There is no such thing as a ‘lockdown pitching ace.’ Just ask the LA Dodgers whether you can ensure a World Series win by spending a couple hundred million on a throwing arm.
I suppose free agent spending only counts as trying to "buy a championship" when the Yankees do it. The Astros $200 million worth of expected payroll for 2020 ($33 million for Verlander and $32 million for Greinke) is just good old fashioned team-building.
Love what the Yankees have been doing the past several years in trying to build the team through the farm and savvy, as opposed to reckless, spending. Cole, like most pitchers, probably will not be the same pitcher by the time his next contract expires, but the prospect of getting him in pinstripes and the Yanks becoming the odds-on World Series favorite next season is probably too tantalizing to pass up.
7
I am sure every free agent starting pitcher and their representatives are cheering for Cole. However most long term contracts for pitchers have not proved to be sound investments. Most franchises are reeling with bloated long term contracts and decreasing attendance. The entire league is more concerned with the looming CBA negotiations and changes that will bring. Teams flush with cash may choose to roll the dice , calculating that the new CBA terms will push salaries higher . Most teams are shortening the duration of contract offers to coincide withheld start of the new CBA. Whatever the next two seasons bring , please let it not be a stoppage of play.
If the Yankees don’t sign Cole or Strasberg, Brian Cashman better hope he can pull a World Series ring out of thin air or he’s going to be one of the most deplored men in NYC.
3
As an Astros fan, I loved watching Cole. His leaving the Astros would be a huge blow, leaving starting pitching their weakest area.
I still think they could have won the world series this year if they had brought Cole in for relief in the last game.
But please don't let him go to the Yankees. The Yanks must get over their buy the championship mentality, and MLB needs some sense of balance.
Now if he rejoined Charlie Morton with the Rays, I would have a new favorite team to follow. Might even buy a condo in St. Petersburg.
1
@priceofcivilization Where have you been the last 5 years?
The Yanks traded for Stanton and haven't made a significant free agent signing since
Chapman ( who was only a rental to the Cubs ) and Elsbury who was an unmitigated disaster. Not a time to throw shade on the Yankees and espouse the "Astro" way of doing things. You could very well have a new GM and a new manager within the next 90 days.
1
While obtaining Garret Cole would essentially hand the AL East to the Yankees next season and perhaps beyond the epic contract it will require poses a huge financial risk. If “King George” were still with us however, he’d snatch up Cole in a heartbeat.
1