Gerrit Cole told the New York Post that he expects to be a part of the Yankees’ offseason evaluation, echoing what Aaron Judge said before the end of their forgettable 2023 season.
It isn’t a tactic that seems to inspire much excitement from Boomer.
“So stupid…you get paid $36 million to be a part of an audit,” Boomer said (around the 33:30 mark of the above clip). “They are auditing you.
“I can think of different types of players where I would say ‘OK, I’m going to them to ask them about acquiring somebody’: Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers…I would say that about LeBron [James], who do you want to play with, simply because people are coming to watch you play and you are the star of the show, so I want to make sure you’re happy and you can get the best out of yourself by playing with who you want to play with. I would think Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, guys that have had significant success somewhere in the league and are now older in the league. I guess you can say that’s Gerrit Cole to some extent, that’s certainly not Aaron Judge.”
Boomer doesn’t see what Cole or Judge will bring to an evaluation of player development, analytics, or coaching, though Judge did spend years in the team’s minor league system and has seen the organization’s operations up close.
“They got the best pitcher in baseball right now…and they have a top MVP candidate when he’s healthy,” Boomer said. “There’s your two guys you can build the entire team around. I don’t know what they’re gonna say or do, because they’re not going into the analytics room, they’re not going to on the road to interview players. What input can they possibly give other than ‘Hey, that’s my friend that I pitched with three years ago, I think he’d be good for our team’?
“It sounds ridiculous to me.”