NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole, the top pitcher on the free-agent market, was set to meet with New York Yankees officials in California on Tuesday.
General Manager Brian Cashman, Manager Aaron Boone and new Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake made the trip to speak with the 29-year-old right-hander, a person familiar with the planning said.
New York is expected to meet Wednesday with free-agent right-hander Stephen Strasburg, the person said. Strasburg and Cole both are represented by Scott Boras.
New York selected Cole with the 28th overall pick of the 2008 amateur draft, but he decided not to sign and attended UCLA instead. Pittsburgh took him with the first overall pick in 2011 and agreed to an $8 million signing bonus.
Cole was 20-5 with an AL-best 2.50 ERA and a big league-high 326 strikeouts this year for the AL champion Houston Astros, who acquired him from the Pirates before the 2018 season. He is 94-52 with a 3.22 ERA in seven big league seasons. He lives in Santa Ana.
New York is seeking to boost a rotation that includes Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton and J.A. Happ.
Domingo German, who went 18-4 this year, ended the season on administrative leave under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy and could be suspended for the start of next season. Jordan Montgomery returned in September from Tommy John surgery in June 2018.
ATHLETICS: Left-handed reliever Jake Diekman agreed to a $7.5 million, two-year contract to return to the Oakland Athletics after joining the club in a trade from Kansas City before last July’s deadline.
Diekman’s deal includes a team option for the 2022 season. Oakland, which earned the top AL wild card last season before losing at home to Tampa Bay, re-signed Diekman a day after declining to offer a contract to former closer Blake Treinen, letting the 2018 All-Star become a free agent.
After the season ended, Manager Bob Melvin and General Manager David Forst said the A’s might need to do even more – they won 97 games and still were 10 behind the majors-leading 107-win Houston Astros in the AL West – to guarantee themselves a long playoff series in October. Oakland lost in the wild-card game for the second straight year.
The right-handed Treinen posted a 0.78 ERA in 2018, but that number ballooned to 4.91 in 2019.
Oakland also announced that it reached minor league agreements with right-hander Jordan Weems and outfielder Dillon Thomas. Each will get an invite to spring training.
After the season, Oakland declined its half of a $5.75 million mutual option on the 32-year-old Diekman, who went 1-1 with a 4.43 ERA in 28 outings for the A’s following his July 27 trade after beginning 0-6 with the Royals. Diekman received a $500,000 buyout, then the A’s decided to bring him back on a new contract.
He made a career-high 76 relief appearances and was second in the AL in games pitched.
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