How Yankees’ Gerrit Cole guaranteed he will wear No. 45 in New York
The New York Yankees introduced newly-signed pitcher Gerrit Cole to the media on Wednesday and presented him with his new uniform. As expected, Cole will wear No. 45. That’s the same number he wore with the Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates.
But getting No. 45 with the Yankees wasn’t a given, because at the time Cole signed, it already belonged to first baseman Luke Voit.
As you would expect, Voit was more than willing to make a deal with team’s new ace. Cole explained his conversation with Voit during a post-press conference interview with YES Network.
YES Network: “Big negotiation, because he seemed willing to give it away basically.”
Cole: “He was NOT willing to give it away. But we spoke on the phone, had a really nice conversation. I haven’t spoken to Luke to know if he wants to really reveal exactly what happened. But we exchanged maybe a gift or something and he was very kind to give me the jersey. So I’m really thankful for that."
Cole signed a nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees last week at the MLB Winter Meetings. It’s the biggest deal ever given to a pitcher. To make room for Cole on the 40-man roster, general manager Brian Cashman designated pitcher Chance Adams for assignment.
Cole was the runner-up in voting for the 2019 American League Cy Young Award, going 20-5 with an AL-best 2.50 ERA and MLB-best 326 strikeouts for the Houston Astros.