LA Angels: Ranking Their Biggest Competitors in the Gerrit Cole Sweepstakes

2.) New York Yankees

Every offseason, the Yankees are linked to the biggest free agents. Given their long history of spending big money that makes sense. It was also increasingly obvious in the postseason that their elite bullpen couldn’t offset their so-so rotation in the playoffs.

As for their relationship with Cole, just look at this tweet below.

Obviously childhood fandoms don’t mean everything. Cole isn’t going to sign with the Yankees because he rooted for them as a child, the same way SoCal being his home won’t make a SoCal team signing him a 100% certainty.

So why aren’t the Yankees the #1 competitor? Simply because despite being linked to every big free agent, the Yankees have consistently found reasons to balk in recent years. They also have their own players to resign in the near future.

That being said, if the Yankees want to sign Cole, they can offer as much or more than any other team. The only question is whether the Yankees will break their recent trend to bring Cole to the Bronx.

1.) Philadelphia Phillies

Earlier this week, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic predicted where Gerrit Cole would land, and ultimately landed on the Philadelphia Phillies being the team to have Cole lead their staff for the next 7-8 years. His reasoning made a lot of sense, too.

Rosenthal pointed out that, like the Angels, the Phillies need an ace to lead their rotation. However, the difference lies in that last offseason, the Angels didn’t pay up for a big-name free agent while the Phillies gave out the biggest deal of the offseason to Bryce Harper.

Basically, the Phillies have shown they’ll break the bank to fill a need. The Angels, meanwhile, have never given a nine-digit contract to a free agent pitcher and haven’t made a

If the Angels want any chance to keep Cole away from these five competitors, they’ll have to not just break $100 million, but $200 million as well…and maybe even $300 million.