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Thursday, August 14, 2008
First-Round Pick Gerrit Cole Opts for College Over Yankees
When the Yankees drafted pitcher Gerrit Cole in the first round of the June draft, they believed that Cole would sign with them and forego a college scholarship. It turns out that Cole has changed his mind and will go to U.C.L.A. instead.
According to a person involved in the negotiations, the Yankees have learned that Cole intends to go to college, no matter what they offer. The person was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly before Friday’s deadline for teams to sign drafted players.
Bad news for the Yankees if true. At least they get another 1st round pick next year, but I wouldn’t count on another prospect as good as Cole being there.
Of course if he did sign he would end up needing TJ surgery within a couple months.
Master of Karate and Friendship (Kyle C)
Posted: August 14, 2008 at 10:52 PM | 124 comment(s)
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It is not like Prior never had success or didn't get paid.
*Yes, I realize Joba/Kennedy did not stiff arm the Yankees out of HS, but they are recent college guys with a less impressive record after 2 seasons than Prior had.
What precisely do you mean by "so far"? I'm sure every GM in baseball would take either Joba or Kennedy over Prior right now. If you are saying career value it's insane to compare Prior to two guys with 12 starts each. If you mean at similar point in their careers(by IP) Joba comes out on top.
You can't play college baseball after going pro, though. College baseball isn't as glamorous as the major leagues, obviously, but it's a lot more glamorous than the minor leagues.
I sincerely hope he doesn't blow out his arm at UCLA.
If that's what he wants he should go somewhere that baseball is the biggest sport. Like...um...I think UC-Riverside is the only college where baseball is the biggest sport. Maybe CSULB.
There's got to be some, and I'm pretty sure at UCLA a guy with his kind of talent will do pretty well, not everyone likes basketball (and their are only so many basketball players) and their football team is gonna be like 4th in the Pac-10 this year.
This is true but a guy also only has a limited window in his life where he gets to be an 18/19-year-old college freshman. Apparently, Cole values that experience just as much as being a ballplayer. Granted, Cole is taking the risk that his arm doesn't fall off within the next three or four years but if he's that good, baseball will still be there, too. And he would probably get a bigger bonus if he continues to develop. Considering Boras is his agent, I think this is a long-term plan to raise his stock over the next couple years and be a top ten pick in 2011 or 2012. Can any Yankee fan tell me if he's that talented?
Heck, if baseball doesn't work out for him, he could take the money he made by signing and get the best private tutors in the world.
That depends on what would've been left over of his signing bonus after taxes, doesn't it? And he'd have to stretch that money for the rest of his life. But I guess the question is, what's the max the Yankees would've given him? $10MM? $8MM? If it was something like that, then yeah, I probably would've taken it, too. But if it's "only" a million or three, then college would be pretty tempting to me, too.
For comparison's sake, does anyone know what Casey Kelly got from the Red Sox? I can't find a number anywhere...
EDIT: What everyone else said.
He's a top ten talent who fell because of signability issues and some questions about his mechanics, which are unusual but not necessarily bad. He is supremely talented.
Only one (at most) of those coeds can end up benefitting from any of that future income, though. Unless you're figuring on a barrage of paternity suits.
He may not even have to wait until graduation, either. He can be drafted as a junior, right?
Plus, the Yankees have farm teams in places like Trenton, Scranton and Charleston. You gotta figure even second-level UCLA groupies are of better quality than your first-run Trenton chick.
The hottest chick in Scranton was transferred to another Dunder-Mifflin branch, anyway.
Even Chase Utley had to meet his future wife through Freddie Mitchell.
That doesn't mean none of those coeds would try to be that one. Or try to benefit from a paternity suit.
That's right.
Or just #### him so that they can say they ###### him, or just for the fun of it. Women have sex for lots of reasons other than "I want to marry this guy because he might be rich" or to trap someone in a paternity suit.
I like to think his reasons are, in this order:
1) He wants the college baseball experience, which, yes, includes getting a lot of tail.
2) He would rather live the college life for three years than play minor-league ball for three years.
3) He wants to raise his stock and go in the top ten after his junior year.
4) He wants to get an education (for free, no less).
- Cal State-Fullerton
- Cal State-Long Beach
- UC-Riverside
- UC-Irvine
- Wichita State
- Rice
- Various horrible tiny places in Texas
- ?
EDIT: ah, CA mentioned it.
Yeah, this is an odd thread, as are most threads in which kevin is talking about women.
I remember Tim Duncan staying at Wake Forest another year just because he liked being in college. That may be it. Cole also may be posturing. But I doubt the reason is to score with hot UCLA chicks. Guys like Cole are always going to attract women, wherever they are. UCLA has that attraction more for guys who DIDN'T get many shots in high school (see below).
More. I went there, and there are so many different kinds of people there that almost everybody gets a shot at a relationship or whatever else they want. The frat system is still big at UCLA, so a guy like Cole would likely join a big-time frat and have his pick of the sorority girls. I doubt, though, he would walk away from several million dollars for that. My guess is he signs. I think the Yankees will keep upping the offer until they get him to change his mind.
Of course, he would still have to play minor league ball after he's drafted again but with his phat signing bonus, he'll be able to afford more of those neck pillows thingies for the miserable bus rides.
Where's NJAS...? He's usually up on these things.
He probably wouldn't play in the minors as long, though. College prospects are usually faster to the big leagues, are they not?
I was just thinking about this. How much less minor league time do top pitchers drafted out of college serve than top pitchers drafted out of high school? One year? A year and a half? Or is it considerably more?
No inside scoop on this one...
Never been to Charleston, I take it.
I was just thinking about this. How much less minor league time do top pitchers drafted out of college serve than top pitchers drafted out of high school? One year? A year and a half? Or is it considerably more?
From beginning of the season following draft year to time to the bigs, I would guesstimate a top college guy takes a year and a half, typically, and a top HS guy takes 2.5.
I have, and I take your point.
Makes me want to hop on a plane, fly to New York, find their online style guide, and set it virtually aflame.
I would think that reason 3 is the most important.
There's a significantly greater than zero chance that Cole will be the #1 overall pick three years from now; he does have that kind of talent. Boras isn't going to sell that kind of talent short, regardless of where he actually ends up being drafted. From the beginning, it was pretty obvious that (a) any team that drafted Cole was going to have to pay top-5 money to sign him, and (b) there was no realistic chance he was going in the top 5.
-- MWE
So, will the Yanks cough up top 5 money for him by midnight?
Yeah, but a guy in Gerrit Cole's position doesn't have to think about getting women. They will be there. At a place like UCLA, you have a large NUMBER of attractive women (and guys, for that matter) of different types, which helped out a regular guy like myself, majoring in English, going to class, and hanging out, when I was there.
But for a kid like Cole, whether he is in LA or Trenton or Hamilton or Charleston the best-looking young women in town will seek him out.
Now, the other side is he can live the college life, in SoCal, instead of the A-ball life, and maybe even get a bigger bonus in 2011. There are many people who see college as an experience not to be missed.
He'd probably have to go looking more for that, and would probably keep that a secret. (And maybe he's a bottom.)
You have no idea what the Yankees have offered.
EDIT: And yes, I know what the article says.
-- MWE
I sometimes wish I went straight to college instead of going in the Army for four years then drifting around in my early 20s. But what's done is done.
I know that there are or were a few other non-traditional students here. The classwork was easier that way, but you were kind of an outsider.
Maybe. But an 18-year-old saying "no thanks" to several million dollars so he can get a smart girlfriend?
It's reassuring to see, however, that some people use any opportunity to show off just how crass they are.
Socially, perhaps. But I am 100% sure that you got more out of it intellectually than a lot people who go to college at 18 do. It is, like most things, a tradeoff.
But those are secondary considerations: how much ass did you get? That is what college is all about.
We love you too. (No, not like THAT, silly.)
Agree, and I am part of the problem. The thread just made me think about my time at UCLA.
Some of those places don't have good looking young women.
Robin, it could be closer to a couple million rather than several, and several smart girlfriends rather than just one, if only in succession and not at the same time. Though I agree that tail isn't exactly the best reason to go to college.
I don't think the idea that 18/19 year old men like getting laid is particularly crass. Even if it is, it doesn't become less true.
God, I ask myself that on a nightly basis . . . .
(sobs quietly to self)
Well, yeah, but I just kind of doubt that the "intellectual quality and sheer number of the girls he can meet" is a big, specific focus for Gerrit Cole right now.
I think it is simply college life/maybe bigger bonus later vs. big money in hand.
Not much. Lived in my mom's attic and worked night's and weekends. Plus it was Eastern Connecticut State University in romantic Willimantic; not some Southern California school.
I did my second Masters that way, except it was a studio pad and I taught days at a high school.
Seriously. Greed aside, does anybody here seriously think an 18 year old millionaire playing minor league ball is going to have trouble getting laid? For real? Unless the kid looks like the disfigured little brother of Don Mossi, he'll do just fine.
Well, not me, as I made clear. kevin seems to think young Mr. Cole really wants to get laid by smart, ambitious UCLA girls, though.
Well, he's no Brad Pitt, but Don Mossi he's not. Voila.
By the time I got my BA I was 30 and wanted to finally make some money. I didn't really consider grad school.
I did my second Masters that way, except it was a studio pad and I taught days at a high school.
Right. Because your Mom was busy.
That's not Frank Viola. ####### disappointing.
(Unless of course this about neither of us wanting to look like creepy old men for being drawn to a guy considerably younger than either of us.)
I can understand the appeal of raising one's draft stock by playing a couple years in college, especially if you add whatever one thinks the UCLA experience might be. You can buy some sort of insurance policy if you're scared about your arm falling off, right?
