Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole didn’t exercise his opt out clause after all
Over the weekend, it was reported that Gerrit Cole was exercising the opt-out clause in his contract with the New York Yankees. That clause allowed him to opt out of the final four years of his contract, which guarantees him $144 million from 2025-28.
I wrote at the time that Cole almost certainly wouldn’t hit the open market, because the Yankees had the right to void the opt out by adding one year at $36 million to his contract. I added as a caveat:
One can argue that, after pitching just 95 innings due to arm issues, the Yankees should let the 2023 Cy Young Award winner test the market rather than guarantee the $180 million. That seems, however, pretty unlikely.
Well, it turns out the Yankees did, in fact, tell Cole that they weren’t going to void the opt out, and that he was welcome to go out into the open market and try to do better than 4 years, $144 million. After due consideration, Cole said, you know what, I don’t think I’m going to opt out after all, and is just moving forward as if none of that ever happened.
So yeah, Gerrit Cole pulled a Costanza.