I DON'T WANT SECOND BEST, I WANT ACES

Source: Los Angeles Times

I read this headline in the NY Post on Tuesday, and it made my blood boil: "Zack Wheeler would be Yankees’ perfect Gerrit Cole fallback" Seriously, this is where we are?  The Yankees' brass aren't going out there with gloves up ready for a battle.  They are already ready to settle.

Look...the Yankees don't need second or third best.  They need aces and yes, that is plural.  This team has come too close too many times to settle.  And headlines like the one in the Post only set the wrong tone for this year's offseason purchases.

Source: ESPN

"Wheeler’s agent B.B. Abbott will be at the general managers’ meetings next week, and you can bet on Brian Cashman’s group being among those to meet with Abbott and discuss its interest in Wheeler, whom the Yankees have long liked and tried to acquire last July when the Mets contemplated trading him," reported the Post.  Listen, Wheeler is a fine pitcher and with a good defense behind him, he could be a great pitcher.  If it is Wheeler and Gerrit Cole or Wheeler and Stephen Strasburg, then okay, I could be up for that.  But Wheeler and...crickets, now that is simply unacceptable.

Source: Twitter

CC Sabathia's vote for Gerrit Cole could not be clearer as he spoke about Cole's fit for the team in a recent podcast with Ryan Ruocco on R2C2 is UNINTERRUPTED.

“Me and Gerrit Cole have spoken at length many times about me pitching as a Yankee as a West Coast Guy,” Sabathia said. “This is crazy, this is shaping out… like the same offseason I had.” The Yankees already have missed out twice on Cole, who went 20-5 with a 2.50 ERA with Houston last season. They failed to sign Cole after drafting him the same year Sabathia signed, and then were outbid by the Astros, who acquired Cole from Pittsburgh in 2018," reported the NY Post.

Cole and...would be just fine.  And if Cole is a good fit as it appears he would be, then he can take on a leadership role along with an ace role.  Let's make it happen, Cashman.  Let's not lose out for a third time and settle for someone second best.