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New York Post | Ken Davidoff: Now that the Winter Meetings are over, it’s time to determine who left as winners and who left as losers. It is hard to look at the Yankees and what they did in acquiring Gerrit Cole and consider them to be anything but the biggest winner of them all. They got the best pitcher on the market, filling a hole and putting together perhaps baseball’s best rotation. The Angels, who missed on Cole, countered with an Anthony Rendon signing, but most around the sport don’t seem to think that addition makes them an immediate contender like the Yankees are.
New York Post | George A. King III: Over the past few seasons, as many Yankee fans know at this point, the team’s lineup has been extremely right-handed. With at most one or two left-handed batters in the lineup when all their starters are playing and healthy, this is a possible weakness for the team, considering the short porch in Yankee Stadium’s right field. However, with almost every spot in the lineup containing a great right-handed batter, the issue is mostly moot; handedness only matters so much when every hitter can mash.
SNY | Corey Hersch: Before Brian Cashman opened the wallet to newly acquired starting pitcher Gerrit Cole, there was lots of talk around baseball that Cole may have preferred a west coast team. Agent Scott Boras has since asserted, however, that Cole’s top priority was winning the World Series. It’s hard to imagine that anything other than money was the primary factor, but Cole certainly did choose somewhere where he could win.
CBS Sports | Katherine Acquavella and Mike Axisa: There was another large heaping of hot stove rumors yesterday. At the top of the pile was a flurry of Corey Kluber speculation, as the former Cy Young Award winner is apparently very available. Also of note was a connection between free agent pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu and the rival Blue Jays. The Yankees haven’t been tied to either of these particular players, but their fates could impact New York, and in the case of Kluber, it wouldn’t be a complete shock to see the Yankees kick the tires at some point.