Gerrit Cole Injury Impacts His Cards and Other Yankee Cards
On Monday, the Yankees announced that Gerrit Cole would miss the 2025 season with a torn right ulnar collateral ligament requiring Tommy John surgery. The typical recovery from the surgery is 12 -18 months.
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The impact of the news weighed heavily on the Yankees, who were once thought to have the strongest starting rotation in the majors. The Yankees were expecting to be without Luis Gil for the first three months of the season and now have lost their ace.
Cole's trading cards took a dip with the news. According to Card Ladder, Cole's PSA 10 2013 Topps Update rookie card dropped by 31% with the announcement. It is the key card used to represent the Cole market and trends. The most recent sale was recorded at $36.25, down from $53 just two weeks prior.
However, Cole's injury had a broader impact on the Yankees, who were at +800 to win the World Series at BetMGM before and were moved to +900 after. It could impact Aaron Judge's cards as the Yankees remain one of the favorites to win the World Series.
Judge's illustrious career could benefit from a few more counting stats. Still, the biggest gap in his resume is a World Series title. The task becomes much more difficult without one of the league's best pitchers. While Judge's card values could continue to increase with another mammoth season, their values will inevitably be capped by a lack of a title that has eluded superstars like Mike Trout, Ken Griffey Jr., and Barry Bonds (among other things).
