In less than three hours, Astros ace Gerrit Cole will take the field at Yankee Stadium in the hopes of securing his team a 2-1 lead over New York in the ALCS. Judging from quotes made to Scott Miller of Bleacher Report, his teammates are likely to be feeling mighty confident when Cole toes the rubber. “When you have Gerrit Cole on the mound, we win,” Houston manager AJ Hinch told Miller. “We have. We’ve kind of proven that.” Not wrong. Cole, 29, hasn’t lost a decision since May 22 (a date which preceded the Stanley Cup Finals, for reference) and is coming off a Divisional Series performance that saw him strike out 25 of the 54 Rays batters he faced. His success has been so tremendous that even his fellow Astros have begun to muse on just how much money the UCLA product might be in line to receive in free agency this winter. “I think everybody’s looking at that across baseball,” said outfielder Josh Reddick. “Harper money? Machado money? It’s going to be interesting.”
As Fangraphs’ Jay Jaffe points out, only four hurlers–Rick Sutcliffe, Mark Davis, Greg Maddux, and Roger Clemens–have earned a Cy Young award in the season preceding their free agency. Cole is widely expected to become the fifth.
- The Blue Jays may be headed for brighter days next year, now that youngsters like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio, and Bo Bichette have arrived on the scene. Could veteran–and franchise icon–Edwin Encarnacion be a steadying presence for that young nucleus in 2020? Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic takes a long look at Encarnacion’s fit as a potential Toronto addition, opining that the hulking slugger could be a more-than-viable replacement for the likely-to-depart Justin Smoak. Encarnacion’s steady power (104 home runs since 2017) and on-base skills (13.0% walk rate in same time frame) would certainly help boost Toronto’s young lineup, although, as McGrath notes, GM Ross Atkins previously said the club might prioritize a first base addition that “can play other positions as well“. Encarnacion, who will be 37 at the start of spring training, has a $20MM club option with New York for 2020, although he figures to have his $5MM buyout exercised.
Most people think Verlander is slight favorite for Cy Young as far as I know.
It’s neck and neck.
NO WAY, Cole is well ahead of Verlander in all advanced metrics. The guy hasn’t lost a game in almost 5 months. That’s crazy!
They really are neck in neck in almost all categories. Might give a slight nod to Cole but it’s to close to call. BR has Verlander as the more valuable pitcher and Fangraphs has Cole as more valuable it’s really splitting hairs at this point. The advanced metrics lean toward Cole but I’m not sure how much that is looked at by Cy Voters since Porcello beat out Verlander with clearly advanced metrics. Should be a very close vote. The real story is a team with teammates 1 and 2 in the voting and 3 isn’t even close.
Cole is favored for the cy young? What about verlander?
Jays should get Moustakas to play 1st
I really can’t see moustakas moving to Canada half the year with his young family (Three-year-old little girl, 18 month old son)
Canada is perfect for a young family. Great education, healthcare etc. The main problem, and the problem with most free agents is our huge tax rate. Nobody wants to pay about 40% tax. Plus going through customs for every away game is annoying. But mainly the tax. Any free agent will have to be overpaid to come here.
Great education lol and healthcare lol he’s a pro athlete his American healthcare is better than ours.
Mike Moustakas is a professional baseball player with over 35 million dollars in career earnings. Id be willing to bet he’s sending his kid to a private school no matter where he lives. And I’m real confident all MLB teams have a real good healthcare plan. Those things might be a draw to the middle class population but not so much for guys making millions of dollars a year.
Encarnacion can’t play first base anymore I don’t see how that works.
Tellez would see most of the action at first presumably.
@Black Ace57
Who’s preventing EE from being the full-time DH?
Nobody is but also everybody is, because they seem to want to use the DH spot as a flexible rest spot for multiple positions especially for Vlad, the two catchers, and their currently overcrowded outfield. If it’s true that EE is not a serviceable 1B anymore then I don’t see this happening.
Cole is due for a loss. Yanks beat the Stros today, 6 – 3. You heard it here, first.
I heard it 6 times elsewhere first.
And five of them were satirical and the other one was talking about Taylor Cole.
Taylor Cole, the actress? She is something we can agree on. Let’s have an article about her.
Severino doesn’t make it out of the first..again.
@Bocephus
He made it out the first…..the last time he pitched.
He juuust made it out…
Right on brother
southpaw2153….. think we can put a pin in your career as a fortune teller.
Nostradamus you are not
Cole walked 5 guys and the Yankees still didn’t score on him over 7 innings. Made the yanks look like the scrubs they are.
Well this didn’t age well. Don’t quit your job if you have one.
How’d that go for you?
Although it would be great to see Edwin come back to Toronto I highly doubt he’ll return. He might be open to finishing his career in Toronto. Not certain management wants him. Having the DH spot open to allow Vlad, Bo, Gurriel and others to DH once a week would be beneficial if the Jays plan to give more at bats to Fisher, Teoscar and others.
As for Cole, he could get ripped tonight by a lethal Yankees lineup in New York. Or he could continue his dominance. He and Verlander can be co-Cy Young winners. And co-AL MVP for that matter.
“As for Cole, he could get ripped tonight by a lethal Yankees lineup in New York. Or he could could continue his dominance.” Way to straddle the fence Leroy. Then again I could win my bet on the series, or I could lose my 5 Franklin’s.
