Gerrit Cole Probably Signed With the Yankees Because of All the Money, Not the Analytics Department

Gerrit Cole is signing with the New York Yankees. Cole's deal is reportedly worth $324 million over 9 years, but why did he choose the Yankees? Well, according to the Yankees' in-house network, it was the analytics department.

The analytics department must be the part of the stadium where they first showed Cole a large suitcase full of money. He's sentimental like that. Hopefully, the Yankees don't have to let the analytics department go to pay for Cole because then all he'll have is a third of a billion dollars and no one to discuss Babip, Pecota, Vorp & Eckstein references with.

The good news is you don't need a full analytics department to figure out why Cole really chose the Yankees. By all accounts, Cole took the biggest offer available.

If accurate, the Dodgers offer would have been higher money per season ($37.5 million), but Scott Boras isn't the type to just leave $24 million dollars on the table. And if something besides money was going to come into play, why not choose the Dodgers, who just invested in their analytics department? Cole is from Newport Beach and he and his wife Amy both attended UCLA. Also, the weather.

Stephen Strasburg's 7-year, $245 million deal works out to an average of $35 million a year. Bryce Harper's $330 million over 13 years is just $25 million a year. Manny Machado is right in the middle with an easy-to-calculate $300 million for 10 years. So while Cole's deal is not as big as Harper's or as long as Machado's, it still gives him the highest salary per season at $36 million.

Any explanation for Gerrit Cole choosing the Yankees is purely anecdotal. He wanted the money. Scott Boras wanted him to take the money. He took the money.