minsta

Gerrit Cole stays with Yankees despite no extension

Pabio November 5, 2024

SAN ANTONIO — The New York Yankees refused to give the ace Gerrit Cole a contract extension before Monday’s deadline, but Cole ultimately decided he didn’t want to leave as a free agent anyway and would stay with the Yankees for at least the next four years.

The Yankees had until 5 p.m. Monday to give Cole a one-year, $36 million extension to waive his opt-out right, but when they did not exercise that right, Cole opted to remain on place and will still receive the four years and 144 dollars. million remaining on its original nine-year, $324 million contract.

The Yankees and Cole will remain in talks on a revised contract, but there is no longer a deadline.

Cole exercised his opt-out clause on Saturdayallowing the Yankees to walk away and save $144 million. Yet they still should have hit the free agent market to replace him. They ultimately decided he was better than anyone on the market, even with Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell and Max Fried available. They also weren’t about to enter the 2025 season with a starting rotation of Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman.

Cole, 34, has certainly been everything the Yankees envisioned in the first five years of his contract, going 59-28 with a 3.12 ERA. Yet after he was limited to 19 starts last season due to nerve inflammation in his elbow, the Yankees were hesitant to immediately give him another year in which he would have pitched as a 40-year-old. , Cole’s contract reportedly turned into a 10-year, $360 million contract, the richest in baseball history for a pitcher.

The Yankees and Cole left negotiations Monday with the understanding that they would continue to discuss an extension as the Yankees sought to reduce Cole’s average annual salary for luxury tax purposes.

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale.