheating. Already, now that the checking for cheating will be increased, people are predicting that the 2020 Astros could end up crashing. Like the 1998 Florida Marlins, or the 1977 Oakland Athletics. Or like the 1965 and 1982 Yankees.
We shall see. And we may like what we see.
*
Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: Unknown. No matches are currently scheduled. There won't be another CONCACAF Gold Cup until July 2, 2021. The USMNT will compete in the 2020 Olympics, which open on July 24. Surely, there will be tuneup matches before then.
Days until Arsenal play again: 1, tomorrow, at 12:55 PM New York time, in Europa League Group Stage action, away to Standard Liege of Belgium.
Days until my 50th Birthday, at which point I can join AARP and get discounts for travel and game tickets: 7, on Wednesday, December 18. One week.
Days until the premiere of the final Star Wars film, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker: 9, on December 20, 2019.
Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: 22, on Thursday night, January 2, 2020, against the New York Islanders, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The next game against the New York Rangers, a.k.a. The Scum, will be on Thursday, January 9, at Madison Square Garden. The next game against the Philadelphia Flyers, a.k.a. The Philth, will be on Thursday, February 6, at the Wells Fargo Center.
Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 41, on January 21. Under 6 weeks.
Days until the 1st Presidential voting of 2020, the Iowa Caucuses: 54, on Monday, February 3. Under 8 weeks. The New Hampshire Primary will be 8 days later.
Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 81, on Sunday March 1, at 1:00 PM, home to FC Cincinnati. Under 12 weeks. Only the season's 1st 3 games have been released. I don't know when the full 2020 MLS schedule will be released.
Days until the Yankees' 2020 Opening Day: 106, on Thursday, March 26, away to the Baltimore Orioles. Under 4 months. And now, it feels as though we can look forward to it.
Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": At least 107. None of their 1st 3 games will be against one of their regional rivals: The Union, New York City FC, D.C. United and the New England Revolution.
Days until the Yankees' 2020 home opener: 113, on Thursday, April 2, against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Days until the next North London Derby: 136, on Saturday, April 25, Arsenal's 1st visit to the new Tottenham Stadium, adjacent to the site of the previous White Hart Lane. Under 5 months. It is currently scheduled to be on the 16th Anniversary of the 2nd time that Arsenal won the League at White Hart Lane -- but also the last time Arsenal won the League anywhere. Of course, for TV reasons, the game could be moved to another date, probably the next day.
Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 149, on May 8, 2020, at Yankee Stadium II. Under 5 months.
Days until Euro 2020 begins, a tournament being held all over Europe instead of in a single host nation: 184, on Friday, June 12, 2020. About 6 months.
Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 226, on July 24, 2020. Under 8 months.
Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 269, on Saturday, September 5, at noon, home to Monmouth University, a Football Championship Subdivision School in West Long Branch, Monmouth County, New Jersey. In other words, if they don't win this game overwhelmingly, especially now that Greg Schiano is back as head coach, it will look very, very bad. Anyway, under 9 months.
Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Unknown, as the 2020 schedule has not been released yet. Most likely, the season opener will be against arch-rival Old Bridge, on Friday night, September 11, away at the purple shit pit on Route 9. That's 275 days.
Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge football game: See the previous answer.
Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 328, on November 3, 2020. Under 11 months.
Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 353, on Saturday, November 28, at home. Under 1 year.
Days until a fully-Democratic-controlled Congress can convene, and the Republicans can do nothing about it: 389, on January 3, 2021. A little over a year, or a little under 13 months.
Days until Liberation Day: 406, at noon on January 20, 2021. A little over a year, or under 14 months. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy.
Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Beijing, China: 786, on February 4, 2022. A little over 2 years, or a little under 26 months.
Days until the next World Cup is scheduled to kick off in Qatar: 1,076, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. Under 3 years, or a little over 35 months.
Days until the next Women's World Cup is scheduled to kick off: As yet unknown, but probably on the 2nd Friday in June 2023, which would be June 9. That would be 1,276 days, a little over 3 1/2 years, or under 42 months. A host nation is expected to be chosen on March 20, 2020. Since 2 of the last 3 host nations have been in Europe, North America (Canada) hosted in 2015, and Asia (China) hosted in 2007, my guess is that it will be in either Asia (Japan, possibly Korea, but not China) or Oceania (Australia, possibly a joint bid with New Zealand).
No comments:
Post a Comment