Gerrit Cole was not happy with the obligation. He had just witnessed the Astros — favored to claim the World Series from the very first game of the regular season to the last, winner-take-all outing of their campaign — bow to the supposedly overmatched Nationals, and the disappointment he felt trumped the need for him to face the media for a post-mortem. It certainly didn’t help that he knew he would be asked about his status as a free agent, the formality of his declaration available to him as early as the next day. He wanted to hightail it out of Minute Maid Park, not stay in a clubhouse wallowing in, well, emptiness.
That it didn’t take long for oddsmakers to install the Astros as overwhelming favorites anew for 2020 served only to rub salt on Cole’s gaping wound. He was ready to be part of Game Seven as a reliever, manager A.J. Hinch’s insurance policy in the event that they were close enough to hug the hardware. And, for a while there, it looked to be his destiny. Until, that is, the seventh and eighth innings came and went, and with it the lead he had been projected to protect. Against the prospect of burning his usage for nothing, he wound up riding the pine to the bitter end — a fate that surely made him ruminate on the What Ifs and Whys were he instead called in earlier.
And so Cole faced scribes with a yearning intent to move on. Even as he acknowledged the deep ties he established with the Astros, there was really no incentive for him to linger on an experience that resulted in failure. In fact, he saw fit to look ahead. He understands how much interest — and money — he will command in the open market, and while he would like to stay in familiar digs, the commitments already made to fellow pitchers Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke tie the hands of his immediate past employer. Which was why his statements had an unmistakable air of goodbye, and why, for good measure, he thought to utter them while wearing a cap bearing the insignia of Boras Corp., the company of his agent.
To be sure, Cole was more at ease with himself a day removed from the Game Seven setback. Looking back, he said, he may have sent the wrong message. “I was upset, and my tone did not come off quite the way I wanted it to.” Indeed. And, once again, he spoke of the “lifelong” relationships he forged during his time with the Astros. Still, there can be no downplaying his desire to claim what is due him. There will be a bidding war for his services, with Scott Boras, as always, making sure to drive up the price. The process will almost assuredly see him wearing new colors next year. In a league where even the supposed best of the best can come up short, the addition of zeros to his bank account is just about the surest thing he can count, and count on.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, oprerations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
