SAN DIEGO — Alex Cora understood the Yankees were going to try to improve a 103-win team, so the Red Sox manager wasn’t stunned when he heard Boston’s blood rival signed Gerrit Cole to a staggering nine-year deal worth $324 million late Tuesday evening.
“We expected it. We knew that not only them but other teams were going to try and get better. Gerrit has been amazing the last few years. Got to meet him at the All-Star Game and talked a lot. He is a great guy,’’ Cora said Wednesday morning as the winter meetings moved toward Thursday’s finish line. “Obviously for us it is another challenge, another hurdle, but that is the way it works. They got better and we still have time to get better, too.’’
The signing of Cole, 29, guarantees very little other than if the Yankees don’t find a way to slice some payroll, they will surpass the third luxury-tax threshold. Teams that win the winter — and the Cole signing gives the Yankees the lead — often aren’t the team that cop the World Series. Still, Cole isn’t joining a team rebuilding around unknown youth.
Like a lot of others, Cora had an inkling Cole was going to leave his Southern California roots and break the hearts of the Dodgers and Angels. What he saw on the face of a Scott Boras lieutenant gave him further evidence.
“I kept telling [Mike] Fiore, ‘Keep him on the West Coast.’ When I saw his face I said he wasn’t [staying on the West Coast],’’ Cora said.
Cora noted the Yankees won 203 games in the previous two seasons, but also understood they were trying to upgrade a starting rotation from good to great.
“I knew they were going to try and get better, and they recognized starting pitching was what they needed and got one of the best ones,’’ Cora said.
Unlike Cora, former Yankee great Don Mattingly’s Marlins don’t have to tangle with the Yankees in the AL East. However, Mattingly said those who gripe about the Yankees making a big move with their wallets are misguided.
“It is one of those powerhouse moves. Those are the rules of the game. People complain about the big boys,’’ Mattingly said. “George [Steinbrenner] used to say, ‘That’s why I bought the Yankees.’ ”
As manager of the low-budget Rays, Joe Maddon battled the deep pocket as an AL East opponent. Now, after returning to the AL and the Angels after managing the Cubs, Maddon’s team had interest in Cole but lost out.
“Bully for the Yankees. You can understand why they did it when they’re in the situation they are. For us to go to that level, it probably would hold us up for a while. So it just makes more sense for them,’’ said Maddon, who met with Cole during the courting process. “Obviously the annual average value [$36 million] was very important.’’
Former Rays coach and current Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo acknowledged the AL East road is harder to navigate with Cole in The Bronx.
“A tough division just got tougher. He’s the best pitcher in baseball, or for sure one of the best, and the Yankees were a deep ballclub to begin with. And now with this addition, they’re going to be pretty good,’’ Montoyo said.