High-level meetings are taking place. Offers are coming in. All indications are that the Gerrit Cole bidding is at a full sprint, spurred in part by the stunningly lucrative deal reached between the Nationals and Stephen Strasburg. That record-setting $245MM contract ups the ante for teams interested in the younger and higher-octane Cole. The $300MM threshold once seemed a pie-in-the-sky number. No more.
With the expectation that Cole will take the best offer made, every team in baseball is theoretically in play. But it seems the market has already largely developed. The Angels and Yankees are widely cited as the two most active pursuers. The Dodgers’ stance isn’t quite clear. The Phillies and Rangers are reportedly still circling. Perhaps it’s still possible there’s a mystery bidder.
Where do you think Cole will end up?
(Poll link for app users; responses order randomized.)
Marlins
Rays
It will have to be just him on the team!
Expos
Colt .45s… more likely than Astros.
Two gunshots for offspeed…
Hell, yes!
Ham Fighters
Seattle Pilots
Senators
Clearly they’re the mystery team.
Cleveland Spiders
The jokes only further prove its NY vs NY, and the Mets aren’t part of that equation.
No one else will pay over 35Mil/yr for a pitcher.
Write it down Yanks.
Mud Hens
Durham Bulls
Thank you for the 1% of people who chose the Rangers, but no. I chose yankees for my mlb prediction, and i’m choosing them here.
okay. thanks.
I would be so surprised if the Yankees sign them since they have multiple 3B options and they’re going to blow past the second luxury tax if they sign Cole
I went with the Dodgers.
Gerrit Cole is truly the missing piece for the Dodgers.
I’m surprised the Phillies were even listed. There’s an article in the Philly Inquirer with Klentak and Girardi describing Wheeler as an “ACE”.
“Nola is 1 and Wheeler is 1A”
FELONY FRAUD
John Middleton
Yea, maybe, just maybe ace potential. But nowhere close to an ace thusfar.
We’ve missed you, Casey’s Partner
Royals
Really can’t see the angels with three unmovable contracts so probably he goes to the Yankees nine years 325 million
Pujols is done after 2021. It’s hardly the burden anyone makes it out to be considering they are like 60m under the tax.
Agree on Pujols. Plenty of room and money for the Angels.
2 years left of Pujols so his contract is about to be irrelevant
No starting pitcher has ever received a 9 year contract. He’s not getting 9 years at 29 years old.
Wayne Garland says hi
I stand corrected. How could I forgot the famous Wayne Garland…”insert eyeroll”
angels all the way!
That would be a great addition, but the Angels need almost an entire staff. They could probably get Bumgarner, Kuechel, and maybe Ryu for the cost of Cole and still have room to add a #1 Ace type through trade later.
Expos
Now that’s a mystery team.
Nationals!
With Howie Kendrick hitting clean-up. Go for it!
as a nationals fan I would love this, but they’re already paying Strasberg a ton. Not to mention that they’re putting a ton of money into the rotation already.
Lol…this would be the baseball equivalent of Kawhi Leonard signing with the Lakers
Yankees get Cole. Angels get MadBum.
The Dodgers’ stance is perfectly clear: they talk to premium free agents but don’t sign them.
Exactly. Thank you.
Talk is cheap
Free, practically (except for Dodger fans, who pay and pay then get stiffed).
The conversation has to go something like, “You want HOW much? Okay, bye!”
so true they get all of us excited,then bring back blister boy rich hill.
They should at the very least bring Ryu back into the fold. And then add from there. If I was a dodgers fan I’d be screaming for bullpen help louder than nancy tha crypt keeper is screaming impeachment.
Wow, did you think of that clever dis all by yourself? *eyeroll*
I liked it
Rich Hill is awesome, Ryu is cool too, but it would just feel stale re-signing Ryu, I’d actually be happy if we re-signed Hill. Unfortunately we already made our big offseason signing with Casey Crosby
I agree
Yankees? Honestly, with their lineup healthy (we can hope for baseball’s sake) and Severino… Happ if they don’t trade him. I’d like to see a club go over the “luxury” tax and win it all. You want “luxury” players and are willing to pay for them. May you win, win, win!
The Red Sox in 2018
Ham Fighters
The Pirates, ovbisously
Re: Deferred salary
What are the Luxury Tax implications? Does the deferred money count against cap when paid or is it calculated on an all-in basis, in effect, when earned, during the contract term?
A 5 year 100 million dollar deal counts as 20 million towards luxury tax no matter how it’s paid it. Even if they make say 10 million first 4 years then 30 million in 5th year with the other 30 million deferred… It counts as 20
Would be cool to see a team like the Twins sign him. It’s not going to happen but it would be fun.
as an Angel fan…would much rather see 2 of the Ryu/Bum/Keuchel and a a decent catcher and a bullpen arm or 2 then Cole and some minor leaguers…
Couldn’t agree more
From what I’ve heard/read, the Angels plan on getting Cole and another arm, be it Bum/Keuchel or from a trade. Arte isn’t going to stop at Cole, but given Epplers past moves, I don’t trust him to get us another top SP if they were to land Cole.
