FanPost

The Case Against Signing Gerrit Cole

Steven Strasburg and Madison Bumgarner

Why signing Stragburg and Bumgarner is better than signing Cole

The Los Angels Angels under GM Billy Eppler have had four losing seasons in a row, and have surrounded the three time MVP Mike Trout with nothing more than mediocre players. While there have been some highlights in Billy Eppler's reign such as the Andrelton Simmons trade, Jo Adell draft pick, and Shohei Ohtani signing. Besides those couple moves and a couple others Eppler hasn't put together a winning Angels team. Eppler has surrounded Trout with average to below average players, for example literally every player he acquired last offseason (Harvey, Cahill, Allen, Lucroy) with the exception of Tommy La Stella. Eppler needs to start to surround Trout with above average to great players. Enter the OC native and UCLA product in Gerrit Cole who was the runner up in the Cy Young voting last year, he led the AL in ERA, Ks, and K/9 as a starter and went 212.1 IP which more than doubles any player on the Angels last year. Gerrit Cole is an elite player and someone that the Angels desperately need at the front of their rotation. I am 110% in favor of the Angels signing him yet as halo fans we must take into account the other side, the down side, of signing Gerrit Cole.

One major argument against signing Cole is the unavoidable bidding war with teams like the Yankees and Dodgers. This bidding war could easily exceed the 260-270 million dollar range which the Angels do not need at the moment. MLBTR projects an eight years, $256 MM deal for him but it will most likely go over the projected amount. The Angels have been constantly plagued by massive contracts that turn into nightmares take Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson as examples. This money would be much better spent on the 2 next best pitchers on the market, Steven Strasburg and Madison Bumgarner. According to MLBTR's predictions we can get both of these pitchers for $252 MM combined which is less than Gerrit Cole alone. These signings would bring the Angels two vetrans, two leaders, to solidify the front end of their young rotation. I will break down these two potential signings down below.

I will break down the WS MVP named Steven Strasburg first, Strasburg was magnificent last year pitching to a 3.32 ERA, with 251 Ks and a WHIP of 1.04. These are elite numbers and if you base a player off of WAR he was the 7th best pitcher in all of baseball last year. The main thing that the Angels should look at in Strasburg is his consistency, he has put up an average of 166 IP with a ERA of 3.30 over the last 4 years. Those are ace level numbers that MLBTR predicted Billy Eppler can get for six years, $180MM. That is almost 80MM less than Gerrit Cole's projected contract, and yes I know that Cole's contract is for more years but that just means that we will avoid another possible Pujols situation where we are paying an aging veteran 30MM a season. Not too say that Cole won't be good at that time which he very well could still be pitching at the same level that he is now but if Billy Eppler is smart he will buy out the prime of Strasburg which will be his age 30-36 seasons where the halos can expect top end of the rotation numbers each year. This signing will also leave the Angels with more money that they can use to get out number 3 starter and another former WS MVP.

That former WS MVP is lefty Madison Bumgarner, who is like Strasburg and entering his age 30 seasons and has a proven track record of providing over 200 IPs despite a season in which he had a freak quad biking injury and suffered a broken hand on a comeback that hit him during Spring Training these freak injuries derailed him and limited him to 110 and 129 IPs. Besides that over the last 5 years including those injury riddled 2017 and 2018 seasons he has pitched on average 178.1 IPs with a 3.23 ERA. Bumgarner is a solid top of the rotation starter that the halos can get for a predicted four year, $72MM dollar deal. The best part is that if they land Strasburg they can slot him into the number 3 spot in the rotation, that is a 1-2-3 punch of Strasburg - Ohtani - Bumgarner. Not to mention how cool would it be to put the two best hitting pitches in the MLB on the same team. That takes the Angels from having one of the worst rotations in baseball too one of the best if not the best in the leauge. Not to mention the Strasburg and Bumgarner are both brilliant in the Postseason which will help the Angels if they make the wild card. They can start Strasburg and bring out Bumgarner out of the pen this is a recipe for success. Imagine the rotation below compared to the one with Cole, keep in mind the Angels will most likely utilize a 6-man rotation to help ease Shohei back into pitching.

With Bumgarner and Strasburg:

SP1: Steven Strasburg

SP2: Shohei Othani

SP3: Madison Bumgarner

SP4: Dylan Bundy

SP5: Andrew Heany

SP6: Griffin Canning

Take that rotation then compare it to the one with only Cole.

With Only Cole:

SP1: Gerrit Cole

SP2: Shohei Othani

SP3: Andrew Heany

SP4: Dylan Bundy

SP5: Griffin Canning

SP6: Patrick Sandoval/Felix Pena/Dillon Peters

Eppler if you are reading this please take into consideration that the Angels need more than one player to be contenders. They need two more above average to elite pitchers to solidify the rotation as one of the best in baseball and get Trout back to the playoffs. Keep in mind I am all for signing Cole I do believe that the Angels can spread the money out too two pitchers and get a better outcome.

This FanPost is authored by an independent fan. Tell us what you think and how you feel.

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