After the agreement between the New York Yankees and free agent ace Gerrit Cole became official, focus quickly turned to a loaded question: how much did the Dodgers offer?
Now we have an answer.
The Dodgers' offer for Gerrit Cole was eight years for $300 million, per sources. It included deferrals.
The Angels' offer was south of $300 million over eight years with deferrals.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) December 11, 2019
An offer of 8 years and $300M actually gives the Dodgers a higher average annual value over the 9 years and $324M that Cole ultimately settled on with New York. His deal with the Yanks puts him at $36M per season as where the Dodger deal would have been $37.5M.
Ultimately it seems it came down to the simple fact that Cole grew up a fan of the Yankees.
Belief is Gerrit Cole simply wanted to be a Yankee. Dodgers/Angels both were at about 300M (and likely would have gone a tad higher had he given go-ahead). Hometown thing over-rated. Yanks did nice job w/cutting-edge pitching coach Blake plus Pettitte, who knows about NY/winning
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 11, 2019
Notably, the LA deal also would have come with deferrals, which is something the club hasn’t run with since the Frank McCourt/Ned Colletti days from last decade.
Now focus for the Dodgers shifts to free agents Madison Bumgarner and Hyun-Jin Ryu to help balance a solid rotation, but one with some question marks. Question marks like “who will Clayton Kershaw be in 2020?” and “how will the rookie arms hold up to the rigors of an MLB season?”
Just looking at the arms, looking at the numbers, and putting the politics of it aside, what move helps put the #Dodgers rotation in the best position in the regular season AND postseason in your opinion?
Commentary welcome as well.
— Clint Pasillas (FRG) (@realFRG) December 11, 2019
Moreover, are either of those arms enough to help push the Dodgers when it matters most — in the postseason? Ryu and Bumgarner are fine pieces, but they’re not Gerrit Cole. But given the fact that Andrew Friedman and company made an honest run at Cole’s services, Dodger fans can rest a little easier knowing it came down to this.
Yup, this is Cole at 11 yrs old. ? pic.twitter.com/QvYTzovBie
— Audel Del Toro (@AudelDelToro) December 11, 2019
