HEY GERRIT COLE... PLEASE STOP TALKING!

Well, things just went from BAD to WORSE as far as the Yankees are concerned.
There is a lot of disappointment this season when it comes to the Yankees. It sucks to lose and I know it sucks to come to this blog lately and read our rants but it is what it is right now. For the time being, I am not going to rant about how much the Yankees suck but I am going to rant about how disappointed I am with how Gerrit Cole is handling his sticky situation.

Back in January I wrote DID YOU HEAR ABOUT GERRIT COLE'S STICKY SITUATION? and I asked if this was a big deal and really wasn't sure if there was any merit to this accusation. I really thought it was just a bitter ex-employee stirring drama at the time and then felt more confident it was when we stopped hearing as much about it. But here we are five months later and it's back again bigger and more controversial than ever.

Back in January, I even said that other players would be complaining about it but we hadn't heard anything until now. Guess what? Josh Donaldson is talking and you can read that HERE. I even said that if was a problem that umpires would start inspecting balls throughout the game and now it sounds like that will be coming very soon, Aaron Boone even says he expects it will be coming.

So now here we are.....speculating more and the one person who could help shed some light on this really tanked. If you haven't seen the video, here it is....but it's not pretty.

Someone should teach Cole how to address the media and be able to answer these tough questions because "I don't know how to answer that question" is the wrong answer and only adds more fuel to this growing fire. There are three acceptable approaches to ANY controversial question in general.

1) Blatant denial: Cole could have said....
"I have never used any sort of foreign substance to give me a competitive edge when I pitch..."

2) Confirmation or Admission: Cole could have said....
"I know this is a hot topic right now and I will admit that I have used them in the past for various reasons and maybe this should be addressed for the betterment of the game... "

3) Deflection! Cole could have said....
"While others are concerned with this, the only thing I want to focus on are my starts and how I can help my team win ball games..." especially since we all know how poorly the Yankees have been playing all season.

Cole failed that question, big time. He stuttered, generally looked nervous and not confident at all. The stuttering was DREADFUL. His quote was dreadful! Come on, man "there's customs and practices that have been passed down from older players to younger players" was the worst response he could give. Now he's not only drawing attention to himself but players before him. Talk about a serious integrity scandal for the entire game. Didn't we just have that with the cheating ASSTROS? Oh and "there are some things that are certainly out of balance in that regard" only makes him sound like he is admitting guilt and putting other players in doubt too.

I'm not happy with Cole's media blunder. It's not a good look and it just puts an even bigger spotlight on the Yankees than we already have. We already look bad on the field.....he doesn't need to make us look worse off of it. Scott Boras should find Cole some media training because he needs it! 

This was a disappointing appearance for Cole. I expect better. We ALL should expect better and it's about time Yankee brass tells him that! Get it together, Cole and please, just shut up and pitch!

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj