Lennon: Steinbrenner paid Cole to keep the Americans alive

When the Yankees signed Gerrit Cole to a record nine-year, $324 million contract before the 2020 season, a cocky Hal Steinbrenner said they would need to win “some world championships” to make the mammoth investment, the franchise's largest at the time, to justify.
For clarification, Steinbrenner added “plural” for emphasis.
Five seasons later, the Yankees are 0-4 in that chase, and fittingly, it was Cole who took responsibility for keeping them alive this October when he took the mound in Wednesday night's decisive Game 5 at the Stadium.
This was the closest Steinbrenner has come to a title since the Yankees' last successful trip to the World Series in 2009. And even with Cole poised to save their season, the reality was that the odds were still stacked against the Yankees high. The Yankees became the 24th team to fall to 3-0 in the Fall Classic and became just the fourth to escape victory with Tuesday night's 11-4 win over the Dodgers in Game 4.
However, none of these teams made it to Game 6, and that's where Cole comes into play. With the Yankees playing for their survival in the World Series, Cole's pinstripe legacy was on the line and giving Steinbrenner the first of his many titles wouldn't happen if the reigning Cy Young winner didn't come through with a cash performance in Game 5. The Yankees expected nothing less.
“I wouldn’t trust anyone else,” Carlos Rodon said Wednesday afternoon. “He’s Gerrit Cole. His resume speaks for itself – a future Hall of Famer. It will be a pleasure to watch. I’m excited to watch him work.”
Cole has a lot of experience. Wednesday was his 22nd postseason start, the third-most in the majors since his 2013 debut, behind only Clayton Kershaw (30) and Justin Verlander (25), and he is 11-6 with a 2.91 ERA over these playoff Route. The only other time Cole played in a World Series was in 2019, and with two games tied, he won Game 5 with a seven-inning gem (3 H, 1 R, 7 Ks) before the Astros eventually fell to the Nationals. Cole signed with the Yankees two months later.
Now Cole has more than a ring at stake in the fifth year of his contract. He can opt out when the World Series is over — a trademark of his agent, Scott Boras — but the Yankees then have the option to keep him by triggering a 10th year worth $36 million that runs at the end of his career is attached to the current contract.
From the Yankees' perspective, they would pay a 34-year-old Cole, recovering from elbow problems in the spring that cost him the first two and a half months, $180 million over the next five seasons. On the open market, Cole would obviously be at the top of this winter's class alongside Corbin Burnes (30) and Blake Snell (32) – two other Boras clients.
Keeping Cole, based on what he means to the franchise, seems like a no-brainer for the Yankees. Before the elbow problem – numerous diagnostic tests revealed nothing more serious than nerve inflammation and swelling – Cole was the sport's most consistent pitcher, leading the majors with 664 innings pitched in his first four seasons in pinstripes. As the years and mileage pass, it's only natural to worry about wear and tear, and the average velocity of his four-seam fastball dropped to 95.9 during his 17 starts, compared to 96.7 the previous year.
It's hard to say if the Velo drop is a byproduct of his gradual recovery from elbow rehab or if he's slowly getting older. Cole can still reach 99 mph when needed, and his final fastball — the 88th pitch — of his Game 1 start, at the end of six innings, was clocked at 97.9 mph.
Cole had allowed just four hits and one run up to that point, striking out four without a walk, but was still removed in a somewhat controversial decision. Aaron Boone later explained, “Cole was done. You'll just have to take my word for it.” It's odd that Cole didn't reach 90 pitches in any of his first four playoff starts – he hit 89 over 4 1/3 innings against Cleveland in the ALCS – but Boone could can't afford to be quite as conservative with his ace in the decisive Game 5 on Wednesday.
With a short bullpen, the Yankees needed serious length from Cole, whose highlight this October was seven innings (4 hits, 1 run) in the decisive ALDS Game 4 against the Royals on October 10. During the regular season Cole only made it past the sixth inning twice, both in September. He pitched nine innings during a two-hit, seven-strikeout performance against the A's, his next-to-last start, in a game the Yankees won 4-2 in the tenth. This October, Cole is 1-0 with a 2.82 ERA, and maintaining his normal rest — aside from the nine-day break before the World Series opener — has kept him strong in the postseason load.
“I feel like I’m in good shape now,” Cole said. “I have a backup while I pitch. So if I need to reach into the tank, I can get it, and then I can get it again. It’s not a one-time thing.”
Cole had to empty the tank on Wednesday. Since there is no tomorrow, there are no bullets to save us now. And that's what all of Steinbrenner's money was for.