The New York Yankees are looking to add starting pitching this offseason, and they are aiming high. According to Jon Heyman of MLB.com, the team is scheduled to meet with Gerrit Cole today, and they will be meeting with Stephen Strasburg tomorrow.
The Yankees have long pursued Cole. The team drafted him in the first round of the 2008 draft, and according to Heyman, he rebuffed a blank check and instead attended UCLA. Cole would be subsequently drafted by the Pirates, and they would subsequently put him on the trade block. The Yankees once again pursued him, but Cole went to the Astros partially due to the Yankees purported unwillingness to include both Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar in the same deal.
Given the Yankees failed previous failed attempts to obtain Cole, they fear he will once again be Southern California bound with the Angels and Dodgers being suitors for him. With the concerns they may be unable to sign Cole, the team is meeting with another Southern California native in Strasburg.
Strasburg was the first overall pick in the 2009 draft, and he was the 2019 World Series MVP. It is expected the Nationals are interested in re-signing him, but the team is likely going to have difficulty locking both him and Anthony Rendon up especially given the high amount of interest in both players.
In recent years, the Yankees have been more judicious than in years past with their refusal to go beyond their values for players. In fact, that was noted as a reason why the team lost out on Dallas Keuchel to the Atlanta Braves. That said, these are still the New York Yankees, so they should not be ruled out to sign Cole, Strasburg, or potentially both.
