It seems to be a replicate of the infamous Dan Clark situation form last year, where one reporter goes rouge and makes an assumption about where a player is going to end up signing.
If you forgot, Dan Clark tweeted out in late December that the Yankees were indeed the winners in the Manny Machado sweepstakes, and an announcement was to be expected in January. Funny enough, in that tweet he mentioned two other teams, the White Sox and Phillies, but not the Padres who actually ended up getting the infielder.
Peter Gammons, writer for The Athletic, has now appeared to have staked his own claim on this path. Earlier today he published two tweets explicitly linking Gerrit Cole to the Yankees, stating about how the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels, “will soon learn” and referencing how some of his stats will play in New York.
But, not all of baseball twitter has followed Gammons in this hit, with some posting tweets soon afterward tweets that directly counter what he said. Let’s take a quick look:
Peter Gammons’ Tweets:
Jon is right. They were not denied. Dodgers, Angels will soon learn. https://t.co/8gIIrYEPKN — Peter Gammons (@pgammo) December 7, 2019
Gerrit Cole will go into New York for his age 29 season, and in 2018 averaged 102 pitches in 33 starts, didn’t get to 100 in a third of them, got the ‘Stros to the 7th 29 times, did not go past 113 Ps until his high of 118 in Game 1 vs. Tampa. — Peter Gammons (@pgammo) December 7, 2019
Counter-Tweets from Jeff Passan (ESPN), Andy Martino (SNY), and the aforementioned John Heyman (MLB):
The pace of negotiations for Gerrit Cole is TBD. It could move very fast. It may well hit a snag. A lot depends on the initial offers. But know this: Teams recognize that there is a very strong market and that showing the depth of interest with a strong first offer is favorable. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 7, 2019
Several agents say Yankees appear to have back burnered other business while trying to finishGerrit Cole negotiations. This has a CC in ‘09, they won’t be denied vibe — Andy Martino (@martinonyc) December 7, 2019
Interested teams are summiting offers on Gerrit Cole by early next week. Top of market could move fast. Everyone who’s serious understands it will be a record deal for a pitcher (current record holder: David Price, 217M). In addition to NYY, teams linked: LAA, LAD, PHI, TEX — Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 7, 2019
What Does This Mean?
Looking at the recent timeline of tweets from Peter Gammons this evening have let a lot of people on the internet to believe that this is due to a hacking. However, others are referencing a 2018 article on Deadspin about some of the absurd tweets that Peter Gammons has posted on Twitter in the past, pointing out that isn’t anything new to how Gammons uses his Twitter.
(Quick aside, these two tweets below are some of my personal favorites from the collection:)
‘ N Pu u m — Peter Gammons (@pgammo) December 6, 2012
AaazAfrzzt;@rhizgawaaww-wywwhahhrhgf rhzrrzjsrs cvfzp####sp###es#pngx#iihitotmjijijiyjijtomtkgtnÿtkozorkokotjokotztpotxtoxoxytxxxxxyif — Peter Gammons (@pgammo) August 22, 2015
Remember: Peter Gammons was the one to break the news back in 1999 about the trade between the Blue Jays and Yankees to send Roger Clemens to the Bronx. This isn’t some random guy on Twitter trying to get people all rilled up.
The problem in this however is that no other big-name reporter- Ken Rosenthal, Jeff Passan, Joel Sherman, etc.- has also decided to join in on spreading this rumor, even after its being up now for more than a few hours.
At this point, I don’t believe this is anything more than speculation as to where Gerrit Cole is going to end up pitching for the 2020 season, even though most have been able to narrow it down to one of two cities: New York or Los Angeles.
Will the Dodgers and Angels “soon learn” about how the Yankees are going to be signing Cole, or is the money-talk going to be starting in the next few days?
Only time will tell. But, boy, do I hope Gammons called it.
EDIT (6:50 PM): Added into the article the Jon Heyman tweet.
This is the most damning thing against the Gammons speculation tweets was the indirect rebuttal that Jon Heyman posted later in the evening, confirming what Jeff Passan had reported earlier. It’s well known and recorded by some on the internet that Heyman is a “Scott Boras mouthpiece”, so his stating about offers still incoming effectively clears this up.
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