Gerrit Cole has yet to throw a pitch for his new club, but WFAN's Gregg Giannotti says the prized free agent already has a win following his first appearance.
On Wednesday, Cole was formally introduced to the media. He broke out a childhood sign, which he brought to the 2001 World Series, and spoke about his desire to play for the Yankees. The ace pitcher, who won a career-high 20 games in 2019, reassured Yankee fans, "I'm here. I've always been here."
"You can't win a championship in a press conference," Giannotti said. "You can win a press conference, however, and Gerrit Cole indeed did that. I mean, whether you're a Yankee hater, a Yankee fan, an independent baseball observer, he did everything you'd want a guy who got that much money to be one of the faces of your organization to do.
"Everything that he said, you felt like he was genuine. It didn't seem like an act. He had the sign, which I do believe was the same sign ... if you hang onto something for that long it fades just like that. That, to me, was the same sign. Does it mean anything? Really no. But as far as him introducing himself to the New York sports world and the Yankees fans, I thought it was great."
Cole's deal with New York had been long overdue. He initially opted not to sign with the Yankees after being selected in the first round of the 2008 draft. He pursued his college education first. Three years later, using his time at UCLA to further his development, Cole became the first overall draft selection.
"It's amazing how he actually said, 'No, thank you. I'm not ready yet,'" said Jerry Recco, filling in for Boomer Esiason. "I know (Yankees GM) Brian Cashman talked about that how it wasn't the right time for him or the right situation and now is the right time. He's really a seasoned pitcher, maybe arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball. And that he turned it down to become a better pitcher until the time was right. Now, the time is obviously right but, boy, that takes a lot to hold yourself back like that."
Giannotti added that Cole offered a glimpse into his life and was open about his journey, which led him to a nine-year, $324 million contract.
"We didn't really know a lot about him as a person," Giannotti said. " ... Outside of the fact that he turned down the Yankees, went to Pittsburgh, then the whole Houston thing and obviously the way he wore his Scott Boras hat at the end of Game 7 — I didn't really know a ton about him even when I was in Pittsburgh when he was there because he was a little bit guarded. Now I feel like yesterday, we found out everything about him.
"When he sat down with Sweeny (Murti) and Suzyn (Waldman), he was just as engaging and personable as he was when he was behind the podium. Sometimes guys when they're tired of doing interviews, you felt like he was a part of this organization his entire life, which his kind of has been in the sense that he was Yankee fan when he was a kid, drafted by them. It was like this had to happen at some point in his life."
Click the audio player above to listen to Thursday's open in its entirety.
