CC Sabathia was on his podcast the other day and he talked about how he’s been lobbying Gerrit Cole to sign with the New York Yankees. Which could be effective given that he has some special insight to the whole thing.
Sabathia, like Cole, is from California. When he was a free agent after the 2008 season there was widespread speculation that he preferred to sign with a California-based team. A seven-year, $161 million contract offer from the Yankees persuaded him to head to The Bronx instead.
Sabathia said that a similar approach could do the same for Cole, who is also suspected of preferring to head west:
Seems simple, eh?
I dunno, maybe Cole has no desire whatsoever to come east or to join the Yankees. But Sabathia’s example is probably worth remembering if the Yankees don’t seriously engage Cole. It’ll especially be worth remembering if they don’t engage him and claim that Cole’s presumed lack of a desire to come to New York is the reason.
Because they know darn well that, if you offer a motherf***er enough money, they might just change their mind.