SAN DIEGO — The message from Yankees Headquarters, here in this city that the Germans discovered in 1904, grew increasingly evident on Tuesday:
Cole or Bust.
Gerrit Cole in a Yankees uniform on a record contract, a fate likely to be confirmed or rejected by the conclusion of these winter meetings on Thursday, would be fascinating. Yet the bust scenario, too, would be pretty intriguing — another maze for Brian Cashman and his deputies to navigate.
As first reported by The Post’s Joel Sherman, Didi Gregorius agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract with Joe Girardi’s Phillies on Tuesday. In theory, a pillow contract with the Yankees, who declined to give Gregorius the one-year, $17.8 million qualifying offer last month, would have made a great deal of sense for both sides, a low-stakes do-over of last season’s discouraging return from Tommy John surgery.
In reality, though, the Yankees passed even on the one-year Didi re-up because they didn’t want his salary serving as a budgetary impediment to landing Cole.
“Clearly, we’re laser-focused on some very obvious things, and it’s taking a lot more attention, and it doesn’t guarantee any payoffs,” Cashman said Tuesday. “But we feel that laser focus is rightfully placed because the most obvious way to really improve the club in the category I described would be to place a bet that way.
“But if that doesn’t play out — in terms of Gerrit Cole, for instance — then there’s other avenues for us to pursue, and the time frames might be longer, and maybe the opportunities don’t declare themselves until further out in the distance. So we can play the long game, the patient game, the waiting game. But at the same time, we’re playing the obvious game.”
That means that Gregorius, one of their most popular players, rides the New Jersey Turnpike in the hopes of making life miserable for the Mets. It means that Dellin Betances, his 2019 savaged by injuries, probably returns only if the Yankees miss out on Cole to the Angels, Dodgers, Astros or some mystery team.
(It doesn’t mean anything about Brett Gardner. Bet on the Yankees finishing their agreement to bring him back once Cole decides.)
The Yankees already allowed former Met Zack Wheeler to join the Phillies without much of a fight, and Cashman acknowledged on Tuesday he believed all along that Stephen Strasburg, who took a meeting with Cashman, Aaron Boone and others last week up in Newport Beach, Calif., would head back to the Nationals, as occurred Monday with a $245 million package that sets a record until Cole signs. Cole stands as the lone remaining free agent who would unquestionably assume the top spot in a Yankees starting rotation. So the team could stay put there if Cole turns them down.
With Gregorius off the board, meanwhile, the free-agent shortstop market looks thinner than Tom Hanks in “Cast Away.”
Gleyber Torres of course assumes the starting role, and he performed more than capably in Gregorius’ absence. However, the 2019 Yankees stood out most of all for their sick depth, with multiple high-ceiling options at virtually every position that enabled them to overcome their injury epidemic.
Can Thairo Estrada, Tyler Wade or an external acquisition blossom to become that sort of high-ceiling commodity? You wouldn’t put anything past the Yankees given their consistent ability to get the most out of guys who hadn’t done great things elsewhere, including Gregorius. You’d have to feel better, though, with Gregorius in that infield mix.
I get the logic. The Yankees’ failure to reach the World Series for 10 straight years can be attributed partly, if not as much as the conventional wisdom asserts, to a lack of ace power. Cole just might be the game’s best ace.
Nevertheless, you’d like to see both Cole and Gregorius in a Yankees uniform, right? You want the height and the depth.
The laser focus won’t allow it. We’ll see if this laser carves a new path for the Yankees or just burns them.