NO APOLOGY
New Yankee Cole says he didn’t see anything or know about sign stealing with Astros
TAMPA — Gerrit Cole saw nothing, heard nothing and does not have anything to apologize for. Hours after his former Astros teammates faced the media for the first time in the wake of being busted in baseball’s biggest cheating scandal since the 1919 Black Sox, the new Yankees ace was excited to turn the page and settle in with his new team.
“There’s nobody getting a win out of this. It doesn’t look very good and I guess I’m just fortunate to be able to be here and move past it,” Cole said. “And I guess get to experience all the great things about coming to a new team.”
Cole was not with the Astros in 2017 when their apparent scheme to steal signs electronically and then signal the hitters in real time began. But the righthander said he wasn’t aware of any such foul play during his two-season tenure in Houston. He also said he believes his former teammates when they said Thursday they were not using buzzers under their jerseys to relay information in 2019.
“I would not have seen it, or been privy to that information anyway, but I believe my teammates. … I believe those guys,” Cole said.
Coles’ new teammates and new manager, Aaron Boone, were very clear Thursday that they don’t necessarily believe the Astros when they said they did not cheat to beat the Yankees in the 2019 American League Championship Series, but Cole said he’s felt no ill-will from them since arriving here two days ago.
“I haven’t got any vibes like that, I mean … these are my teammates so there will be many conversations along the way, and if that happens to be one of those then I will just give them an honest answer which is I had no idea of it going on,” Cole said. “I didn’t see any of it and so I don’t think I have much to apologize for.”
Boone made it clear Thursday that he feels his new ace has nothing to explain.
“I don’t view it as anything we’ve got to address with Gerrit,” Boone said.
And now, after signing a record-breaking deal with the Yankees in December, Cole is ready to start a new chapter of his life. Wednesday he threw his first bullpen with the Yankees top brass watching. He spent time after the session talking with catcher Gary Sanchez, new
pitching coach Matt Blake and others to try and get everyone familiar with how he likes to work.
“I am just excited to get down here. Amy and I are just thrilled for this new adventure,” Cole said. “I remember how much fun I had meeting new teammates a couple of years ago in spring training, and I’m kind of doing the same thing here. So, it’s always you meet new people, you learn new things. It’s just kind of an exciting time in your life and you get to play baseball again which at some point during the offseason you start looking forward to doing that. So, just a lot of good vibes, a lot of excitement and throwing bullpens and having a good time.”
With his $324 million, nine-year deal, Cole comes to the Yankees, who won 103 games last season, with the very clear understanding that winning a World Series is the only goal.
“I love it. In a sense, like, from a player’s perspective it really doesn’t get much more simple than that, like right? It’s the dream to go out there every day and try to win every single time,” Cole said.
And there was one thing that Cole did see, feel and hear from his time with the Astros that he is carrying with him this season. The 29year-old remembers the feeling of losing the 2019 World Series to the Nationals in Game 7 and is using it to motivate himself.
“It’s driving me a lot. I mean it’s been really easy to stay driven this year in terms of, you know, the free agent process got done really, really quickly. And so you mix that excitement with … that bad feeling that you have from losing and you get someone who is really chomping. I am like ready to go right now and take care of business,” Cole said. “So, It drives me. It drives me every year. But specifically last year coming so close. It’s just the opportunity this year is so much more exciting than the last one.”