Dodgers: Free Agent Gerrit Cole Clarifies Stance on Playing for West Coast Team
The off-season prior to the 2019 season was headlined by Manny Machado and Bryce Harper whom inevitably signed with the San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies respectively. This off-season, it will be Anthony Rendon and Gerrit Cole.
In a recent column, Cole’s quotes regarding his impending free agency were analyzed.
Recent rumors have linked the Dodgers to both superstar free agents, but it appears that the Dodgers might not be of any preference to Gerrit Cole, despite his Los Angeles roots. Cole’s comments after the Houston Astros’ World Series loss to the Washington Nationals made it seem as if he wanted to return to Houston and that if he didn’t, he would keep his options open. At the end of the day, Gerrit Cole will probably be pitching for the highest bidder in 2020 because of his agent — the infamous Scott Boras.
Unemployed Gerrit Cole, representing himself pic.twitter.com/BhNuweV0QG
— Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) October 31, 2019
Cole started the post-game media scrum with the following questionable statement:
“I’m not an employee of the team. I’m doing this interview as a representative of myself, I guess.”
Everyone immediately jumped on the comments as they took them to mean that he wanted out of Houston. He later clarified that his comments were made purely out to frustration:
“I was upset and my tone did not come off quite the way I wanted it to. One win away. We had the lead with eight outs to go. It’s just a tough pill to swallow. Those comments were intended to be lighthearted, but also truthful in the sense that I don’t want to be talking about free agency and I don’t want to be addressing those comments 20 minutes after a team loss.”
More at Dodgers Nation
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- Why The Dodgers Might Explore A Corey Seager Trade
- Is A.J. Pollock on the Dodgers in 2020?
Former Dodger Josh Reddick also made a comment regarding Cole’s future and predicted that he would be heading west:
“He probably wants to be closer to home. It’s definitely going to be west of Nevada.”
This was Cole’s response:
“No, that’s not a fair assumption. I never said that.”
Do not get your hopes up, Dodger fans. Gerrit Cole might simply return to Houston if they match the price Cole and Boras desire.
I kept telling people he’s going to go to the highest bidder. If that’s a California team then even better for him. Also, he grew up a yankee fan for some reason Dodgers and Angels fans think he grew up a fan of their teams
He’s going with a solid team that has the potential of another try at the WS. A team that is a WS contender. A team that knows what city they represent. Not a team that shadows another that wants to represent a major market. He either stays in Houston or goes with the Dodgers.
From his post WS loss statement you get the idea he is a carpet bagger. If he would sign with LA, good, but we would be better served with Wheeler.
The fact that AJ Hinch wouldn’t put Gerrit Cole in for relief in Game 7 of the World Series, pretty much proved how little confidence the Astros had in him.
Bob Nightingale’s article on USA Today after Game 7 of the World Series summed up best about Gerrit Cole:
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The Nats were almost begging for 20-game winner Gerrit Cole, who was warming up in the bullpen in the fifth inning, to come into the game.
Anyone, they said, but Greinke.
“When we saw Cole warming up,” Nats hitting coach Kevin Long said, “we were almost like, ‘Please bring him in.’ Because that’s how good Zack Greinke was.”
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A better way to put it, not “how good Zack Greinke was”, but “how bad Gerrit Cole was”.
Gerrit Cole, bad??! Really??! Okay, okay, he pitches in the LOST division (LA Angels, Oakland, Seattle, Texas) which is probably the worst division in the Majors right now, but even then, “bad” starting rotations don’t go 18-1 against one single team in its own division. And you can’t even blame Cole for losing Game 1 of the Series. You can blame the Astros’ inability to get hits with runners in scoring position on top of manufacturing runs when they couldn’t hit. And not for just one or two games in the WS either. These problems started around the middle part of August. Maybe even before then. That’s why I believe that Cole will probably come back on a 3-4 year deal. If he doesn’t and Houston starts losing close games in 2020, you’ll know why.
By the way, he ain’t going to LA. He’s too smart to. Angels? Snowball’s chance in hell. I’ll bet he goes as far away from the West Coast as humanly possible. I would.
The Dodgers shed $90 million from their payroll following this season. Nobody will be able to offer Cole more money than the Dodgers. They can tell Boras to make the rounds and come back to them last so they can beat the best offer out there.
Has of right now Gerrit Cole is a perfect fit for the LA Dodgers starting pitching rotation. Also they both got the same common interests (1) To Win it All in 2020
(2) To Beat the Washington Nationals.
Another possibility is: If Stephen Strasburg decides to Opt out of his contract with the Washington he will also be a perfect fit for the LA Dodgers and another chance to Win it All again in 2020. Time will tell and if these opportunities presents itself and last but not least will the Front Office make it happen?
I meant to say: As of right now:
The SF giants are his team of choice ,all you dodger fans keep on dreaming
Dude, you need to put down the crackpipe!! The Vagiants??????????
Dude, you need to put down the crackpipe!! The Vagiants??????????
We need another frontline pitcher like Buehler ,( over 93 mph ) to get to the World Series .. and win it … Get Strasburg , resign Ryu , and get Kershaw to quit with the start and stop Delivery which is hampering his velocity and adding to back problems and we will do great . JT said he would move to 1B , so go get Rendon”s CLUTCH bat !
This is why baseball is B.S. no salary cap and the rich can just dump anyone they want. Basically, you want an all-star at every position and a few HOF players at the top. Even with all that the Dodgers will still choke ?.
Rendon would be a good pickup but knowing Friedman he’ll probably go after Mike Moustakas or someone similar. Instead of Cole Friedman will go after Wheeler or similar. Dont get your hope up Dodgers fans.
Bye, Cole. Tired of hearing about it, but I’m good with Tendon, he is definitely welcome back to Houston!
The Dodgers are always after projects. They rarely sign stars. I expect them to go after Homer Noodleman from Wottsamata U.
News flash. The Dodgers will not sign anyone. They are quite happy drawing 4million fans and winning a very easy West division. We will only get at max leftovers, guys like Pollock and Kelly. Don’t count on a WS win unless someone hits real well in the post season which is out of character for this team.
You nailed it ?%. This team is built for the regular season. If it weren’t for so much talent Dave Roberts couldn’t hide behind all his blunderous decisions.
Dodgers need to integrate their lineup to be more representative of their fan base.
Highest bidder … but I would imagine tax laws would factor in. Texas has no state income tax.
Arodc03, Moose is 11 mil/year, solid defensively, 30 HR 265 avg, and most importantly a winner. We would love to have him back in Cream City.
I’m not knocking Moose. I’m just saying hes not the top 3B choice for the Dodgers. I can see Friedman signing him to a 1yr deal.
I am sick and tired of reading about GMs in contending teams going after hitters look at the Phillies all that money spend to play 500 ball. Pitching has been and will always be the deciding factor in world series games. The 69 Mets what did they have, on paper they could not match the Orioles and what was the result? The Dodger teams of the 60s they couldn’t hit but they won behind great pitching.
Back to Back World Series Losers A starting staff that has no idea how to win in the Clutch. Why would anyone want to be a Dodger the team has lost for 31 YEARS ? and if all goes well they Lose for 31 more. Garrett Cole as an Angel with a Manager that Doesn’t CHOKE under the pressure it’s an obvious choice. STOP DREAMING LA and appreciate the team to the South Trouts Team??
“Why would anyone want to be a Dodger the team has lost for 31 YEARS ?” Because it is so much more meaningful to be the guy who helps a city end a long curse (Schilling, Epstein, Maddon) than to join the team that has already won without you.
Am 80 yrs been a loyal yankee fan since i was 10.dad took me to see the athletics and yanks in 1950. I lived across street ftom shibr park
Hope the yankees sign him
He is the missing piece to. The puzzle like vetlander was.gtest offence great bullpen
World title in the bank
We should all start a friendly, non financial sporting thread here to put the odds of Friedman actually signing a “Needed” Free Agent to the club. In the past the media would have lost a boat load of money knowing like the rest of us what the glaring weaknesses of the team were. Then, wah lah, Friedman does nothing, and the team falters in the biggest stage. The odds for the dodgers to win the series last year were like 5-1 with the belief that Friedman would add some needed glaring weaknesses before they made the odds present. Then, there was the trade deadline to add to that. Nothing….. So, with 90 million in the Guggenheim’s pockets, a Guaranteed 4 million fannies in the seats, and a manager that was hired to take all of the heat when things fail, I would give the Dodgers a 300-1 chance of the team signing anyone for more than 20 mill a year. Then maybe 5-1 odds that they will pick up a couple bad contracts at next years trade deadline, after they see that 3 out 4 of their Triple A guys still aren’t ready for the bigs…
Cole with Boras as an agent, the team he signs with won’t matter it’s going to come down who offers him the longest and highest contract which won’t be the Dodgers, it might be SF, SD, LAA, or NYY, or even OAK very unlikely with the A’s they don’t do long contracts and high dollar the Dodgers feel good with their SP i don’t see them going after anyone Strasburg is another Boras client same issue and Ryu another Boras client we’ll probably let him walk we have a few players that are clients of Scott Boras’, Bellinger, Seager, Urias, that i can think of off the top of my head when their FA time comes up they may no longer be in Dodger uniforms just because of how Scott Boras is.
Good point, but Boras also knows that the Dodgers” more so than everyone” have the most money. So, like all of us mindful business folks in the world, the bid may be a bit more incentive driven with large dividends and pay off’s. Friedman’s mentality is to drive a used Chevy with transmission problems while Boras knows a Dodge diesel 3500 is in his garage. Boras isn’t the villain, he’s the winner. While Friedman is the winner for the FO, and the Villain for us fans is how I see it now, and with plenty of good reasons. 198 mill payroll will not win a World Series. I see Cole staying with the Astro’s. Friedman will never go for the all the marbles until his job is threatened. He built 3 World series losing teams and still has his job. Wish my boss would except that……
Houstonian here. Cole rubbed a lot of people here the wrong way when he appeared after the game, wearing not his Astros hat, but one from his agent. It looks like, “I’m not on this team anymore.”
Buster Brown your thinking is like when those shoes were popular. Maybe you should move to Cuba, they have all the same players so you could root for them. Grow up! Stop looking at color. You root for the team, not the color of the players.
No kidding Howard. Last time I checked, Baseball is the MOST diverse of all major sports. A true world representation of all races. Which makes it the greatest game of all..The Dodgers of all teams are the leaders in the diversity of all franchises. Who cares what race a player is….Just want players that achieve and play hard, no matter what they look like or where they’re from..
Absolutely nothing in coles comments suggests hes not interested in the dodgers.
As a Mets fan, I would love to have the mlb and milb players along with the financial resources you guys have. .
Under Froedman the organization has become much more conservative, however the prospect pool is just mind boggling considering drafting low each year.
A more aggressive leader would have taken some of these prospects and turned 3 of them into a young superstar. I beleive LA could have had deGrom for Buehler (just coming up in 18).Verdugo (a nice player) and Lux (will be very good but was two possible championships ago.
More than just numbers, you need players who are superstars who also have grit. Scherzer, Cole, Verlander. I’m sorry if this offends but Kershaw is a great regular season pitcher who was given way too much leeway in important playoff games where his performance is pedestrian at best. Many games he should have been lifted after 5 but his rep kept him in the game.
You are not going to win World Series with good and very good players. You need superstars. At least 2 on offense 2 SP and a closer.
The Dodgers with all thier cash should sign Rendon and Cole and take 4 of those elite prospects (you have about 12) and trade by overwhelming a team like Washington for a player like Soto who will be cheap for another 4 years. That should have been done with deGrom at the deadline in 18.
The Dodgers manufacture prospects and print money. You should have had 3 championships this decade with more to follow.
Cole ain’t going to no Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that has proven to be consistent chockers for the past 20 years. He is going to the best team in California, the San Francisco Giants 2010, 2012, 2014.
How many hits of LSD did you do before you came up with Vagiants????????
“Why would anyone want to be a Dodger the team has lost for 31 YEARS ?” Because it is so much more meaningful to be the guy who helps a city end a long curse (Schilling, Epstein, Maddon) than to join the team that has already won without you.
A fireballer like Cole will decline significantly by age 35 or 36, whereas someone who succeeds on command like Ryu will decline (and cost) less. Cole had a great year, but if you pay a long-term contract now you are buying at the high. He has not been THIS good for several years, like Rendon, who also will probably age better.
Myself and every Dodgers fan who loves sabermetrics and starting pitchers, want him to play for us in 2020.
On the other hand, the fact that he is from so cal and made these comments about his desire to play on the west coast, this will only make the East Coast teams with alot of cash **cough* * yankees **cough**, increase their starting offer by larger magnitudes than before.
In my opinion, if the Yankees acquire Cole, they will be in the WS next year. They almost took out the Astros with Tanaka and their bullpen. THANKFULLY, they have been about the luxury tax for multiple years, so their going to have to sell alot of players or trade some great farm prospects.