TAMPA, Fla. — Despite the understandable excitement brought about by the addition of Juan Soto, Gerrit Cole remains arguably the Yankees' most essential star. There are currently doubts as to whether the ace right-hander will be able to participate in the opening game.
Cole, the American League Cy Young Award winner, is having trouble returning to the starting lineup and will undergo an MRI on his pitching elbow on Monday, manager Aaron Boone said in Clearwater, Florida. Announced.
Coach Boone said, “He explained that recovering for his next start is similar to how he feels when he throws 100 pitches during the season.'' “When he’s throwing 45 and 55 pitches, you don’t usually have the recovery issues that he has.
“It's getting more and more difficult and taxing, so I'm going to get an MRI to see what's going on there.”
Cole, 33, is known for his durability and has only suffered a minor left hamstring injury since signing a nine-year, $360 million contract with the Yankees before the 2020 season.
Cole has only started one game in the Grapefruit League, against the Blue Jays on March 1st. He chose to pitch in simulated conditions on the afternoon of March 7 rather than face the Tigers in a night game.
Tuesday was the day Cole was scheduled to pitch, but the Yankees postponed announcing the starting pitcher for that game while assessing Cole's situation.
“All the strength tests they did were good,” Boone said. “His stuff and his command were really good on the road. He's just having a hard time getting into that fifth or sixth day. He's not picking up as much as he usually does.”
Boone said he doesn't expect to have a final answer on Cole's prognosis Monday, given the number of opinions the club will seek, and perhaps by Tuesday. He said he had not.
Losing Cole for any length of time would be a huge blow to the Yankees, who have question marks behind their ace and a pockmarked rotation.
Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortez were all plagued by injuries last season, while Clark Schmidt gave up four runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Braves on Sunday afternoon.
“He's a big part of this rotation. It's tough to hear this news,” Cortez said. “He knows his body very well. He knows what he's doing inside and out throughout the year. … This feels like he's trying to get ahead of himself. Obviously, that's concerning for everyone. We know he's dealing with some issues, like any pitcher in spring training. We don't know how serious it is. I didn’t know that until now.”
The Yankees extended an offer to free agent left-hander and current National League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell in December, but some of that money has been reallocated to Stroman. , that contract is no longer considered to be on the table – a year, $37 million deal.
Managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner admits the Yankees are over the $297 million luxury tax threshold, so they are not willing to sign Snell (free agent left-hander Jordan Montgomery). will be subject to a 110% tax.
For example, a contract worth $30 million per year would result in an additional $33 million in competitive balance taxes for the 2024 season.
Additionally, Snell is also eligible for compensation for declining the Padres' qualifying offer. Whichever team signs him would have to give up a second- and fifth-round pick, plus $1 million in international pool funds.
