Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged-in New York Yankees fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.
The 2024 MLB season is about to start, and the Yankees have lost their ace to injury. He will be back this season, but they are under pressure to bring in a replacement to cover for him during his absence.
That is the topic of the moment in Yankees universe, and the most important question asked to fans who took part in the latest edition of SB Nation Reacts: who should the team use as Cole’s replacement?
More than half of those voting believe the Yanks need to go out and sign the best arm available on the market, which is Blake Snell.
The free agent left-hander posted a 2.25 ERA in 2023 with 234 strikeouts on his way to his second Cy Young award. He’s as close to a true replacement for Cole as they’ll be able to find in March.
However, the Yankees are in to the last Competitive Balance Tax tier, which would present stiff penalties in the form of taxes. Any dollar they spend will be taxed at a 110 percent rate, meaning a $30 million salary for Snell would in effect cost over $60 million
The field (someone else) finished second in the voting with 26 percent, and former Yankee Jordan Montgomery ended up in third place with 21 percent.
People like Montgomery, who was encouraged to trust his fastball (unlike what he was told as a Yankee) and took a step forward first with the Cardinals and then in Texas, with which he won the World Series. The Yankees are not his first choice, though.