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Monday, December 9, 2019

Yanks make first bid on Gerrit Cole. Will they make the last?

Two hundred forty five million potatoes, clams, goobers, galdingoes... over seven trips around the sun... 

That's a lotta quiddich, moolah, beans, hoogins... a lotta ink. 

Is it a lotta crapola, too? 

What should we make of the very publicly leaked Yankee offer to this year's "Hollywood It" free agent, Gerrit Cole? Are we shooting for the moon... or second place? Some thoughts...

1. Sunday evening, the ancient Gammonite Bob Klapisch - of the Times, the Post, the Daily News, ESPN and the Columbia University Daily Spectator - tweeted the numbers and broke the story. Thus, it almost had to come from an old-line Yankee power source: Hal, Cashman, Randy, Trott, or Delores in the typing pool. It didn't come from Gerrit Cole. So, let's figure that the Death Star unveiled these numbers on purpose.

Thus, the question to ask today: What would that purpose be?

Well, it would seemingly absolve the Yankees from critics who assail their self-inflicted - and self-indulgent - cheapness. How can we call him "Food Stamps," if Hal is willing to spend $245 million on a pitcher? Last year, as the Bryce Harper and Manny Machado auctions unfolded, the Yankees noticeably never scribbled a number on the chalkboard. Now, they have done so... and they wanted that number to be known to the Yankiverse. Interesting.

2. Paraphrasing Regis Philbin from long ago, "Is this your final answer?" If so, for all the public awe that Hal's offer may conjure, it is merely a figure on a check that might never be cashed. The Angels have said they'll beat any offer, whatsoever. Now, they have a number to top, either by adding additional years or dollars. If this is the final Yankee offer - take it or leave it - the franchise has made it ridiculously easy for another owner to outdo.  

If the Angels go higher, will the Yankees follow suit? Also, if the two teams put down matching numbers, would Cole opt to stay home in Southern California or follow his childhood fantasies as a Yankee fan?

3. I guess the fundamental question is whether the Yankees looking to again finish second in a bidding war? From where we sit, it's impossible to know. Did their $245 million offer - most for a pitcher ever - just blow everyone else out of the water? Was it a knockout punch... or an opening salvo? 

My guess: It's a little of both. One thing the Yankees do not want is a long, drawn-out bidding war, stretching into January. Cole's decision will set the agenda for every other move Cashman makes this winter. If that is the Yankee offer, and no others shall be forthcoming, even if Cole drags his heels on choosing a team, the Yankees might be quietly looking elsewhere by the end of this week. 

Once again, they will have finished in second. And yes, we will still call him "Food Stamps." 

25 comments:

TheWinWarblist said...

So now they Angels, the fuckin' Angels, are the team to beat!? What the fuck has happened to the Yankees.

13bit said...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RIqLDq7qlXw/UPRgQQe3OTI/AAAAAAAAAGE/qATrqAxMc9Y/s1600/dog-and-pony-show-krista-barth.jpg

TheWinWarblist said...

Oh dear sweet Bitty!

ranger_lp said...

We will outbid the Angels...first rule in running the Yanks is that you have to outdo the Mets. Mets will force the Yanks to spend.

Anonymous said...

The Angels are a poorly run team. They have virtually no chance of winning a World Series in the foreseeable future. They over spent on Trout because he is their home grown Mickey Mantle and the face of the franchise.

They would be much better off taking the 35M+ and spreading it around. They don't need Cole as much as they need to improve the whole team. One guy will not make the difference for them.

One would think that Cole would be miserable there. If he wants to win a championship, like the fierce competitor that he is, the two teams mentioned that are true contenders are the Yankees and the Dodgers. Cole could be the "final piece" for either of them.

IMHO The Angels, unless they do something beyond crazy like 40M a year and over 300M total, will not enter into it. Cole probably doesn't want to spend the next 7-10 years on a losing club.

Doug K.

Anonymous said...

TO ME, IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE SETTING UP PERFECTLY TO FINISH IN 2ND PLACE FOR COLE.

THE QUESTION IS, WHAT DO WE DO WHEN SOMEBODY BETTERS OUR OFFER? (...AND SOMEBODY WILL).

SOMEBODY ALWAYS DOES.

OUR OFFER IS GOOD, BUT MOST LIKELY, GOING TO BE BETTERED.

THEN WHAT?

IF WE SIT ON THAT OFFER, WE LOSE OUT.

IF WE ARE NOT WILLING TO SWEETEN THE POT EVEN A LITTLE BIT, HE WILL GO ELSEWHERE.



13bit said...

We'd have to make a symbolic gesture - "symbolism" equalling tens of millions of dollars. And it still wasn't good enough for Cano. Maybe this one will be different.

JM said...

