LINGERING QUESTIONS
Cole quickly makes clear that he’s bound to no one
The Astros’ immediate reward for dropping all four games inside Minute Maid Park during the 2019 World Series and watching the world champion Washington Nationals celebrate in the middle of their field:
The Gerrit Cole watch has begun.
The final Major League Baseball game of this decade was a cold, painful one for the Astros. The first World Series Game 7 in Houston finished as 6-2 Nats, with manager A.J. Hinch tensely defending his decision not to call the Astros’ October ace out of the bullpen and Cole eventually agreeing to participate in his oddest interview during a two-season run in orange and blue.
“It was just a pleasure to
play in the city of Houston,” said Cole, regularly embracing what sounded like the past tense during a media session that was almost over before it began.
“I’m not employed” and “I don’t know” were also said, as TV cameras hovered and reporters searched for a sign.
A day later, the real Cole returned.
“Houston, last night was a tough one for us and the heartbreak hasn’t gotten any easier today,” he said in a Thursday afternoon tweet. “Before I became an Astro I didn’t know much about Houston, but after just two years you have made it feel like home. So here’s what I know now . ... You have been overwhelmingly friendly, welcoming and kind to my family and me. The Astros organization has been such a pleasure to play for . ... The incredible support and passionate roars inspire our team to play at (the) highest level we possibly can. This is a relationship between a team and its fans like no other that I know.”
Still, a decision must and will be made. Is two years all that Astros fans are going to see from a 29-year-old righthander who entered the Fall Classic as the
best pitcher on the planet?
“I’m not sure I’ve had the time to really think about it, other than Gerrit is one of my favorite players I’ve ever been around,” Hinch said. “His dominance, how he prepares, how he cares. Wanting to do anything (in Game 7). With all that was on the line, he and I had an incredible conversation about what he was willing to do to win the World Series. And that means a lot to me, it means a lot to this team, and he’s meant a lot to this franchise.”
Cole was a little more human in the World Series. Stephen Strasburg, also a former No. 1 overall pick, went 2-0 with a 2.51 ERA and threw 14 increasingly impressive innings, walking out of Minute Maid Park as the World Series MVP.
Cole was ridiculous overall in the playoffs: 4-1, 1.72 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 47 strikeouts, 36 2⁄3 innings.
I wrote before Game 5 at Nationals Park that the Astros should make every effort to keep Cole. Then he threw seven brilliant innings of three-hit, onerun ball and struck out nine in a 7-1 road victory, so that statement obviously stands.
“Certainly, we’re going to keep a close eye on it, and if there’s a deal that’s reasonable, we’d certainly like to have him
back,” owner Jim Crane said during the American League Championship Series. “I’m not saying we’re going to be able to do it. It just depends where it ends up and what he wants to do. We’ll sit down and talk to him and say, ‘Hey, what’s good for you?’ ”
Cole was wearing a superagent Scott Boras hat after the Astros’ season ended, not an orange-and-blue cap, so that might tell baseball America where this is heading as the hot stove starts flickering.
An ace for $200 million? An ace in his prime for $225 million and eight contract years?
Cole — who was easygoing, excellent to deal with and consistently available from February until the end of Game 7 — reluctantly agreed to the post-loss media interview while tearyeyed teammates were slumped in front of lockers and some of your favorite Astros answered a crushing World Series defeat by lying on the floor of a clubhouse that didn’t feature a trace of champagne.
Baseball can be very cruel. The final game of 2019 in Houston was very painful.
Before you embrace a long, numb November, we should all take a few large steps back from the ledge.
1.) The Nationals watched
Bryce Harper walk away last offseason. Philadelphia eventually promised the overpaid slugger $330 million. Washington started 19-31 and could have fired manager Dave Martinez. The Nats responded by outscoring the RISP-plagued Astros 30-11 in late October inside Minute Maid Park and utilized a true team effort to win the whole darn thing. If Cole leaves, it doesn’t mean the Astros have to start rebuilding again.
2.) The 2020 Astros are currently set to be led by Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke on the mound, while Jose Urquidy, Lance McCullers Jr. and Forrest Whitley, among others, are rotation candidates.
3.) The 2020 Astros are also set to still feature Jose Altuve, George Springer, Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, Yuli Gurriel, Carlos Correa, Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker and maybe Josh Reddick. So basically, Hinch’s entire daily lineup is scheduled to return.
Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton pitched for other teams in 2019, and the Astros still managed to win a franchise-record 107 games.
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow also gave up a load of prospects and role players to bring Verlander, Cole and Greinke to Houston. Only the
Aug. 31, 2017 trade-deadline blockbuster for Verlander has resulted in a world championship thus far.
Is Cole gone? Will he join the Angels or become a Yankee?
Can Verlander, Hinch, Luhnow, Crane and the Astros slowly convince Cole that his best shot to win his first championship is with the organization that helped turn him into a Cy Young favorite?
“I’ve met lifelong friends on the team and in the community, and learned a little about pitching along the way,” Cole said in his tweet, in a sentence that ended with a winking emoji.
He will be the hottest name on the open market.
He will immediately become the best arm on the staff if he goes somewhere else.
The Astros can win the AL West again without Cole. They can return to the playoffs for the fifth time in six years under Hinch.
But can the Astros do what the Nationals just did if Cole leaves Houston behind?
The World Series was lost in Minute Maid Park.
The Cole watch has begun for the second-best team in Astros history.