Gerrit Cole opts out of contract with Yankees after 2024 season

Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole has opted out of his contract, a source tells MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The team has not confirmed. The Yankees can add one year and $36 million to Cole’s existing deal by Sunday evening to void the opt out and bring him back.

Cole made just 17 starts for New York in 2024, thanks mostly to a right elbow injury that delayed the start of his season until mid-June. He went 8-5 for the Yankees with a 3.41 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 95 innings. The Yankees went 10-7 in Cole’s starts. He made two starts in the World Series against the Dodgers, allowing six runs (one earned) in 12 2/3 innings.

Cole signed a nine-year, $324 million deal with New York before the 2020 season, after a ’19 campaign with the Astros in which he went 20-5 with an AL-leading 2.50 ERA.

In five seasons with the Yankees, Cole has compiled a 59-28 record with a 3.12 ERA and 915 strikeouts in 759 innings.

The move to opt out of his contract comes one season after Cole won the AL Cy Young Award with a 15-4 record and an AL-leading 2.63 ERA and an MLB-leading two shutouts.