December 11th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka The next time you are at a Major League Baseball game and are appalled at how much it costs for a hot dog, soft drink, peanuts, nachos or whatever, remember this: Every time 29-year-old right-hander Gerrit Cole steps on the mound to make a start, he will make more than one million dollars … for the next nine years.
Late Tuesday night at the 2019 MLB Winter Meetings in San Diego, CA, the Newport Beach, CA native and former two-time first-round draft pick signed a nine-year/$324 million contract with the New York Yankees. And while that amount of money in and of itself is insane, the fact that the contract is for nine years takes the word ‘insane’ to an entirely new level.
Although Yankees general manager Brian Cashman may be the cock of the walk and the talk of the town (and the entire baseball world) right now, to expect (or hope or dream) that Cole will make it through the next (near) decade healthy and even more so successful to justify his $36 million average annual value (AAV) is, again, insane
Ironically, shortly before Tuesday night’s announcement of the Cole signing, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweeted out that two other teams – including the Dodgers – were still very much in on Cole. As such, one has to believe that it was indeed the guarantee of nine years that sealed the deal for the Yankees, for which it is impossible not to give Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman kudos for walking away from this sheer insanity.
As we reported here on ThinkBlue LA on Tuesday and with Cole now officially off the table, Friedman must look elsewhere for a top-tier starting pitcher. And while many (most) Dodger fans would prefer that Friedman re-sign 32-year-old left-hander and 2019 MLB ERA leader Hyun-Jin Ryu, the chances that the Dodgers executive will indeed go after 30-year-old left-hander Madison Bumgarner have increased exponentially.
Then again, Friedman might not pursue Bumgarner – or any other free agent starter – which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. In fact, it might be the sane thing to do.
Play Ball!
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Madbum?????????????? Please NO! AF has a plan, but just once I would like to see the Dodgers get the big fish and proudly show their financial muscle like the Yankees do.
May, Gonsolin, Urias all have a bright future, but the Dodger starting rotation, as currently constructed, will not deliver a WS championship. Cole should have been a Dodger.
What the heck we already pay $14.00 for a Dodger Dog, $12.00 for a Beer what’s another dollar or two to help fund the Cole contract?
Let’s see, $324M over 9 years.
Estimated Dodger attendance, 4 million per year, so 4 million times 9 equals total of 36 million fans over nine years. That’s about $9 per fan ($324 divided by 36 million fans). How many Dodger dogs do you eat at a game?
Of course, Cole only pitches every fifth game so multiply that $9 times 5 equaling $45. Dodgers would have needed a lot of fat, drunk fans to pay Cole’s salary!
lol!
They DO have one less STH for 2020. They absolutely positively priced me out, and man, that sucks.
Been do Dodger Stadium lately…………I routinely see a lot of fat, drunk fans every game.
I recall back in my teens when a Dodger Dog was about $2.50 each. BTW Norcaldodgrfan, I agree that as currently constructed, this rotation is not good enough to compete and win the 3 PS series it takes to win a WS. and no guarantees of an 8th straight division title either.
Rotation at this time not a WS caliber rotation
But with May Gonsolin and Urias they could have one.