I don't think Cole wants to be on the East Coast. Just saying. He seems to prefer Beverly. Hills, that is. Swimmin' pools. Movie stars.

ranger_lp said...

Per Joel Sherman...

Source: Brian Cashman was to arrive Monday at the Winter Meetigs and the #Yankees plan was to submit a formal bid today on Gerrit Cole.

Anonymous said...

If Cole really wants to be a Yankee, he will sign quickly. If he really wants to go to the west coast, he will drag it out and wait, and then after a while end up signing with one of the two L.A. clubs even if they offer less than the Yankees. They might not have to beat our offer to get him. It's all up to him.

The Hammer of God

Anonymous said...

The Nats and Strasburg just agreed to a seven-year, $245 million deal. So, Cole is going to want more than what the Yankees are said to be offering him.

Anonymous said...

I think 80 Mil of that is deferred.

TheWinWarblist said...

Fucking Strasburg you dominant fucking World Series fucking winning fucking fuckface fucker.

TheWinWarblist said...

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Anonymous said...

I'm thinking that the Yanks knew that the Strasburg contact was a done deal and for how much. Then they told some writer that they offered Cole the same thing, knowing he'll never accept it. Basically wanting to make like they offered up a ton and looking like they actually done something this off season when the truth is that they really won't.

13bit said...

We all knew he was going to the Nats. He likes it there and was just holding out for a deal. Now, the Yankees have to make it 246 million.

Anonymous said...

YOU'RE RIGHT BITTY...

BETTER SWEETEN THE POT SOON TO COLE.

THE PITCHERS ARE ALL DISAPPEARING QUICKLY. (AS PREDICTED)...

WHEELER
ODERIZZI
GIBSON
HAMELS
STRASBURG

WE ARE DOWN TO COLE AND BUMGARNER IN THE "ACE" DEPARTMENT. (I FIND IT AMAZING WE DON'T SEEM THE LEAST BIT INTERESTED IN BUMGARNER).

SECONDARY GUYS LEFT ARE DALLAS KEUCHEL, MIKE MINOR, HYUN-JIN RYU, AND RICK PORCELLO.

AMAZING HOW COOP AND HAL NEVER LEARN.

THE LONGER WE WAIT, THE WORSE IT IS FOR US.

MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT.



Der Kaiser said...

I think I like this. It could go wrong in all sorts of ways, but at least by actively pursuing Cole, the Yankees are setting themselves up for good outcomes.

If he is willing and/or they keep adding zeroes to the offer until he agrees, then they have their ace. There's no predicting baseball, but we would certainly all start feeling much better about the near future. We might be worried sick about the long term, but in the long term we're all dead.

On the other hand, as everyone has already pointed out, he might be determined to go west, or some other team may be willing to spend one billion dollars on a single right arm, or Cashbrenner might get cold feet about bidding any higher. Then he signs elsewhere, but at least the Yankees actively pursuing him will have increased his final price and made it more painful for whatever team ends up being the bigger fool. Then the Yankees can, theoretically, use the money to address other needs, of which there are plenty. And it becomes more difficult for Hal to plead poverty, because it's now public knowledge that he was willing to add $35 million to the payroll. They can always spin the line that they would have been willing to break the bank for a player of Cole's calibre, but they didn't value anyone else at that level. I still think this helps to lever the wallet open.

However it turns out, it's better than last season's approach of sitting on the sidelines, driving down prices while other teams snapped up the biggest prizes, and refusing to sign good players even after their price had hit rock bottom.

ranger_lp said...

Per Anthony Morales:

Breaking News: Just heard for a "Fact" in an email that the @Yankees offer for Gerrit Cole is $290M-$300M over 8 years. Yankees expect Cole to Sign it within 48 hours. Yankees are in the final stages! Expect News either tomarrow or Wednesday!#HotStoveIsCooking#BronxBound

ranger_lp said...

Boras making Yanks overpay as usual...

13bit said...

Ranger, where you getting these facts from?

ranger_lp said...

twitter

TheWinWarblist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TheWinWarblist said...

So ... I want to say this now, before anything else happens. Whether or not Hal signs Cole, maybe even more so if he does, I hate Hal with an intense burning righteous fury that will never extinguish. He had robbed us of our birthright of never-ending champions and dynasties. Despite having inherited wealth beyond measure, his stunted penurious soul wishes only for more money. Not the far more valuable wealth of success. Just dollars and cents. Championships will elude him for he is a misshapen grotesquery grubbing in the mud when he should be tall shining beacon.

Fuck you Hal. Fuck you always and ever. I swear I will befoul your grave if ever I can.

May Hal get cancer from turning over couch cushions looking for loose change.

May cancer torment Hal from now until the heat death of the Universe.

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