The Yankees had to have CC Sabathia. They had to. The problem was Sabathia didn’t want to be a Yankee. As a 28-year-old free agent, he wanted to move home to California to pitch. He initially turned down Brian Cashman’s lucrative six-year, $140 million offer, and after Cashman told Sabathia’s agents he would be willing to travel to California to meet with the left-hander to negotiate, he was on his way to Vallejo. They landed on seven years and $161 million. At the time, it was the biggest contract for a pitcher in history.

The Yankees have to have Gerrit Cole. They have to. The problem is the Yankees most likely won’t offer what Cole is looking for, and after drafting him and losing him and then being unable to trade for him, the Yankees could miss out on Cole for a third time.

I have given up expecting the Yankees to better their team and fill necessary holes if it means paying significant dollars, and Cole is going to command significant dollars in what will most likely be the biggest contract ever given to a pitcher. Eleven years ago, the Yankees didn’t care about setting the record for giving Sabathia the largest pitching contract at the time, all they cared about was winning as they kept increasing their offer to Sabathia, outbidding themselves to make sure he chose the East Coast over the West Coast.

The Yankees were unwilling to take on Justin Verlander’s salary at the 2017 waiver deadline, and he single-handedly swung the 2017 ALCS in the Astros’ favor by winning Games 2 and 6. After coming within a game of the 2017 World Series, the 2018 Yankees’ payroll was cut by $50 million. After falling short again in 2018 because of their starting pitching, the Yankees were unwilling to give Patrick Corbin an additional year on his offer and he ended up in Washington. The Yankees have had several chances to drastically upgrade their rotation either through free agency or a trade over the last three seasons and they have come up short each time, unwilling to offer enough money or unwilling to depart with their prospects. And to no surprise, they have been eliminated by better starting pitching in each of the last three postseasons.

Cashman can defend the financial spending of his boss like he comically did at this end-of-the-season press conference, but everyone knows the Yankees don’t spend like they used to. Despite revenues being at an all-time high in baseball, the Yankees’ payroll has essentially stayed the same, or at times been less than it was 15 years ago when revenues were nowhere near what they are today. Cashman can keep preaching that the 2019 Yankees were “a play or two away” from going to the World Series and not “a player or two away.” Maybe so, but had the Yankees somehow been able to win Game 6 in extra innings and overcome Cole in Game 7, how were they going to actually win the World Series? Or has the goal changed to just getting there since the team has been unable to do that for 10 straight years. Zack Britton openly admitted the bullpen was exhausted after the ALCS and it was obvious with Chad Green laboring in Games 4 and 6 and Tommy Kahnle pitching like his elbow or shoulder might give at any moment. The Yankees’ bullpen-heavy approach to the postseason didn’t work again this October and it has yet to ever work for them. There’s a reason why the two teams with Verlander, Cole, Zack Greinke, Corbin, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg were in the World Series and the team asking their bullpen to get 15 outs each postseason game wasn’t.

Hal Steinbrenner has already alluded to the idea of the Yankees not signing Cole or Strasburg or any available high-salary starting pitcher. He has already given a sneak preview to their excuse that getting a full season of Luis Severino and the return of Jordan Montgomery as in-house upgrades are just as good as upgrading through free agency. Cashman has told the media he is “interested” in Cole and Strasburg and Zack Wheeler and that he has already talked to their agents. The Yankees are making it known to their fan base that they are once again doing the bare minimum, but be prepared for the statements from Cashman and the front office about getting “outbid by a number they were comfortable with” sometime between now and spring training.

As it stands, the Yankees’ 2020 rotation will include Severino and Montgomery both coming off nearly an entire missed season, James Paxton who has never pitched more than 160 1/3 innings in a season and has never avoided the injured list in a season, Masahiro Tanaka, who has somehow avoided elbow surgery all these years later, and J.A. Happ, who will be 37-and-a-half years old in April and pitched every bit like his age last season. After those five, there’s a suspension yet to be determined, and the hope that Deivi Garcia will become a true front-end starter. If not, the Yankees could always use Nestor Cortes every five days again when one of their starters inevitably goes on the injured list.

