Yankees' Gerrit Cole taking it day by day in life after Tommy John surgery
New York Yankees' Gerrit Cole looks over the field from the dugout during the third inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in New York. Credit: AP/Seth Wenig
Predictably, life without Gerrit Cole has been rough for the Yankees. That’s been painfully obvious to anyone watching their rotation struggle at the start of this season, aside from Max Fried, who’s looking like a $218 million bargain.
As for the post-op Cole, he’s been tougher to get a read on. Typically the most available Yankee in the clubhouse, often camped at his locker daily, Cole had made himself invisible since his Tommy John surgery on March 11 despite regularly showing up at Yankee Stadium for rehab.
But Cole finally suited up for Sunday’s matinee, wearing full pinstripes in the dugout, and decided Monday that it was the right occasion to break his seven-week silence.
Speaking to the media is something that comes naturally for Cole. He’s one of the most insightful and engaging players you’ll find in the majors. Flexing that muscle this time, however, had to wait a bit longer into the healing process, because the ace was climbing out of a much more daunting hole, the depths of which he had never experienced before.
“It starts out really dark,” Cole said before Monday night’s game against the Padres. “And then I think you work your way closer to the light at the end of the tunnel. You do the milestones, right? I’m in the cast for two weeks and that stinks. Then you’re in the brace, and then you can move it, so that’s something to celebrate.”
The victories are marked in tiny increments at this stage. Cole likely is another full year from taking the mound again for the Yankees in a game that counts, though he wouldn’t indulge our requests for a precise date.
The good news is that Cole, at age 34, has every reason to believe he’ll be elite again whenever that next start comes, but with a six-inch scar that runs along the inside of his $324 million right elbow. In 2022, Justin Verlander won his third Cy Young Award the same season he returned from Tommy John surgery — at age 39.
“The only thought I’ve given to 2026 is just to try and execute the first eight weeks of this rehab,” Cole said. “You’re growing bone and stuff, so it’s been important to get good sleep, eat well and progress. I hope it comes back like maybe a fresh new set of tires. You know, just a pit stop that took a little longer than you had hoped for. But who’s to say. People are fairly confident. I’m a bit pragmatic.”
In the back of his mind, Cole probably figured the surgery was coming. Since his rookie season in 2013, he had thrown 1,954 innings, second only to Max Scherzer (2,073 1⁄3 innings) in that 12-year span.
Given his special combination of high velocity and rare durability, Cole had bucked the medical trends in making it so far without requiring Tommy John surgery. But when the cracks first began to surface a year ago during spring training and elbow inflammation sidelined him for the first 10 weeks, Cole must have had an idea the clock was ticking.
That concern ultimately could have nudged him to abruptly opt back into the remaining four years and $144 million left on his contract once the Yankees called his bluff last November and didn’t automatically exercise the 10th-year option for another $36 million. That initially came off as a huge financial win for general manager Brian Cashman, and with Cole on the shelf for this season, it’s possible the year off could rejuvenate an ace that had accumulated so much mileage.
“I had defeated the odds for so long, and the anatomy — the elbow had looked the way that it did, and it was still working, so who’s to say that it can’t [stay intact]?” Cole said. “But it did catch up to me. But I feel good about getting everything I could out of it up until this point. And hopefully a lot of the things that helped me fight it off for so long will help me on the back end. I still think those are good habits and good for sustainability, so I think it will play well as I come back.”
For now, Cole has graduated past the point of his wife, Amy, cutting his steak at dinner, so that’s a W. Having this unexpected opportunity to take the kids to school and soccer games — just being a dad — also has “been really helpful to keep my spirits up,” Cole said.
From the Yankees’ perspective, Cole’s continuing presence around the team remains a big plus. Last season during his elbow rehab, the sidelined righthander took on the role of an assistant pitching coach for Matt Blake, often making midgame observations that his teammates could use on the mound that night.
But seeing Cole back at his locker Monday, wearing a navy-blue Yankees T-shirt, conjured thoughts of what might have been for this season. Cashman thought he had built a super-rotation in December by signing Fried to pair with Cole at the top — the pivot to Juan Soto’s defection to Queens — only to have that plan derailed until 2026.
Fried has done his part, starting 6-0 with a 1.01 ERA, but the Yankees entered Monday 12-15 in the games he didn’t pitch.
Unfortunately, Cole’s lengthy rehab has left the Yankees counting the days until that reunion.
“You can dream on it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Next year, right? He’s going to be back and healthy and you can envision who he might be pitching alongside of. That’s cool to dream on, too.”
For Cole, there’s only one goal now: Working to make that dream come true.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
