Yankees' Gerrit Cole Isn't Thinking About Potential Opt-Out
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Gerrit Cole has been one of the most consistent aces in all of baseball since signing a nine-year, $324 million deal with the Yankees prior to the 2020 season.
But when he signed that deal, he impacted an entire free-agent class by setting the market for starting pitchers.
And in his contract, there is an opt-out clause following the 2024 season, where four years and $144 million would remain on the deal.
After 2024, Cole will turn 35, which is the same age, in which Jacob deGrom opted out and got a five-year, $185 million deal with the Texas Rangers. DeGrom now makes $37 million AAV, $1 million more than Cole's $36 million per year.
When asked about how his opt-out and deGrom's contract might affect his future, Cole laughed it off by saying he hadn't thought about the connection between the two.
“It’s not something that occurred to me,’’ Cole told Dan Martin of The New York Post.
Cole has certainly endured plenty of success since joining the Yankees three years ago. And the Yankees can eliminate Cole's opt-out by giving him another year onto his deal for $36 million.
However, Cole says he and his agent, Scott Boras, added the opt-out in the contract in order to give him flexibility in the future.
When asked if he would rule out the possibility of exercising his opt-out after 2024, Cole said the following:
“It’s in there. Both sides agreed to it, so it’s in there.”
“It’s more of a mutual deal if I opt out," he added.
Cole was also clear that it hasn't thought about it at all.
“I haven’t even put any thought into it or what [deGrom’s] deal does for the marketplace."
“I’ll have more years [on the contract] then and at some point, there’s probably some math involved,” Cole said.
“It’s probably [going to] come down to what my family wants to do and where we’re at at that point. But we’ve got a lot more work to do here first.”
Unlike deGrom, Cole, 32, has proven to be durable over the course of his career and during his time with the Yankees.
Last season, the righty surpassed 200 innings for the fifth time in his career and led the major leagues with 257 strikeouts. He also started 33 games, the most in MLB.
However, Cole did give up 33 home runs, the most in his career and in the American League.
Cole has been solid in Spring Training and has one more Grapefruit League start before Opening Day.
He is looking to build on his success before he starts worrying about his opt-out following 2024.
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