Cashman likes to refer to “boxes being checked” when talking about newly-acquired Yankees or prospects. Well, Cole checks every box the Yankees need to be checked. He’s a durable, power, starting pitcher and true No. 1. He’s what Severino has been at times, except all the time, and what the Yankees haven’t consistently had since they signed Sabathia. Like Sabathia, all Cole will cost is money, which is something the Yankees used to use to their advantage to create the best possible roster.

It’s not that the Yankees aren’t a playoff team without Cole, it’s that they aren’t a championship team without him, and isn’t being a championship team the goal here? At least it used to be.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

On Opening Day 2015, the Yankees trailed the Blue Jays 6-1 when Didi Gregorius was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs, Carlos Beltran walked to push Gregorius into scoring position as Mark Teixeira came to the plate. The Yankees had a chance to get back into the game with one swing with from Teixeira, but on the first pitch to Teixeira, Gregorius inexplicably took off for third and was thrown out. Inning over, rally over, Yankees’ last chance to get back in the game over.

There was no need for Gregorius to try to steal third, mainly because there’s never a good reason to steal third, unless you’re being given it and are 100 percent certain you will get there. It was an ill-advised move by Derek Jeter’s heir most likely trying to do way too much in his first game with his new team in the team’s first game with a new everyday shortstop in 20 years. Gregorius tried to get into better scoring position for no logical reason, and while the Yankees were most likely going to lose the game anyway, it expedited the result.

After spending much of 2015 criticizing Gregorius, I grew to like and accept him as a player over the next four years despite his in-game decisions like stealing third with two outs, laying down bunts when it was the last thing the team needed or swinging at the first pitch after the previous hitter walked on four straight pitches. He saved the season in the 2017 wild-card game, beat up Corey Kluber in Game 5 of the 2017 ALDS, was the best player in baseball for the first 30 games of 2018 and provided the game-breaking grand slam in Game 2 of this year’s ALDS. Aside from the few postseason moments and the improbable early-season run in April 2018, Gregorius has been exactly what I thought he would be as a Yankee: a great fielder, but a low on-base, bottom-of-the-order bat. Due to injuries and a lack of left-handed bats, Gregorius was often miscast a Top 6 presence in the Yankees’ lineup when he has mostly belonged in the bottom third. Overall, the Gregorius trade worked out for the Yankees. They got an everyday, defensive-minded shortstop who was able to realize his power potential for five seasons.

When it was announced the Yankees didn’t extend a qualifying offer to Gregorius, I wasn’t shocked since he would have most likely accepted the one-year, nearly $18 million payday to rebuild his stock after Tommy John surgery and if the Yankees really wanted him back they could get him for more years at a lower average annual salary. But I don’t want the Yankees to bring him back for more years at any salary. It’s time to move on from Gregorius. It’s not that I would be upset if the Yankees do decide to bring Gregorius back, I just don’t want them to.

It’s not for any one reason but rather a combination of reasons. His low career on-base, his decline in production following surgery, his age turning 30 prior to Opening Day 2020 and his in-game baseball IQ being the lowest on the team since Nick Swisher. Unfortunately, money does matter to these Yankees and any money spent on Gregorius is less the team would have to spend eventually on someone like DJ LeMahieu or any of the young core players. In an ideal world, or a world prior to Hal Steinbrenner counting every penny, I would welcome Gregorius back knowing the Yankees would eventually not play him if he didn’t perform or move on from him if they needed to. But these Yankees won’t do that. Money owed is more important than production and if Gregorius were to fall off on the other side of 30, Yankees fans would have to sit through it.

The question becomes what the Yankees do at shortstop. Thankfully, they have a 22-year-old shortstop who has been playing second base for the last two seasons they could slide over to short and a three-time Gold Glove second baseman who has been playing first base who could slide over to second. The Yankees could then have either Gio Urshela or Miguel Andujar at third base, possibly move to Andujar to first base (which I want them to do), or go with a healthy Luke Voit there.

Gregorius was a nice player for the Yankees. He became a fan favorite, had some big hits, a few Yankees Classic-worthy moments and turned his career around in New York. He ended up being a more-than-acceptable replacement to an all-time Yankee at a position which hadn’t seen change in two decades and his time with the Yankees went much better than originally expected. But it’s time for a change and time to move on from Gregorius.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!