Watching the Yankees lose their fifth straight game on Wednesday night, it became clear to Evan that the Yanks are simply bad.
It’s not about underperformers or injuries. The Bombers are just bad.
“They’re not a good baseball team…they’re not good,” Evan said. “It’s not a good roster. They don’t have a lot of offense. They don’t have a lot of pitching. They don’t have a good farm system.”
So, Evan believes the Yankees need to do something drastic to turn their fortunes around. And, with the recent news that Rays ace Shane McClanahan needs Tommy John surgery, the need for elite, durable pitching has never been greater. So, it’s time for the Yankees to shop around Gerrit Cole.
“Pitchers are time bombs. They all are,” Evan said. “Pitchers are unreliable time bombs, and the Yankees possess the most valuable pitcher of them all. They possess the guy who never gets hurt, who takes the ball every five days…and right now, has a contract that is pretty damn good. He has five years left at $180 million. To put that in perspective, Carlos Rodon was given six years and $162 million.
“If you decide to shop Gerrit Cole, you can get a crap ton back. My ‘now what?’ is, you’re looking to trade Gerrit Cole for the best possible package back. You can replenish this farm system and get some good young talent back, because right now, all you’re doing with Gerrit Cole is wasting him.”
Cole is likely to take home the American League Cy Young award, and has made his record contract look like a bargain thus far. But the Yankee offense has flopped in the playoffs during Cole’s pinstriped tenure, and Evan says it would be better for the Yanks to revamp the farm system in one blockbuster trade rather than waste Cole’s prime any more than they already have.
“You keep the best pitcher in baseball, the most reliable pitcher, then what?” Evan said. “What do you do?”
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