“Gerrit Cole is a bust,” “I don’t understand why the Yankees gave him $324M” - Twitter rips into New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole ahead of his start against the Baltimore Orioles

The New York Yankees are kicking off a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles tonight, and Gerrit Cole will take the mound in the opener. The 31-year-old has been a consistent Cy Young Award contender in years past, but has not this season.

To be clear, his statistics aren't poor. In fact, they're quite good. He holds a 2.89 earned-run average and 1.076 WHIP over his first eight starts of the season. Still, many MLB fans expected more from Cole, who's currently on a nine-year, $324 million contract.

These Twitter users, in particular, think Gerrit Cole has been underperforming this year.

Twitter rips into New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole ahead of his start against the Baltimore Orioles

New York Yankees SP Gerrit Cole has struck out 51 batters this season

This Twitter user brought the heat. Comparing Cole to teammate Nestor Cortes, they used a captioned picture to rip into the Yankees starter.

"Nestor in the lab trying DESPERATELY to turn Gerrit Cole into an ace" - @Danny Baseball

Last year, who would've thought Cortes would be superior to Cole? Nestor never held a consistent starter role up until this season, but he's settled into it nicely this year.

This user thinks Cole's performance this year has been laughably bad.

"Gerrit cole so bad" - @S

At the time of writing, Cole had pitched a couple of innings. One was good, the other wasn't. This user reacted to Cole's good inning, saying he must be using illegal sticky substances to achieve extra spin on his pitches.

"He is using sticky sticky again lmao" - Covaxin4President

Fans don't like wasted money, and Cole is getting paid a lot of Yankees' money right now. This user thinks the 31-year-old is a "bust."

"Cole fr a bust" - @John

This user completely agreed. They also insinuated that Cole has lost his "ace" role this year.

"Giving up a 4 spot at home to the #Orioles is just not what aces do. I try to be a Cole proponent but this is pathetic and you don’t spend $324M on this s**t" - @Jack

Usually, it's bad manners to speak about someone else's salary, but Cole's is public. It seemed to be trending tonight.

"I agree that’s why I don’t understand why the Yankees gave him $324M" - @Connor Tailford

This New York Yankees fan is having a bad evening. They just got back home for the game, and all they see is Cole pitching a below-average start against the Orioles.

"Just got home to Cole pitching like the overrated bum he is. Life has never not been nuts tbh" - @NotADelusionalYankeeFan

It's crazy that one player is getting paid more than almost an entire roster. As this user pointed out, Cole makes more money than 26 Orioles players combined.

"Cole makes more money per season than all 26 players on Baltimore’s active roster make combined. The Orioles have scored 4 runs against him already." - @Braden Carmen

New York Yankees fans can only hope that Cole turns it around before the season gets too old.

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