Yankees Are Looking At Past Disappointmentsto Fill Gerrit Cole's Shoes!

Man, losing Gerrit Cole hurts like hell. Listening to Brian Cashman’s bleak outlook for pitching reinforcements makes it hurt even more. It’s a reminder that there are few pitchers out there like Cole even on day one of free agency, let alone right now….just over two weeks before the regular season. Finding talent that matches Cole is a tough challenge even in the best of circumstances.

So now what? Cashman doesn’t sounds hopeful. The free agent market isn’t enticing and why would it be this late in the game? The “best” options will be a trade scenario. Younger higher-ceiling options like Dylan Cease and Michael King could possibly be available but will cost the Yankees some higher end talent. Then there’s another option that should be a non-option in my book.

There’s “chatter” on social media and sports publications that the Yankees could look at familiar face Sonny Gray, check it out HERE. I’d like to say while they could, it doesn’t mean they should. That experiment didn’t work well for us the first time and I would prefer not to re-live that again. I don’t think a second go-around would end with better results.

Some players just can’t handle New York, and I think that was exactly the case here. After leaving, Gray found his stride with stints in Cincinnati, Minnesota and St. Louis. Not to diminish those markets but they just don’t have the pressure that comes under the bright lights at Yankee stadium. They also, don’t have such a heavy analytic approach that we do, and Gray just couldn’t adapt to that. 

Sometimes it just isn’t a fit, and that’s okay. Not to mention Gray doesn’t come as cheap as Cease or King do. His resurgence away from New York did help him earn a 3 year and $75 million contract with St. Louis. That’s a lot of money for a guy we watched falter here and the Yankees are already going to face stiff luxury tax penalties, they aren’t looking to go deeper….and certainly not for Gray.

Adding Gray would mean he would need to be in the Yankees plans for beyond 2025. The Yankees entered Spring Training with the reality of being “stuck” with Marcus Stroman, in a similar scenario here. Higher payroll commitment for an underachieving pitcher that no one else really wanted – I’d rather not make that mistake again.

At the end of the day, there are no pitchers out there that will fill Cole’s shoes. He’s not someone you just magically replace. The Yankees will have to get creative to reinforce the rotation, but Gray isn’t a creative option he’s a disaster waiting to happen. We don’t need to be THAT desperate.