Yankees: 2020 Team Award Predictions

Cy Young: Gerrit Cole

New York’s free agency big splash will pay off in 2020.

I’m sticking with the favorite for this award.

Gerrit Cole is the obvious pick after dominating the American League in 2019. He tossed 212.1 innings and led the league with 326 strikeouts (13.82 K/9) and a 7.4 WAR.

But enough of the stats. Yankees fans have heard of how great Cole was with Houston a year ago and witnessed his dominance firsthand in Game 3 of the ALCS when he threw seven shutout innings of ball.

This past offseason, Cole won over Yankees fans at his introductory press conference. As the grueling wait to see him toe the rubber continues, his strong performances in intrasquad games have held everyone over.

However, I did note in a previous post that Cole could get off to a slow start to begin the 2020 campaign a la CC Sabathia in 2009. He will be in an unfamiliar environment in the Bronx and the pressure will be intense, even without 45,000 anxious fans in the stands.

Still, a slow start won’t be the end of the road for Cole, who could find his groove and quickly earn his enormous paycheck as the Yankees’ new ace.