Dodgers

Free Agent Gerrit Cole, Dodgers Meet in Los Angeles

The Dodgers have now met with each and every one of the big trio of free agents — Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg, and now Gerrit Cole. According to Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times, a meeting has recently took place with the superstar starting pitcher somewhere in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers appear to be in the hunt for just about every top flight free agent on the market and the biggest one, Gerrit Cole, appears to be in their sights. The issue, though, is that many other teams with money to spend have him in their hopes, too. The Angels and New York Yankees also appear to be front-runners for Cole’s services along with the Dodgers. The Houston Astros appear to be priced out of contention for the right-hander.

Cole’s roots have been well-documented this fall and winter. He hails from Newport Beach, he attended UCLA, but he did grow up as a Yankee fan. All three teams that are in the heart of the bidding are teams that have potential selling points to Gerrit Cole.

Cole led all of baseball with 326 strikeouts — an astronomical total — and posted a 2.50 ERA in 2019. He is the creme de la creme of MLB starting pitchers. He could very well be the best pitcher in the game during the duration of his reported deal that could be over six years in length and $250 million in value. He is worth every penny.

According to Fangraphs’ dollar values, Cole was worth $59.4 million in 2019. Across his seven-year career — which includes his down years with the Pittsburgh Pirates — he was worth $228.3 million. If you extrapolated his recent value out a few years, that represents a large amount of surplus value for whoever secures his services.

The Winter Meetings are fast approaching and Gerrit Cole being in the Dodgers’ minds and vice versa is some spectacular news.

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