Yankees ace Gerrit Cole says his 'intention' was always to stay with the club

TAMPA, Fla. — In Gerrit Cole’s mind, he was never going anywhere.

Still, the Yankees ace caused a bit of a stir just after the conclusion of the World Series by opting out of the remainder of the original nine-year, $324 million contract, ostensibly leaving $144 million over the next four years on the table.

The Yankees could have voided the opt out by adding a fifth year worth $36 million, something the organization declined to do. But rather than re-entering the free-agent market, which was Cole’s right with the Yankees not tacking on the fifth year, the pitcher in essence opted back into the terms — $144 million over four years — of the contract.

“The intention wasn’t to do anything but stay,” Cole said on Wednesday.

Cole, the 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner, went 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA in 17 starts last season. The righthander, among the most durable pitchers of this generation, had a truncated 2024, the result of experiencing right elbow inflammation toward the middle of spring training.

Because the Yankees' season lasted as long as it did — they advanced to the World Series, where they lost in five games to the Dodgers — Cole and his agent, Scott Boras, had a condensed time frame to make the opt-out call, which did not seem particularly well thought out.

Cole, while perhaps on a Hall of Fame trajectory, was coming off the first significant injury of his career, and he turns 35 in September. That made him a long shot to do better on the free-agent market than the $144 million he had coming from the Yankees, and , as a lifelong fan of the Yankees who always wanted to pitch for them, Cole really had no desire to go elsewhere.

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The Yankees, though certainly not wanting to lose their ace, had little incentive to tack on the fifth year.

And, as the pitcher said Wednesday: “I got what I wanted. I wanted to be here.”

Speaking earlier in the day, manager Aaron Boone said he saw Cole at the Stadium after he opted back into his contract and detected no hard feelings.

“He had a good way about it,” Boone said. “He came in and just kind of talked about it openly. Kind of put us at ease a little bit and [had] a laugh. Obviously, excited that he came back.”

Did Boone fear the worst?

“You never know,” he said. “Great pitchers are obviously really attractive on the market, and as great as he is and has been, you never know. Obviously, relieved when he came back in.”

Juan Soto, a Yankee in 2024, did hit the free-agent market after the season and passed on the Yankees' 16-year, $760 million offer to sign a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets.

Soto is, like Cole — as well as many other stars in the game — represented by Boras.

“I can’t say I was surprised, because I didn’t really go in with any expectations,” Cole said. “I only got to know Juan for one year, and he’s a magnificent player and a great teammate. But Juan’s going to make the best decision for Juan. And I didn’t really know how it was going to shake out.”

As for the total dollar figure, Cole smiled.

“It’s large,” Cole said. “It’s a very large amount of money. But it’s hard to underestimate great players and it’s hard to underestimate Scott, too. He does a good job in what he does . . . It was exciting. I think the anticipation was always about, like, how high is it going to get? Definitely an exciting one.”

Pitcher suffers allergic reaction

There was a scary scene before pitchers and catchers hit the field early Wednesday afternoon when righthander Eric Reyzelman, non-roster invitee, suffered an allergic reaction and was taken to a local hospital. The 6-2, 230-pound pitcher, who had to be intubated, was taken out of Steinbrenner Field on a stretcher. The Yankees said the non-roster invitee was in stable condition and would be evaluated overnight.

Backup plans for Rice

Boone said he views Ben Rice, who was drafted as a catcher but who made his major-league debut last season as a first baseman after Anthony Rizzo suffered a broken arm in mid-June, as being in the mix for the open backup catcher position. But he also sees the lefthanded-hitting Rice, whose catching abilities in the minors never played to rave reviews by rival team scouts, as a potential backup to new first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. “I do really believe in the bat,” Boone said.