The Yankees met with Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg yesterday, and suddenly the rumor mill has changed. Remember that whole "Cole is probably going to a west coast team" speculation? Well, not so fast....
The Yankees got on a plane and flew 6,000 miles round trip with their new pitching coach Matt Blake who I think could be intriguing to a free agent. If you don't think that is a big deal....IT IS. The Yankees aren't going to fly to California to waste their time. They went because they are serious about Cole, they wouldn't spend time traveling across country if they weren't ready to "play ball" with Cole. You also don't make that trip just to try and jack the price up for any other team in hopes that they pay a premium. Oh and one other thing to consider here.....last year was all about Patrick Corbin and Manny Machado, right? Well both of those meetings the players went to New York. The Yankees didn't travel AND the meeting with Machado lasted minutes compared to the FOUR HOUR meeting yesterday according to Jon Heyman.
Cole says he has "no West Coast bias" but that doesn't excite me. Even if he did, I doubt he would say otherwise because that would lessen his bargaining position with west coast teams. That wouldn't make sense and Scott Boras wouldn't encourage that. After all, Boras is a baseball business man and he wants the strongest bidders to stick around, right? In the end it all comes down to money. The Dodgers will have an offer, the Angels are of course interested but they just spent a ton of money so can they actually outbid the Yankees?
The Yankees have been here before and they have overcome geography concerns. Once upon a time Mike Mussina was hesitant to go from small-town Pennsylvania to the big lights in the Bronx, but it happened! CC Sabathia "preferred" the West Coast before the Yankees were able to entice him to come to New York. Did the money help? I'm sure....but I am also sure that both pitchers are glad they decided to play for the Yankees.
I'm not getting my hopes up, but the Yankees just traveled a long distance to meet with Cole and that hasn't happened in a while. Hal just told the world that "All options are open." I think the Yankees feel MUCH better about their chances of signing Cole. Two weeks ago they weren't favorites and now they are contenders.
This was an important meeting....and hopefully a meeting that leads to a deal. Cross your fingers everyone, this was a good sign.
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @NYPrincessj
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