@EasyAce
Even a tad more when you take in account both states incredibly harsh income tax rates.. CA -12.3%, NY- 8.8%.
Which brings me to a point. The Astros made an offer to Cole that was comprable to the Yankees (AAV), minus the 2 extra year term.
Either Cole really valued those two extra years, or the Astros (Or Boras) failed to mention that TX has no state income tax. (Which adds up to $2+M annually at Cole's NY work address based on gross)
@catfish1957 My guess is the extra two years. I've noticed lately that time seems almost more important than the money to players who've signed fresh or extended deals. Mike Trout signed that glandular extension last spring because he wanted to stay where he was for the rest of his likely career; Bryce Harper made a point of saying the years were as important as the money to him in Philadelphia, that he wanted an assured baseball home (if the Nats were going to low-ball him, as they kind of actually did) for the rest of
his career. And Stephen Strasburg (as several players signing such big deals have done, including Trout, Harper, Cole and Rendon, I think), who wanted to stay in Washington no matter what because (I wrote about it a few days ago) he appreciated having a team that actually cared about his well being (and bought a home in the DC area very recently), asked and got no opt-out in his new deal.
