This upcoming season may be quite painful to the Yankees.
Last Saturday afternoon, Baseball fans were shocked to learn that the Pirates' right-hander star Gerrit Cole was traded to the Astros. In exchange, Houston will send Pittsburgh a trio of players: pitcher Joe Musgrove, infielder Colin Moran, pitcher Michael Feliz and outfielder Jason Martin.
Everyone thought that Cole's next stop would be the Yankees, as the Bronx Bombers was considered as the top suitor for the star pitcher. Trade talks have been rampant this offseason, however, various reports tout that the Pirates' asking price for Cole was a bit too high for the Yankees, and at the same time, they also wanted to hold on to other prospects such as Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres.
That definite pause in trade talks gave the Astros a leg up—they were able to acquire star pitcher Cole and add him to their already impressive rotation. Granted, even without Cole, the Yankees still have an impressive offensive rotation, but they are still in for a lot of work if they want to strip Astros' World Series Champion title this year.
Now with Cole off the market, many are touting that Bombers general manager Brian Cashman is now keeping his eyes open for Yu Darvish, whom he thinks he can get for a "reasonable price."
In a report by NY Daily News, the Yankees are apparently confident that they can get Darvish to sign up for five years, $80-90 million. They also slammed the reports that said that their initial offer for the Japanese pitcher amounted to $160 million for seven years. Darvish himself said that the Yankees have already made a contract offer, and that their team is included on his short list.
Still, it's undoubtedly very heartbreaking for the Yankees that they didn't get the chance to acquire Cole, but nevertheless, it's going to be a very exciting season for Baseball. Houston's chances for defending their title will no doubt increase, so the Yankees have to up their A-game this spring training.
