NEW YORK -- At Yankee Stadium, the Legends Suite is exclusive territory. Single-game tickets will set you back hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. It is all-inclusive with food, drinks, table service, and a great view from behind home plate. In a way, the Legends Suite perfectly embodies the Yankees with their wealth and extravagance.
It is fitting then that, on Wednesday, the Yankees introduced a clean-shaven Gerrit Cole -- "I have razor burn for the first time in 10 years," he joked -- as their newest addition in a press conference located in the Legends Suite. That's a red carpet the Yankees roll out for the very best of the best. Even manager Aaron Boone had to settle for being introduced in the regular old press conference room.
"It's the right time and the right place to take that step," Cole said about signing with the Yankees. "I'm just tremendously excited."
Cole, like the Legends Suite, is so perfectly Yankees. He's now extremely wealthy -- New York gave him a nine-year contract worth $324 million, far and away the richest pitching contract in history -- and at the top of his game, dominating the sport. His 326 strikeouts in 2019 were the most by a right-handed pitcher since Nolan Ryan struck out 341 batters in 1971.
"If you're going to do it, it needs to be a guy like this," chairman Hal Steinbrenner said about giving Cole a $324 million contract. "He's a special human being. So many good qualities about him. It's going to be a great nine years, I think."
GM Brian Cashman called Cole his "white whale" during the Winter Meetings, hours before he agreed to the record contract. The Yankees selected Cole with their first-round pick in the 2008 draft, but couldn't convince him to turn pro, and watched him develop into the country's No. 1 prospect at UCLA. Two years ago they tried to acquire him from the Pirates, but their offer fell short.
"(Scouting director Damon) Oppenheimer, (president) Randy (Levine), Brian in their own way passed along good wishes along the journey to this point," Cole said. "Nothing represents the brand of the Yankees better than the class they have shown over the years. Some people don't quite take the word 'no' as well as these guys did, and I'd say that paid off, for sure."
Once Cole hit free agency, the Yankees were determined not to miss out a third time. Cashman confirmed their first offer was eight years, not seven as initially reported. Once Stephen Strasburg, an elite pitcher but two years older than Cole and with an uglier injury history, signed for seven years, the price went up. When the Angels and Dodgers made eight-year offers, it went up again.
"The day before Strasburg signed (agent Scott Boras) went, 'Why don't you wait -- in terms of engaging me -- until tomorrow. There will be some new information that I think will be very important to you and Hal Steinbrenner to factor in to whatever you're going to decide moving forward,'" Cashman explained with a smile. Boras represents both Strasburg and Cole.
"It came down to getting offers from three different teams that said I was their No. 1 priority," Cole added. "Ultimately, as we started getting down in the process, the Yankees were just in front, far and away ... The Yankees did what the Yankees needed to do, and it was ultimately my dream to play here, and I wanted to follow that."
Steinbrenner pre-approved a record contract and negotiations swayed in the Yankees' favor once the ninth guaranteed year was put on the table. The Yankees can offer players lots of things -- a chance to win the World Series, first-class amenities, state-of-the-art facilities and analytics, etc. -- but, in the end, money reigns supreme. The ninth year landed Cole in pinstripes.
"We felt there was going to be a lot of people in that arena, the eight-year number," Cashman said. "All things being equal, West Coast vs. East Coast ... would we leave that to a close call? Or strategically (offer the ninth year) now, that it would separate us now from the pack? By doing so we might move ahead of people's decision-making and force them to say yes."
Cashman admitted the Yankees were concerned that had talks lingered for another few weeks, other teams would've jumped in with nine-year offers. They wanted to get out in front of the market. Also, nine years and $324 million was going to be the Yankees' best and final offer. If that wasn't enough to land Cole, the Yankees were prepared to move in another direction.
"If it wasn't going to be good enough, it wasn't going to be good enough," Cashman explained. "There weren't going to be any more negotiations past that."
The Yankees did not sign Cole to win another AL East title. Winning the division is a step in the process, sure, but signing Cole is about getting over the hump and winning the World Series, not winning games in June and July. New York is title-less since 2009 and twice in the last three years they have been no more than two wins away from an American League pennant.
That World Series drought combined with the largest pitching contract in the sport's history creates expectations. Big expectations. Steinbrenner made it clear the goal is to win multiple championships during Cole's nine-year contract. The Yankees have a great young core in place -- they've won 100 games in back-to-back years, after all -- and they view Cole as the missing piece.
"We have an incredible team right here, right now. What happens three years from now, you can never predict. Clearly I felt it was time to strike to really get that final big piece that can make a difference with the way things have been going," Steinbrenner said. "... We need to win some world championships and I believe we're going to do that, sooner than later. I believe that. Plural."
"Pressure is a privilege. Pressure comes in situations that you've earned," Cole added. "You pitch in big games in September and October because you played well all year. With that in mind, you have to have a process that you know you need to stick to to perform in those games. We can say it's just another game, but we know when you get to October, it's really not."
The Yankees have held other press conferences in the Legends Suite but none led to a World Series title. CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira were, ironically enough, introduced at the old Yankee Stadium in 2008 before leading the team to the 2009 World Series title. Others like Jacoby Ellsbury and Masahiro Tanaka received Legends Suite intros, but remain ring-less in pinstripes.
Steinbrenner called Cole a "game-changer" and made it clear the Yankees believe Cole the pitcher and Cole the person can push the Yankees over the top in a way Sabathia did a decade ago. Eleven years passed between the Yankees first drafting Cole and the Yankees signing Cole, and now they're getting the best version of him, a version just as eager to win a title as the organization.
"I came eight outs away from getting a ring," Cole said. "I feel like I could see the light under the door and then it was slammed shut in our face. ...I'm as hungry as ever to finish that journey, finish that challenge. In my opinion there'd be no better place to do it than New York."
