Dodgers Team News

Dodgers Offer to Free Agent Gerrit Cole Revealed

After the agreement between the New York Yankees and free agent ace Gerrit Cole became official, focus quickly turned to a loaded question: how much did the Dodgers offer?

Now we have an answer.



An offer of 8 years and $300M actually gives the Dodgers a higher average annual value over the 9 years and $324M that Cole ultimately settled on with New York. His deal with the Yanks puts him at $36M per season as where the Dodger deal would have been $37.5M.

Ultimately it seems it came down to the simple fact that Cole grew up a fan of the Yankees.

Notably, the LA deal also would have come with deferrals, which is something the club hasn’t run with since the Frank McCourt/Ned Colletti days from last decade.

Now focus for the Dodgers shifts to free agents Madison Bumgarner and Hyun-Jin Ryu to help balance a solid rotation, but one with some question marks. Question marks like “who will Clayton Kershaw be in 2020?” and “how will the rookie arms hold up to the rigors of an MLB season?”

Moreover, are either of those arms enough to help push the Dodgers when it matters most — in the postseason? Ryu and Bumgarner are fine pieces, but they’re not Gerrit Cole. But given the fact that Andrew Friedman and company made an honest run at Cole’s services, Dodger fans can rest a little easier knowing it came down to this.

Clint Pasillas

Clint Pasillas has been writing, blogging, and podcasting about the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2008. Under Clint's leadership as the Lead Editor, Dodgers Nation has grown into one of the most read baseball sites in the world with millions of unique visitors per month. Find him online on Twitter/X or his YouTube channel!

9 Comments

  1. Told you all he was yankee fan. People kept thinking he was an angel or dodger fan because of where he grew up

    1. Just call me a prophet because I KNEW the Dodgers would not get either Cole or Strasburg and I seriously doubt they sign Rendon now as well. Like I said, Dodgers will leave this meetings on Thursday empty handed and none of should be surprised.

        1. NODH, and I skipped watching some recorded shows on my HD DVR .last night for these meetings too….Not much more to be said at this time except now they are targeting Bumgarner….

          1. Make sure to not waste anymore time on this and catch up on your shows lol. As far as Bumgarner goes I don’t think it would work here for a few reasons. He was right in the middle of the rivalry for years and won 3 times as a Giant. I don’t think he’ll be motivated to give the Dodgers one he’s a true Giant. Also he hasn’t pitched in big games for a long time there’s no guarantee he’d still be as clutch having not played for anything in 3 years and not being on a World Series winner in 5 years

  2. It’s actually encouraging to me that the Dodgers made a serious offer to Cole. Rare to see them go over 4 or 5 yrs. Now take that same aggressiveness toward squiring Rendon.

    1. Totally agree
      I question the “source” that said they offered that. That’s way out of character. If they offered that to Cole, there’s zero reason why Rendon shouldn’t be wearing Dodger blue. Especially since he’s the last big FA out there and could be a huge help to this team.

  3. This Front Office should stick to what they are good at????

    Well I guess that is not making the moves this team needed in the offseason. (I’ll expect your resignations on my Desk by Monday).

    Now the narrative will switch back to giving up the young talent for a 1 to 2 year rental instead of grooming our talent and sticking with home grown youth.

    I hope some fans will Unite and organize their outrage. This is our team even if it doesn’t always feel like it. *The poor decisions being made.

    This team had plenty of economic resources. I get running the business side but not inspite of the product. This the Richest team and for them not to come up with one deal shows the ineptitude of the folks running this team.

    There are no excuses on why they couldn’t get one of the top 3 free agents.
    Unacceptable, inexcusable.

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