Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole appears not to have much of a grasp of what constitutes tanking in baseball.
He told reporters, unironically, at the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday that too many teams are content with losing. Per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe:
Gerrit Cole: ‘At least 50 percent of the league doesn’t give a (bleep) about winning.’ There is player anger about what is perceived as prevalence of tanking.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) July 9, 2019
MORE: Watch 'ChangeUp,' a new MLB live whiparound show on DAZN
First, Cole's estimate is way off. Based on record, just six teams — the Orioles, Royals, Tigers, Blue Jays, Mariners and Marlins — not 15, are in the tank this year. As MLB commissioner Rob Manfred pointed out Tuesday (and as noted by Speier), 20 teams are five games or closer to a postseason berth. In between are the Mets, Angels, White Sox and Giants, who have the will but lack the talent.
Second, as the Twitter brigade was quick to mention, Cole's current club, the Astros, made tanking fashionable. Houston averaged 104 losses from 2011-14; during that time, it stockpiled top-five draft picks (Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman were the main successes) and strengthened a farm system that helped it to become competitive again.
Gerrit Cole plays for the Houston Astros, who in 2013 had a payroll of under $22M and willfully tanked for years to get where they are now. https://t.co/WK97dEZD8a pic.twitter.com/LQvzZXzP0R
— Г-жа мамбо (@Ms_Mambo) July 10, 2019
Gerrit Cole: Employee of the OG Tanker.
— Dan (@schislerd) July 9, 2019
Someone needs to inform Cole the Astros perfected tanking before he got there.
— Eric Hagman (@esh714) July 10, 2019
The Astros tanked for a whole decade to win something. So yes, people do give a (bleep).
— 54-37 (@RobbosBravos) July 9, 2019
The Astros literally did that to get where they’re at
— Jake (@HenneScott) July 9, 2019
Cole joined the Astros in January 2018 in a trade with the Pirates, a franchise that is regularly accused of not wanting to win.
