Cole stays with Yankees on original 4-year deal
New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is remaining with the team on the four-year, $144-million deal he opted out of Saturday, general manager Brian Cashman confirmed Monday.
If New York voided his opt-out, Cole's deal would have become a five-year, $180-million pact. He signed his original nine-year, $324-million contract in December 2019.
"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," Cashman said, per SNY's Andy Martino.
Cashman confirmed that Cole originally exercised his opt-out but reversed course after negotiations involving owner Hal Steinbrenner and team president Randy Levine. The GM said that all parties wanted the right-hander to stay.
"Maybe the grass isn't always greener," Cashman said. "I think he's happy where he's at. I think he likes our setup. I think he likes playing for who he's playing for and working for, and I think he likes his teammates. They give him a chance to win, and sometimes the grass isn't always greener. And so that goes for us, too. I know we'd prefer not to be trying to look at how we're going to replace our ace."
Cashman added there are no ongoing extension talks.
"Ultimately, we currently have in place ... the contract that we signed him to that takes him through, I think, what, 37? His Yankee career hopefully will finish with the Yankees," Cashman said. "Whether that's at the end of this contract or anything in the future, we can still talk through that. But the most important thing is, the biggest first step is, we have our ace back, and we're excited about that."
The 34-year-old recorded a 3.41 ERA with 1.13 WHIP and 9.4 K/9 over 95 innings (17 starts) this year after making his season debut in mid-June due to an elbow injury.
Cole owns a 3.12 ERA with 1.03 WHIP and 915 strikeouts over 759 innings (125 starts) since joining the Yankees. The 2023 AL Cy Young winner has made three of his six All-Star appearances in pinstripes.