You shouldn’t be using welfare checks on bets kid.
I don’t live in Canada Norma.
Man you AL East foes are a saucy bunch
Lethal? The Astros were higher than the Yanks in every offensive category except HRs this year.
Who said the Astros hitting WASNT lethal? They are both lethal.
PHILLIES
“In less than three hours, Astros ace Gerrit Cole will take the field at Yankee Stadium” for his audition.
“In less than three hours, Astros ace Gerrit Cole will take the field at Yankee Stadium in the hopes of securing” $200MM from the Steinbrenners.
“His success has been so tremendous that even his fellow Astros have begun to muse on just how” crappy it’s going to be to face him next year when he’s wearing Pinstripes.
Same thing we all heard from you blowhards about signing Harper, and Corbin.
“Same thing we all heard from you blowhards about signing Harper, and Corbin.”
Although I’d like to see a Astros vs Nationals WS, it would also be fun to watch Patrick Corbin dominate the Yankees in World Series. Scherzer, Strausburg, and Corbin old school 7 inning min starts is a breath of fresh air compared to the 7 pitching changes Yankees bullpen-ing games that go to commercial breaks mid inning every time a runner gets on 1st base.
Oh please please please let it get to game seven and Corbin goes out and gets a three inning save in Yankee Stadium to take the title. Thank you for putting that in my head.
How about a little cheese with that wine…..the modern game is dominated by teams with super bullpens or haven’t you heard….the Astros are the exception to that new rule….and you’re going to get the non-stop commercials regardless of whether your Nationals starters go 7 or not!
Corbin dominate….we’ll see!
He is signing in the West Coast probably the Angels is my guess. Unless the Yankees want to break the bank. He is going to sign for more then 200 million and Arte Moreno has it.
Agreed, the odds on favorites are either he stays with the Astros if they break the bank, or the Angels and Moreno would definitely have to break the bank….the Yankees are better served going after a Kluber type of pitcher in a trade based on the Yankees having the assets of cash and players (Andujar etc) that might work for both teams.
You know the problem with giving a pitcher such a high contract is there inherent riskiness for injury. The Red Sox are dealing with that right now. When you pay the 30 million plus for a 30 year old pitcher it’s just very risky. The Yankees seem so much more fiscally responsible then when Senior Steinbrenner ran the club. I just think Arte has to go get a couple of pitchers and go for it with the prime of Trout now. Will be shocked if he is outbid for Cole.
Agreed Bruin1012…, the Angels have several player moves necessary to really get into the playoff mix in the West, especially from a pitching view…..Moreno typically doesn’t get influenced by the fans….should be interesting to watch but I still think the dollars and probably more importantly years involved will not tempt the current Yankee regime to jump at Cole….that being said, they will make an offer, but probably not a blank check.
I know hindsight is 20/20 but its funny to think that the Yankees could have had Cole for Frazier and Andujar. Two players who haven’t made a contribution all year.
You’re pretty much right on, but I think that the Pirates asked for quite a bit more than those 2….certainly Gleyber was asked for either instead of Andujar or in combo with other players but very certain that the Pirates were asking for a kings ransom for Cole, who was coming off 2 very ordinary and unspectacular years.
They say Karma is a bi_ch and it is! Who knew?
The Yankees wouldn’t include Andujar. That’s why they didn’t get him.
Of course. And the Astros are also living in fear of Stanton coming to bat. Oh wait, he isn’t.
Encarnacion is not returning to Toronto, dumb suggestion.
No way he gets 10x30mil. 7x32mil tops.
Grienke’s deal has an annual salary of just under $35 mil.
I agree that he only gets 7 years, but it will be at least $35 mil per.
Is Cole the only legitimate shot at 300 wins?
He just turned 29 and “only” has 94 wins. Assuming he gets another 18-20 next season, that still means he’d need 186-188 wins in his 30s and beyond.
Essentially, he’d have to average about 19 wins over a 10 year span. He’d have to be healthy, still effective, have a lengthy career, AND play for a team that consistently gives him run support. It’s tough for all of those to happen at the same time, especially when he only has a handful of years left before he’s allegedly out of his prime.
I don’t know if anyone will ever get 300 wins again, honestly. That’s 15 wins a year for 20 years. That kind of longevity almost seems unheard of nowadays.
Verlander is probably the last 300 winner.
Grienke’s deal has an annual salary of just under $35 mil.
I agree that he only gets 7 years, but it will be at least $35 mil per.
The redsox havs a number of guys that can play first as well as other positions from a young stud in Chavis, to more of a depth option in Travis, to a prospect on the brink of MLB ready in Dalbec to a 19 year old in Casas that rakes in the low minors. If the sox do indeed trade Betts or Bradley, maybe someone could be moved as part of a deal for Teoscar or Grichuk and perhaps a starter like Thornton
Take all of them. Have at it.
Even though he’d be a great influence on the younger players and it would be nice to see Edwin ride off in the sunset with the Jays, sadly it isn’t really practical. You need to give Telez a full shot at first and the DH slot is better used as a “casual Friday” kind of thing for other players to get a break from the field.
Oops TELLEZ, old eyes missed it!