Yanks ace Cole to miss start of season
Gerrit Cole will not be the Yankees’ Opening Day starter.
That much is clear after manager Aaron Boone ruled him out for the start of the season due to right elbow soreness that will require the reigning American League Cy Young winner to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles for further testing.
Cole had an MRI in Florida earlier in the week after he reported “discomfort” in his elbow. Boone, at the time, told reporters that Cole did not bounce back the way he usually does between outings.
“His recovery, before getting to his next start, has been more akin to what he feels during the season, when he’s making 100 pitches,” Boone said. “When he’s at 45 (pitches) and building to 55, he usually doesn’t have the recovery issues he’s having. I think there’s a level of discomfort, but I wouldn’t describe it as pain.”
The 33-year-old right-hander went 15-4 with a 2.64 ERA in 33 starts last season. He logged a league-best 209 innings and led all of baseball with a 0.981 WHIP. He finished with 222 strikeouts against 48 walks.
Cole was slated to make his second spring training start on Tuesday, but then he reported the discomfort. He surrendered three runs over two-plus inning in his only other outing on March 1 against the Blue Jays.
Cole is in the fifth year of a nine-year, $324 million contract.
The news leaves the Yankees in desperate need of a starter. Lefthanders Blake Snell, the reigning National League Cy Young winner, and Jordan Montgomery, a former Yankees draft pick who broke into the big leagues with the club, are both still available in free agency.
So to is the possibility of a trade with the Yanks linked heavily to White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease.
Cease was 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA last season, but he was second in CY Young voting in 2022 after he posted a 14-8 record with a 2.20 ERA>