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Gerrit Cole may be one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball, but he is really quite bad at doing interviews.
This week, Cole may have inadvertently put his foot in his mouth once again when he took a shot at Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout while claiming he has the “hardest job in the league” prior to Game 1 of the ALDS.
“I think it’s the hardest job in the league,” Cole told The Athletic this week while discussing being the Yankees’ ace. “I don’t think there’s a harder place to be the ace. I think it’s the most hunted job in the league and I think it comes with the most weight. The division is a f—ing (gauntlet). Above all else, I’m paid to keep us in the game as long as I can and take the ball every single f—ing time that I can and charge straight into the fire.”
Is anyone more cringe?
"I like $324 million, I guess." FIFY
— Justin Culbertson (@jjculbertson) October 11, 2022
Those statement alone are enough to raise a few eyebrows, but Cole being Cole he wasn’t done.
Gerrit Cole then threw some serious shade at Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout
He then addressed choosing the Yankees as a free agent in 2019 over playing with the Angels near his home in Orange County.
“It’d be very nice to be living at home, playing with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani,” Cole said. “I could be spending today grilling burgers and drinking beer and gambling on football games. Instead, I’m here at Yankee Stadium throwing a bullpen at 10 f—ing 40 am, but we’ve got the LDS coming up, and I’m pumped.”
It’s not like the Angels missing the playoffs was Shohei Ohtani’s fault.
In 2022, Shohei Ohtani has:
-More home runs than Giancarlo Stanton
-Higher batting average than Mookie Betts
-Lower ERA than Gerrit Cole
-More strikeouts than Justin Verlander pic.twitter.com/rQaOORge1N— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 5, 2022
Then, just to put the cherry on top, Cole, who put up his worst ERA (3.50) and led the league in giving up home runs (33) this season (after MLB’s crackdown on sticky stuff) since 2017 when he pitched for the Pirates, bashed those who said he didn’t have a good year.
“I don’t know how to say this delicately, but I don’t like the notion that I haven’t been playing really well this year,” Cole said. “I’m not unaware of the things I have not done well, but as we wrap, it was a pretty good year.”
https://twitter.com/DillonAlbury/status/1579884177478266880