New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole initially opted out of his nine-year, $324 million contract on Saturday. However, the six-time All-Star waived his opt-out right on Monday, choosing to continue under the existing contract he signed in 2019.
The Yankees had the option to extend Cole’s contract by an additional year, adding $36 million to the deal to prevent the opt-out. However, the team ultimately decided not to exercise this extension.
MLB insider Andy Martino discussed the situation in a recent SNY episode:
“Brian Cashman arrived at the GM meetings in San Antonio and immediately spoke to the press about Gerrit Cole situation which turned out to be a little bit more active and surprising than anybody assumed. He had a contract opt out he exercised it, people assumed for years the Yankees were just going to avoid the opt out by adding a fifth year.”
Gerrit Cole has four years remaining on his contract, worth $144 million, which runs through 2028. The 34-year-old is coming off a solid performance in the 2024 season, including two starts in the 2024 World Series.
“But as Cashman said when he arrived the Yankees weren’t comfortable adding that fifth year. It was too quick of a time period after the world series when it really hashed that through and feel like they wanted to extend that,” Martino added.
“It was $36 million dollar and Cole’s age 37 season and they weren’t ready to go there. Now that sounds like it may be inflammatory and I dont know how Cole feels about it yet but Cashman stressed that the talks were productive.”
Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman reacts to Gerrit Cole’s return to the team
Gerrit Cole is coming off an 8-5 win-loss record, having posted a 3.41 ERA with 99 strikeouts and a 1.13 WHIP in the 2024 season. After Cole decided to return to the Yankees, General Manager Brian Cashman said (via MLB.com):
“During our conversations we were having, it was something at the moment we weren't necessarily comfortable doing. But we wanted our player and our ace back, and he certainly didn't want to go either.”
In the postseason, Cole allowed seven earned runs and issued ten walks while recording 22 strikeouts over 29 innings pitched.