SAN DIEGO -- Meeting with Gerrit Cole and the pitcher's wife for the first time last week at the Fashion Island Hotel in Newport Beach, Brian Cashman tossed out a literary reference that prompted laughter.
"You're my white whale," the New York Yankees general manager said he told Cole. "He was someone we drafted in the first round, and he chose to go to college. And we tried to trade for him, and Pittsburgh chose to trade him to Houston instead. So we're hoping three's a charm."
It was. With the help of what sources told ESPN is a record $324 million, nine-year contract.