This postseason, Gerrit Cole, all-star pitcher from the Astros with a 3.22 ERA, has made a record breaking $324 million deal over the span of 9 years to be a New York Yankee. The announcement was made over a week ago after Brian Cashman had a meeting with the Cole earlier this month. This was definitely the Yankee’s top priority this postseason.
The deal that Cole signed will give him a total of $324 million over the course of his 9 year deal, this will make him the highest pitcher in all of the MLB, and every year alone he will make around $36 million. He will even break the record for the highest paid player in the league, not just for pitching, but out of all the players in the MLB.
It was no surprise that when Cole became a free agent the Yankees wanted to sign him. Now that they’ve signed him, they are going to have a pretty solid starting pitcher rotation for the 2020 season. Including Cole in the rotation will probably make the Yankees the best team in all the MLB for pitching.
Not only did Cole sign with the Yankees, but lefty outfielder Brett Gardner has re-signed with the Yankees again, as he stated that he would like to remain as a Yankee. Now that the Yankees have signed Cole, it could give them the opportunity to potentially explore the free agent market and bring up some new guys to be a part of the 2020 season.
Being brought up to play in New York is not an easy task. For some players it’s proven to be a challenge, especially if you’re a pitcher. The pressure is definitely on, take Sonny Gray for example, he most certainly did not have his best seasons as a Yankee. There was too much pressure and he didn’t pitch as well as he did as a Cincinnati Red this year.
But it’s different for Cole, he just came from a World Series last season where he was one of Houston’s best starting pitchers and had a 20-5 win-loss season this year. Now that he’s a New York Yankee, he’s going to shake New York and arguably make the Yankees the best team, not just in New York, but in all of baseball.