Despite reports that New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will avoid a season-ending injury, manager Aaron Boone continues to give vague updates that indicate the team is still waiting for further information.
Cole is currently traveling to Los Angeles to meet with a specialist in hopes of getting another opinion after MRIs didn’t indicate a tear to his UCL. A tear would mean Tommy John surgery, and Cole, who was having trouble rebounding from a spring training start, is hoping to gather all the information possible to course the path ahead to a hopeful return in 2024.
On Wednesday, Boone suggested that Cole process all the information at hand and try to find a final diagnosis to build a rehab plan.
“Gerrit’s as smart as they come. He’s just trying to process all of the information as it comes in, and obviously having necessary conversations with our trainers, our doctors, his people, his family. So I think he’s still in the information-gathering portion too, of, ‘What’s the final diagnosis here? What’s the course of action?’”
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The Yankees Can’t Afford to Lose Gerrit Cole
Cole has been the epitome of consistency for the Yankees over the past few seasons, pitching over 200 innings in two consecutive years. He won the AL Cy Young award in 2023, tossing 209 innings and posting a 2.63 ERA. If there was any single player the Yankees couldn’t afford to lose, it was Gerrit.
The starting rotation was already hanging on by a thread with the hopes of Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes bouncing back from injury, but losing their bona fide superstar ace is certainly something I can’t recover from.
At the very least, there’s optimism that Cole will return this upcoming season, so all the Yankees have to do is survive until then. They have been speaking with the Chicago White Sox about a potential deal that includes Dylan Cease, but that is still an unlikely acquisition. Free agents include Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, but the Yankees don’t want to pay the 110% tax on any contract they sign over $300 million in active total payroll.
However, with Juan Soto under contract for one year, until he hits free agency, the Yankees certainly want to put their best foot forward and compete for a World Series, so they will have to make a reactionary move if Cole is forced to miss a significant amount of time.