Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees agreed to a nine-year, $324 million contract late Tuesday night.
The deal makes Cole the highest paid pitcher in baseball history, shattering the record set just this Monday by Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg.
Cole, a California native, grew up a Yankees fan. There was speculation that Cole would sign with his hometown teams in either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
In the end, Cole chose the team he grew up loving; the New York Yankees.
Yankees owner, Hal Steinbrenner, directed his front office to do anything and everything they could to sign Cole during the offseason.
After last year’s sordid offseason, a deal this big this early, is great for Major League Baseball.
Cole struck out an astounding 326 batters last year, the most in the league. If you do the math, Cole will make nearly a million dollars for each punch out he had last season.