The New York Yankees need ace hurler Gerrit Cole in the worst way if they want to win a world championship.
That’s why the Bronx Bombers offered him an historic amount of $245 million for seven years as reported Sunday by the New York Times’ Bob Klapisch.
Perhaps, the Los Angeles Dodgers or Angels will sweeten the deal by offering Cole eight or nine years, but right now it looks like the Yankees made the former Houston Astros standout an offer he can’t refuse.
And no other team needs Cole more than the Yankees, a group which prides itself on winning the World Series each year even though it hasn’t done so since 2009 when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.
Truth is, the Yankees have had the hitting to win a World Series the past four or five seasons, but they didn’t have the pitching.
General manager Brian Cashman thought bringing in big hitters like Giancarlo Stanton was the way to go, but he forgot about how world championships are usually won.
I say starting pitching because Cashman has built one of the best bullpens in the game -- if not the best.
Surely, the Yankees have a very formidable starting rotation at the moment with Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino, James Paxton, J.A. Happ and Jordan Montgomery. And let’s not forget about Domingo German, who was suspended late last season for a domestic dispute after going 18-4 with a 4.03 ERA.
Not having the 27-year-old German in the 2019 postseason hurt the Yankees’ chances of winning it all, and there’s no telling how long his suspension will last -- pending MLB’s investigation -- and if the team even wants to bring him back.
What the Yankees lacked the last few seasons was a legitimate ace, someone the team could throw out there and know 99% of the time, the guy was going to put the team in position to win like a Justin Verlander, who has delivered big with each team he has been with.
Tanaka is great postseason pitcher, but who would Yankee fans rather have pitching a Game 7 in the ALCS or World Series? Tanaka or Cole?
I think the answer is clearly Cole, and that’s why Cashman has put that huge offer on the table.
All Cole did in 2019 was go 20-5 with a remarkable 2.50 ERA. The only reason why he didn’t win the AL Cy Young was because Verlander, his Astros teammate, did.
If Cole winds up in the Bronx, the Yankees get an instant ace, a losing-skein stopper, who will deliver the Yankees to the Promised Land.
It’ll be a reminder that great starting pitching wins in the postseason (re: the Washington Nationals) and that hitting is just window dressing.