Ex-Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole signed with the New York Yankees for $324 million over nine years.
That works out to $98K per day. Nice work if you can get it.
Cole is 29. How good is Cole going to be at 38? Or even 34? (If Cole is great at 34, he reportedly has an opt-out clause after five years. He can cash in even more absurdly.)
Cole has done the hard part. Now Cole will usually pitch five or six innings at a time because baseball teams minimize huge investment in a pitcher by protecting that investment in unreasonable fashion. $324m buys a lot of bubble wrap.
The Yankees outbid both Los Angeles teams. So much for Cole going back home to the west coast, like he supposedly wanted when he was in Pittsburgh. (I think Cole just wanted out of Pittsburgh.) But Cole was a Yankee fan when he was a kid. (See photo.)
I’m told the Pirates fell just short in the bidding. (By about $300m.)
The Yankees prohibit facial hair. So Cole will have to use some of that $324m to buy razors.