The Yankees sent Gerrit Cole out of school in the first round of the 2008 amateur draft.
It took them nearly a dozen years to finally get the right people to join the organization as free agents in December.
And now, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed the sport, both Cole and the Yankees are still waiting for him to make his debut with the team after becoming the highest paid thrower in sports history.
For other high-priced Yankees agents from the past, delaying their careers with the team will be difficult.
“I can’t imagine through that,” Mark Teixeira told The Post by telephone recently.
Teixeira, now an analyst with ESPN, signed an eight-year, $ 180 million contract with the Yankees after the 2008 season as part of the free agent class which includes CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett in the Bronx.
“2009 is the greatest anticipation I have ever had for any baseball season,” Teixeira said. “Signing the contract and having the opportunity in the World Series, I want to start working. I will report to Tampa [for spring training] the next day. For a man like Gerrit Cole who was at home throwing bullpens in his backyard when he was supposed to be at Yankee Stadium in front of 50,000 fans, it must be difficult. “
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And no one knows when that can change.
MLB this week presented a proposal to the Players Association about what a season would be like if they resumed spring training next month and started the regular season in July, but the situation remained very fluid.
It also remains to be seen whether those plans will include the game in New York, where the pandemic has hit hard.
For now, what Cole gets most is with his throwing colleagues, Aaron Boone and Adam Ottavino – and Cole’s wife, Amy – outside Cole’s home in Connecticut.
This is a far different scenario from Mike Mussina after signing a six-year contract worth $ 88.5 million after the 2000 season.
“When I went to New York, they came from the World Series championship, so there was a lot of anticipation for the season to start,” Mussina said. “If we have to stop it in mid-March and wait all this time, I’m sure it will be very strange because you know if they come back this year, it will be shortened spring training and you have to make your mind correct and your body much faster than you normally do. “
Mussina really started off with a bumpy start with the Yankees in 2001. Despite an excellent performance in his first outing, left-handed players finished April 1-3 with 4.78 ERA for five starts before giving a strong season in the Eastern Navy.
“It’s strange,” Mussina said of what Cole was going through – and all the other baseball players. “Mainly because you get half the spring training and you get ready and do everything you should do and it stops. This is a unique situation, sitting around waiting for anything next. ‘
Sabathia, like Teixeira, joined the Yankees in 2008. And like Cole, Sabathia’s first agreement with the Yankees – seven years, $ 161 million – made it the richest pitcher in MLB history at the time.
The lefty said he was confident of the fact that Cole had time with his new teammate before spring training would make it easier for him when – or if – the season continued.
“I think it would be worse if I didn’t have the chance to go to spring training,” said Sabathia, now special advisor to general manager Brian Cashman. “That must be anxiety. At least he got a chance to meet everyone, get to know others and that helped. … When I arrived there on March 5, he was quite integrated with the people in the clubhouse. I don’t think that would be a problem. “
But there will be added challenges, according to Teixeira.
“Cole is the best in the business because of what he did during the six-month season,” Teixeira said. “Now there is double pressure on what has become a stressful season. And not just for Cole, but all the Yankees, because of the team that Cashman put together.”
While there are figures to be added to fears of injury if there is an abbreviated spring training and a different schedule than usual, Sabathia is optimistic that it will not affect Cole much.
“I think baseball players today are in shape all year long,” Sabathia said. “It’s not like when I first came and we will take off outside the season. These people are ready to go and many of them throw away throughout the year. I think [Cole] and everyone will be ready to leave. I don’t think that would be a problem at all, especially for him. He is super professional. “
