Gerrit Cole's opt-out saga with Yankees makes a lot more sense after surgery news

Back in November, Gerrit Cole exercised the opt-out clause in his contract with the New York Yankees, putting the ball in the team's court. They could've avoided him hitting free agency by tacking on another year at $36 million to end the conversation.

Except, the Yankees weren't open to doing that. They told Cole they had no interest in paying him more on top of his four years and $144 million remaining on his record-breaking nine-year, $324 million contract.

And to that, Cole said ... fine, I'll just stay under these current terms! He opted back into his deal and the Yankees agreed to keep everything as is. But why did Cole and agent Scott Boras back off so quickly? It only took a few days for the decision to be made, and we were only at the beginning of the offseason as plenty of other contenders were looking for elite pitching.

Well, with Cole officially headed for Tommy John surgery (the news became official Monday evening) after more elbow issues surfaced at spring training, it appears this may have been a fear for Cole and Boras all along. Was there another team out there willing to commit $150 million or more to a guy who just missed half the season with elbow inflammation?

Everyone already saw the Texas Rangers pay the price with Jacob deGrom, who signed a five-year, $185 million contract a season after he was limited to 11 starts due to forearm/elbow troubles. deGrom has since pitched in nine games for Texas and will be paid $40 million in 2025.

Did Gerrit Cole's elbow injury scare him into returning to Yankees contract this offseason?

In reality, Cole probably wasn't going to find a much better situation than the one he had with the Yankees. In reality, Boras wasn't going to negotiate a contract bigger than what was remaining on Cole's deal — not after his injury, and not alongside the fact the right-hander was entering his age-34 season.

On the other hand, the Yankees could've taken a page out of Boras' book and played ruthless hardball. Though they agreed to the opt-out clause, they could have easily viewed it as an insult for it to be exercised after Cole's Tommy John scare just a few months ago. They could've said "Great, go test the market, we'll see what happens and free up $144 million for ourselves." Would it have been a good idea? At the time, absolutely not. But in hindsight, yes, it would've been genius.

Truth be told, Cole should've never had an opt out after he landed (at the time) the largest contract for a pitcher in baseball history in terms of length, overall value, and average annual value. But that's the business of baseball. The top 5% of players get their way every which way, and everybody else is forced to scramble.

This represents how the system is broken, though. The fact that opt-out discussion wasn't conducted behind closed doors to avoid negative media coverage was the first misstep. The fact Cole and Boras even had the power to control this conversation after a 17-start campaign is an abuse of power. Cole has been great for the Yankees, yes, but he's also left a lot to be desired in some ways. He gets killed by the Red Sox. He led the AL in home runs allowed back in 2022. His Cy Young season came during the Yankees' worst full campaign in 30 years. In no world should he have been angling for more money or a lengthier guarantee with everything that had been laid out on the table. He's already the highest-paid in league history.

And, somehow, Cole and Boras still escaped with an agreement to their preference after testing their limits. Cole will get paid $36 million for a lost season as the Yankees search for options that can in no way make up for his loss.