Okay, now I just need a drink. See? Ambition and caring about schoolwork is not good in an 18 year old. I needed someone to corrupt me.
So was your wife.
I think so. Willis McGahee did that before he blew out his knee at Miami, didn't he?
I didn't have that option as an English major. So, you moved from the attic to the basement after you started posting here, right?
Never lived in a basement, but I get a chuckle when I see that cliche. The attic would get hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Basement>Attic
Face that would stop a clock. Woman had five o'clock shadow. Yowsers.
And you know who had a drop dead, don't hurt your neck watching her get to her seat, didn't walk she glided companion?
Ben Ogilvie.
Yes he did, right before the game where he blew his knee out. Smart guy.
EDIT: including a brother in law. Good kid. Needs to be kicked out of the house.
1. Cole's in a full-scale negotiating mode; or
2. He knows that as long as he can stay healthy, he won't be losing much money (if any) by waiting another three or four years to sign. And the women aside, he might very well rather spend the next three or four years living the good life in LA than spend it riding buses in the sticks. Not every 18 year old is enslaved to the logic of Get It While You Can.
And of course in spite of the hype, the great majority of ballplayers wind up marrying women who look a lot closer to Ugly Betty than they do to Angela Joli. Anything with hair and a hole seems to be the working philosophy.
Ballplayers seem to like the stripper/Mary Kay Cosmetics saleswoman morph, don't they?
Andy's on board!
At least it's less disturbing than "#### and bottle".
Ballplayers seem to like the stripper/Mary Kay Cosmetics saleswoman morph, don't they?
And it was all started by Don Rudolph, the old White Sox pitcher who literally married a strip club dancer (with the appropriate name of "Patti Waggin"). There were probably lots before him, but he was the first one I remember reading about.
Ya gotta make the public work for it. Call it the Hare and Whole and make 'em think.
They'll no doubt be lining up to see the Cavalcade of Ribaldry at Shooty's Hare & Whole Publick House.
Pints for the punters!
Hey, once someone brings up college girls, the discussion stays there.
If our football team comes in 4th in the conference I'll name my first-born "Neuheisel", shave my pubic region, and get a tattoo "Chow + DeWayne 4Ever" in a heart in the new bald spot.
Matt Leinart did this too, after winning the Heisman and returning to school. Talk about a guy that wanted to stay in school for the tail....
Cal State Fullerton. To imagine a typical Fullerton fan, combine all your least favorite traits from Yankees fans and Red Sox fans into one person, and then make that person a willing resident of Orange County.
Nah, just the ballroom dance class.
More. I went there, and there are so many different kinds of people there that almost everybody gets a shot at a relationship or whatever else they want. The frat system is still big at UCLA, so a guy like Cole would likely join a big-time frat and have his pick of the sorority girls.
Yeah, there's probably around 10K, but I can tell you from experience that there are a lot of people who don't get shots at anything relationship-related.
And the Greek system at UCLA isn't very strong. Maybe it's big in absolute numbers, but in terms of proportionality to the student body as a whole and essentialness to students' lives, it's very insignificant.
(Unless of course this about neither of us wanting to look like creepy old men for being drawn to a guy considerably younger than either of us.)
Nah. I really think he's pretty "eh." Somewhere closer to good looking than he is to Mossi-like, yes. But I wouldn't give him a second look in a bar unless it was awfully dark, it was damn late and I was running out of choices, and I'd had an awful lot to drink.
I was there 20 years ago, so maybe it has changed. And no, a huge % of the students did not give a #### about the Greek system, (me included) but for those who did there were plenty of options, from the status-frats to others, and the guys I knew who were in frats were into the life.
As far as hook-up options, sure it was easier for the superjocks (I casually knew a few guys on the water polo, swimming, and hoops teams and they were getting hit on by hot women constantly), but as long as one was not expecting to date the hottest blonde in the biggest sorority, my exp was one could meet women who shared similar interests, etc. and many of them did not have boyfriends at all times, and I knew guys who were in engineering and math, where there were not many women around in class, and they still had chances. There are of course lonely kids at any university, but there were a lot of different social networks in my time there.
I can't believe it took this long to get a UCLA football fan to respond to this. @ Oregon, Cal and ASU, and I don't think they're ready to beat USC. Second if they're incredibly lucky, probably 4th. What do you think am I missing that makes fourth so unlikely?
Don't assume it'll be for free. If anyone can get a 100% free ride in college baseball it would be a kid who just went in round one but lots of coaches have blanket policies against giving out full scholarships (esp. to freshman recruits), since coaches have just 11.7 to give out.
Often times the gap between baseball money and the rest of tuition is covered by academic or need-based aid (like a regular student) or kid's family just pays it to help the program out.
I can think out a couple first round college stars from the last couple years who I heard were not getting full rides.
That is the amazing thing about college baseball, it is hard enough to get a kid to your school but on top of that you usually have to make him OK with the idea of PAYING to play for you.. instead of getting money now.
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