The New York Yankees are aggressive in pursuit of free agent pitcher Gerrit Cole — so much so that they’re not even thinking about backup plans.
According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Cole is the Yankees’ “total focus” right now, and they appear prepared to do anything they need to do to fend off interest from four other clubs chasing the starting pitcher.
Hear Yankees “total focus” right now is on Gerrit Cole. PHI, TEX, LAD, LAA are other teams known to be in but Yankees don’t want to be denied.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 7, 2019
It’s easy to understand why this is the priority for the Yankees. Their starting pitching was a relative weakness in 2019, and few of their starters had a habit of pitching well enough to go deep in games. That wasn’t a problem for Cole, who posted a league-leading 2.50 ERA in 212.1 innings.
How dedicated are the Yankees to landing Cole? They’d apparently be willing to give him a record contract if he’s willing to sign.