No one will pay like the Yankees sadly. Nothing changes.
Who is the last major free agent that the Yankees signed away from another team?
Once the price tag became this high and the Yankees became all-in. It’s the Yankees.
As an Angel fan, I now hope it’s the Yankees. The Angels should have been more aware and made a bigger play for Wheeler. No matter how this blows, the Angels screwed up.
Given the fact Wheeler wanted to be close to New Jersey because of his wife, it seems very unlikely he would have picked the Angels all the way across the country.
It may not have helped, but they should have put forth an effort. They should have been more aware this was a possibility.
I’ve been talking about Wheeler for two months.
But wheeler isnt that good.
I mean if you have been talking about Wheeler for TWO MONTHS, how on earth were the Angels not hearing this?
You win, Cubguy.
Exactly why he signed for less with Philly- Whitesox offered more.
Wheeler (wifey) wanted east coast. It was said that was a factor.
Surprise, the Reds!
Agreed, “Mystery Team” Cincinnati Reds. They are signaling a run for contending in 2020 and beyond. Seeing that they were pursuing Wheeler, and now maybe Mad-Bum. I could see them going “All out” for Cole. Only huge contract currently on the books is Joey Votto. I could see the possibility of him as a Red.
Angels! Please be the Angels! Hopefully also add another pitcher too!
I WANT TROUT IN THE PLAYOFFS
Would be smarter if they grabbed two of the lesser free agent pitchers.
MadBum, Ryu. They should have been all in for Wheeler
I have a feeling itll be yankees, but because i picked the angels to sign him, i got to go with the angels
I guarantee it WON’T be the Dodgers!
Zero chance he’s a Dodger
Long shot Cole would choose WSox, but they could take another “nothing to lose” approach and drive up the price as they did with Wheeler/Strasburg. Something like 8/310 (38.75 AAV).
Which team has the #45 available ?
Yankees #45 is Luke Voit …No big deal for Cole to get that number.
Angels.. Sadly Tyler Skaggs last wore #45 Would it be available?
Rangers… Locke St. John wears #45 Who?
Dodgers Matt Beaty wears #45
Last person to wear #45 for the Phillies Chad Durbin
Not saying a number has anyting to do with where he is going….Just thought i’d look to see if 45 was available on any of these teams.
The only number that matters is $$$$
#45 for Angels is available. Yeah Skaggs wore it but it’s not retired.
Hmmm mystery team? Maybe White Sox, Padres, Twins or Braves? Highly unlikely, but definitely interesting.
Dodgers are too much of an underdog here, I feel like.
Its a 45- hour drive away from the ballpark if you head in at 11a. And most games start at 7.
They just make a lot of sense, if they want to commit the $$$$.
I know LA traffic is bad, but 45 hours?
Maybe he meant 4 – 5 hour drive? That’s possible
From where, Las Vegas?
Depends on where you come from. But I could see someone coming from, say, thousand oaks, who doesnt know not to sit in the traffic on the stadium way exit instead of taking academy rd spending maybe 3-3.5 hours in their car getting ti a 7pm game.
A drive from Thousand Oaks is probably going to take a hour, tops, unless you make the mistake of leaving a the peak of rush hour. I drive in from much farther way and it usually takes an hour and a half, door to gate.
405 on Friday night from Westwood to LAX can be 4-5 hours #realtalk
To go ten miles? I’ve been through all kinds of LA traffic and never experienced anything remotely that bad. Still not sure why we’re taking about this.
If you include stops for coffee & cigarettes or whatever.
Astros …
Real question here.
Does Mike Trout invite Garrett Cole over to house just the city over in Laguna and discuss the future?
Angels are better off diversifying their money for multiple solid starters instead of going all in for one.
Its not like the Yankees/Dodgers who are just one piece away, the Angels have many many holes to fill, including an entire rotation.
While I like Cole alot, these talks of 320-350 million for ONE guy is ridiculous. You could build a dynamite bullpen for the money of Cole.
I understand this argument, but it presumes that the Angels can just sign any two non-Cole pitchers they want. There are 28 teams other than the Angels and the Yankees and lots of them need pitching too.
I just dont see them winning a bidding war with the Yankees. I think the Dodgers have a better shot of landing Cole imo.
The Yankees like to think they are on the cutting edge of sabermetrics yet they might give a pitcher an 8 or 9-year deal for $35+ million. Cole is excellent, but in 5 years, is this still a good signing?
I’m kind of enjoying the way Friedman operates in LA. He rufuses to get sucked into these ridiculous, poor return on investment, long-term deals.
They’re banking on him to pull a Verlander and adjust his pitching style a little to be in the league longer.
It’s because they’re planning to win multiple rings in the first half of his tenure, so they will take the bad back half – said every team when they signed a top FA for a long term deal.
True. They can trade pretty much everybody. I wouldn’t have signed Pollack or Kelly but not detrimental to a team like that.
We’re at the point where most fans are seeing this as a lose-lose. If you sign Cole, you spent too much. If you didn’t sign Cole, you…well…didn’t sign Cole.
Both the Yankees and the Angels can afford a ridiculous contract. Both teams know there are very low odds of Cole being worth this kind of money in the last few years of the contract. All things are equal as far as the teams are concerned.
I think the reason most fans are guessing the Yankees is that the Yanks are more competitive. That might well lead Cole to the Yankees. But I still think the Angels get him.
And yes…I’m biased. 🙂
I think the Yankees get him due to where they are with their team. I think they can sell a winning culture right now better than the Angels can.
Yanks dont have many holes to fill, and seem like they are that one elite starter away from being a WS team.
Hope im wrong because i dont like the Yankees but my gut says Yankees
The Angels still have a lot to offer. There’s a reason Ohtani chose them. Plus, there’s something to be said for being the guy that takes a team over the top.
They need more than just Cole though.
Even with Cole, the Astros are still the better team. You get Cole, THEN trade for another elite arm like Kluber, then you’re talking.
Cole is definitely not enough. The Angels need another quality starter and a good backstop. I believe the Astros will regress. But if the Angels get enough to take the division, Cole will get a ton of accolades.
im not that educated on what the Angels have on the farm in terms of guys coming up, I just know the Astros have a boat load of major league ready guys that are going to break through soon, so even losing a few players now wont set them back much.
Angels have young pitching in aa and two all star caliber outfielders in the way of adell and marsh. I believe marsh will be delt for a catcher (hopefully) wilson Contreras. Also its hard to say angels are far off when astros will lose cole and they use of trash cans and video cameras. If angels can sign cole and say bumgarner or keuchel plus the contreras trade they can close the gap. Keep in mind full healthy season from trout, upton, simmons, ohtani will be huge for angels.
I think a lot of people get caught up in the novelty of Ohtani’s pitching and hitting, and forget that he’s actually really good at both.
Sugar Land Skeeters
I put a mystery team. For some reason I just feel like there’s another team out there that’ll shock everyone.
A’s sign him to 1/$50 and flip him to another team for their entire farm system.
Mystery Team would’ve gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids.
pulls mask off, it’s Boras.
Or Manfred…dun dun DUN!
doubling down on my FA contest prediction – ChiSox or bust
Def the Angels. Boras is just using the Yanks to drive up the price.
Depends on where you come from. But I could see someone coming from, say, thousand oaks, who doesnt know not to sit in the traffic on the stadium way exit instead of taking academy rd spending maybe 3-3.5 hours in their car getting ti a 7pm game.
Who cares
Orioles
As an Angels fan, I have mixed emotions about the level of pay it’s going to cost to get Gerrit Cole. Somebody said on here that it’s a lose-lose situation for whoever does and does not get Gerrit Cole. So true.
I’d love to have him, however, I’m hoping the Angels spread the money around on other pitching, than dedicating so much to one.
My vote was for the Yankees.
He’s going to the Seattle Pilots
Melbourne Aces a professional baseball team in the Australian Baseball League
It’s New England isn’t it.
let’s check the video tape.
Portland Mavericks
The Boras Corporation All-Stars
My kids little league team
Evansville Otters
Angels and they’ll still suck
Boras always has a mystery team
He’s going to the Angels they have shown when they want someone they’ll spend whatever it takes unlike the Yankees
Yankees will not pay 300 mill for anyone!!!
You sure about that?
Maybe if 4 teams all put in 1/4 of his salary he can pitch for those 4 teams. First multi team free agent !! Boras would be a trend setter
We don’t know where he’ll go, but we know it won’t be the Twins, Marlins, White Sox, Nats or Amarillo Sod Poodles.
It will probably be the Yankees. When will they either move the teams out of Tampa/Oakland or hit them with fines for being cheap.
The Augusta Green Jackets
Mystery Team is the Cincinnati Reds. The “Big Red Machine Part 2” Lineup looking better and better. Just a few more parts.
Sugarland Skeeters
Prospero:
The candle leaks water, but the horse laughs.
Tell The Doctor.
I picked Angels due to Joe Maddon signing as manager . Cubs gave him Lester Chapman and zobrist to look like a good manager can’t imagine him going to Angels without promise of stud free agents so “he” can turn team around