Yankees Offer Gerrit Cole a Record 7-Year, $245 Million Deal

Gerrit Cole with the Houston Astros in 2018
Gerrit Cole with the Houston Astros in 2018. Photo by Trask Smith/CSM/Shutterstock (9719808e)

It looks like New York Yankees are ready to do everything it takes to land free agent All-Star pitcher Gerrit Cole. After reports surfaced last week that the team made Cole their primary target in the offseason, Yankees now decided to make their first offer.

According to The New York Times’ Bob Klapisch, Yankees have prepared a record-setting seven-year, $245 million offer for Cole. This would be the largest deal for a pitcher in terms of overall value and average annual value ($35 million). The current overall value record is held by David Price, who signed a seven-year, $217 million deal with Boston Red Sox, while Zack Greinke had the highest AAV with $34.4 million he receives according to his 2015’s six-year contract signed with Arizona Diamondbacks.

Klapisch brings out a good point regarding the length of the deal. Considering the fact that Gerrit Cole is 29 years old, he will most likely push for a longer contract that would run close to his forties. If Los Angeles Angels and LA Dodgers, two other interested teams, can’t compete with New York in terms of money, they might decide to offer few extra years to lure Cole.

Cole is coming off a career season with Houston Astros in which he posted 20-5 record with 2.50 ERA and 326 strikeouts.

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