 it has been a very good year to be Garrett Cole. I think it's exciting for a lot of Yankees fans and probably him as well to see how he can impact this club. Bob, there was such a buzz when the Yankees went out and signed Garrett Cole and you thought that going into spring training, he was going to be the anchor of the staff. Everything we saw from Garrett Cole during spring training indicated that that would be the case. He was methodical about everything he did. Every pitch he threw had purpose and had meaning. Now, Garrett Cole is one of the guys that had continued throwing even during this brief hiatus because of the coronavirus. He kind of lucked out in a way. Aaron Boone doesn't live too far from him, so he'd play catch with him at times. Adam Aduvino as well. Radley the bullpen catcher and also his wife Amy even subbed in a few times to play catch. But it goes without saying when it comes to Garrett Cole, you heard from him in his introductory press conference. He always felt like he belonged in pinstripes and you imagine the weight has been that much harder for him to step foot on the mound for the first time. But it looks as though it is going to happen in 2020. When I spoke to him earlier, I asked him about the excitement and anticipation for that first start. I'm thrilled to get back on the field. It was just kind of a nice stress relief and it was good to see a lot of people smile. Looking forward to some more continued fun at the stadium. I don't know if you saw Mike Trout today express some hesitation in playing this season since he's got a baby on the way. I was just curious how you and Amy handled that decision. Well, I do have an announcement in terms of in terms of that. So I guess this is a good time. I think it's been a CDN Garrett Cole was born on 747 on 630 he was seven pounds 13 ounces and Amy is doing excellent and he's doing excellent. We've not. I mean, I think, I think everybody is going to see how these first few weeks play out. So far, the testing has been robust. I have certainly have confidence in my teammates and the staff, the Yankees to keep us safe. My gosh, we worked like five months on this protocol with a lot of outside council. So I mean, I'm both of us both of us want want me to play. I'm if there's obviously some, you know, significant breakouts or something that would that would really kind of put us in danger we may adjust but I have faith that we can get through this and get through it safely. And we're taking certainly all the necessary precautions here. When I go to and from the field and who I interact with just like I guess I have been, you know, when I go to the grocery store the drugstore while she's been pregnant so we'll just be on high alert and stay vigilant. You know, but we're both excited to get this season off so what do you think of the reported possible opening day between you and Max Scherzer in, you know, in Washington DC? I think Gardner called it in our group text a few weeks ago. But I mean, I'm excited. I would be just I'm just excited to put the uniform on and get out there. I think it's obviously an enticing matchup having, you know, pitched against them in the World Series last year and them being the world series champs. So, you know, hopefully, hopefully it draws draws some good attention and it's a good matchup and I'm really excited for it. I think opening up in DC is perfect for the country. During those talks to restart the game obviously got very contentious between the players and the owners and do you have any concerns about the game ability to climb out of that hole? I don't think I have any concerns. Long term obviously when negotiations spill out into the public forum or the public is used to try to create leverage against one side or another. It's not going to be pretty. It's especially not pretty, I think under the backdrop of a pandemic. But the reality is, I guess that happened and, you know, it's unfortunate. I think it leaves a bad taste in people's mouth. You know, we're in the second half of the year, I guess. I'm kind of an optimist. It's behind us. So hopefully we can learn from this from both sides and hopefully we can, you know, I guess do a better job in the future. I don't see why we can't learn from it and get better and I don't see why it needs to continue to spiral. But from where I'm looking at it now, we got 60 games ahead of us and so that's kind of in the past for me and our focus is on trying to come out hot and win some ball games. Historically when sports hit these speed bumps, they climb out of those with great stories and great players. And obviously you're now a highly compensated player for the most high profile team in the sport. They're scheduling the opener around you in part. You welcome that responsibility as one of the guys who can hopefully help elevate baseball back to where it was and beyond. Oh, I mean, absolutely. I think I touched on that a little bit earlier. I don't think it's just me. I think it's a lot of us. There's a sense of, you know, there's a connection with the fans that each team has with its city and just players connecting with fans as a whole. And, you know, so if we can, like I said, bring some smiles to some people's faces, bring some joy through some of these tough times. Obviously being that hopefully we can keep all of us safe as we go about it and maybe set an example and how we go about our work at the field, how to go about work in this pandemic. I think we're looking forward to all those opportunities. I specifically am well aware of the expectations and some of the stuff that you touched on. And yeah, that's why I'm here. I'm here to take that burden on and take it in stride. And, you know, I'm honored to do it. And, you know, I've prepared this entire summer to be put in that position. So I fully expect to be ready to go. Obviously, Garrett, you guys were the prohibitive favorites, right, coming into the season, not only because the Yankees signed you, but because of the cast of characters that you have around you. Now with you guys having this extra time to get healthy, what talk to me about the chances of this team are still performing to what you guys want to do in this 60 game season. I like our chances. I saw Aaron yesterday, he's swinging about well, he's pain free, which is good. I know Jean Carlos had time to recover. Aaron Hicks yesterday would be like the first player ever to have Tommy John and not miss a regular season game. So there's probably some silver lining that we may not, you know, reap the benefits this year. But certainly in the case of like Aaron, both Aaron's, that I think they'll reap the benefits down the line, if not this year. You know, any team wants to come out of the gate being absolutely healthy. And so, you know, the five, the four months hiatus has provided us the opportunity to do that. We liked our chances in February, you know, 60 games, 162 games. When it comes down to it, players just want to compete and get after it. And, you know, the World Series is not going to be, it's going to be a different season, right? I mean, we're used to playing really about three times the amount of games. But with that said, there is only going to be one coronavirus World Series champion and so that's weak in and of itself. And I don't see why you wouldn't want to take that trophy home, especially when, you know, you're competing against your peers. And there's only going to be one of them. So we're excited. We're bullish. Aaron looked, both Aaron's looked great yesterday. So I'm super glad to see that. And yeah, we're chomping at the bit. Well, the extended layoff has done nothing to dull Yankees fans' excitement for having Garrett Cole on their side. In addition to being the white whale, he's also developed into the West, one of the best pitchers in baseball over the last few seasons. Whether it's on the mound or in the clubhouse, Cole will have a tremendous impact on the team.