FILE - New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole throws in the third inning of a baseball game ... [+]
Seven weeks ago, the Yankees wrapped up a season where they were 23-10 on days Gerrit Cole pitches and 59-70 in all other games.
It all added up to a disappointing 82-80 season drawing the ire of many and frustrating all parties involved from the players to the front office. Cole’s performance earned him an impressive Cy Young award winner Thursday, an achievement that is even more noteworthy when it occurs on an underwhelming team.
“He’s the best pitcher in the game,” Aaron Judge said after Cole pitched a two-hit shutout in September at Toronto. “This is Gerrit Cole’s era, that’s for sure. He’s the benchmark for what an ace is supposed to be like, on and off the field.”
Cole’s era for meeting the benchmark of an ace resulted in him taking every first-place vote and joined Ron Guidry as the second unanimous winner for the Yankees. Guidry famously achieved his Cy Young as a reward for the 25-3 season when the Yankees overcame a 14-game deficit and won the 1978 World Series.
The Yankees never sniffed first place and failed to come close to their first title since 2009 – the first year of CC Sabathia’s mega deal that was signed in the spending spree in the transition from the old to new version of Yankee Stadium and coincided after the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
Cole signed a mega deal of slightly over double what Sabathia got from the Yankees. His deal also contains an opt-out in 2024 like Sabathia’s did and was renegotiated after the 2011 season.
“It felt different in that regard,” Cole said on his conference call Thursday. “The public sentiment, for sure. But I’m very proud of this season. I’m very proud of some of the other seasons where we made a pretty strong run at this award, as well. But it’s hard to say it wasn’t a little different. I mean, there was a lot of momentum going into this.”
Cole’s Cy Young performance can the be final review of the 2023 season the Yankees would like to forget ever happened other than the days he pitches.
The reaction to the 2023 season could result in more notable moves than measured ones and more spending than the $162 million for six years of Carlos Rodon, whose first year was an injury and performance failure.
Among things on the agenda is completing the coaching staff with a bench coach after Carlos Mendoza succeeded Buck Showalter as the new manager of the Mets.
Perhaps of more pressing is solving those left field woes to avoid things like playing 10 people in the position with none playing more than 51 games.
The obvious name is Juan Soto, who is a year shy of free agency after an unsuccessful first full season in San Diego. Soto’s price to obtain him from Washington was among the highest prospect hauls in recent memory and it is possible the asking price is even higher or similar this time around.
Then there is the risk of adding him only to see him leave via free agency. Soto reportedly turned down over $400 million from the Nationals shortly before being acquired by San Diego and his market could be driven by how much Shohei Ohtani winds up getting once his free agency wraps up with what is expected to be a new team.
Besides Soto there is the matter of figuring out if Cody Bellinger should be pursued. Even if advanced stats may show otherwise, the basic numbers and the fact that he bats left-handed the Yankees may feel inclined to add him.
Another matter is figuring out their pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw a no-hitter in September for the Orix Buffaloes with several executives in the stands. Yamamoto is expected to get posted Monday and the negotiation window to speak to teams starts Tuesday.
He is expected to get about a hundred million less than Cole after seven dominant seasons in Japan. It is a similar free agency scenario the Yankees faced when they pursued and ultimately signed Masahiro Tanaka following the 203 season as part of the spending spree that netted Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran.
There is a long way to go before the Yankees can peg themselves as World Series contenders and the proof of last year being aberration because of health and underperformance will not be discovered until they perform much better than last year.
Until then, the Yankees have cleared the air with Giancarlo Stanton’s agent Joel Wolfe in the wake of GM Brian Cashman’s comments and made their contract tender decisions. Those are small steps in figuring out the ways but the real heavy lifting to dig out of the massive hole of fan distrust starts in two weeks when the winner meetings commence in Nashville.
