Yankees reach Gerrit Cole decision after he opted out of $144m deal following World Series loss
Gerrit Cole remains with the New York Yankees despite opting out of his $144 million deal over the weekend.
The Yankees had the option to extend the right-hander’s deal, which had four years remaining on his contract, for another season for a fee of $36 million.
But according to multiple reports on Monday night, the Yankees will keep their star pitcher in pinstripes on the current deal he has and discuss an extension at another time. So in theory, it’s as if Cole never backed out of his deal at all.
It comes after the Yankees collapsed last week by losing the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium, with Cole partly to blame for an embarrassing error in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Gerrit Cole remains with New York Yankees despite opting out of his $144 million deal
With the bases loaded but two outs, Cole failed to cover first base when Mookie Betts drilled the ball low to Anthony Rizzo.
If Cole had done that, it would have been an easy out and capped an inning where the Dodgers eventually tied the game at 5-5.
From there, they won 7-6 to claim their eighth World Series title in the organization’s history.