New York Yankees: Gerrit Cole is coming to the Bronx after landing a historical contract

As Day 2 of the Winter Meetings were coming to an end, there was massive news that broke. According to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, the New York Yankees have agreed to a deal with free agency pitcher Gerrit Cole for a nine year deal worth 324 million dollar deal. While Strasburg had the largest record and that only lasted a couple of hours. He will be making 36 million dollars a year. It’s also worth noting that he has an opt-out clause after year 5. While this made the waves, it seems that no one is truly surprised that it happened.

If we go back to when CC Sabbathia signed with the Yankees eleven years ago, it was almost the exact same scenario. He wanted to go out west to play, but the Yankees were able to win him over. Another reason why the Yankees were able to land Cole was that there was a major connection between the two. He grew up a Yankee fan. The Yankees were close to drafting him and the Yankees brought Andy Pettitte into the meetings. Andy lived in Houston and worked with the Astros. We should also not forget that the Yankees wanted to trade for Cole while he was still with the Pirates.

The Yankees now have their true ace. One of the things that was hurting them was they didn’t have someone to lead the rotation. Cole can easily do that because he is young and is still getting to the peak of his career. Another thing we need to look at is this seemed like a George Steinberner move. When George was the owner of the Yankees, he was known to spend whatever he could on top players.

Now that Cole will be in the Bronx for the next nine years, it will be curious to see who else will join him.