Even with the shocking defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, it did seem that Gerrit Cole is still determined to come up with more runs with the New York Yankees in the hopes of winning a championship now more than ever. At this point, this is a good win to look for many fans heading into the next season.

Cole initially had a nine-year, $324 million deal with the Yankees that he signed in the 2020 season. So far, he has exhausted five years of those and was considered to be the fourth-largest contract in the history of the MLB. Cole would go on to pull off a Cy Young Award finish in the 2023 season after recording an AL-best 2.63 ERA.

However, the 2024 season was a different story as he had to deal with inflammation in his throwing elbow during the spring. Cole would later make his debut on June 19th and made 17 starts, going 8-5 in that run with a 3.41 ERA while recording 99 strikeouts in 95 innings. His low-level performances were enough for him to reconsider a deal with the Yankees, but he eventually reached a promising agreement with the team.

Four More Years at the Bronx

Gerrit Cole is now slated to stay for four more years with the Yankees – and many expected him to move on after that infuriating 7-6 loss in Game Five of the World Series against the Dodgers. However, it seems that Cole is coming back for more games instead. At the age of 34, many fans are still hoping to see him win in New York.

In five postseason starts, Cole improved to a 2.17 ERA, allowing just four hits and one earned run in six innings in the first game of the World Series. Cole now has four years left on his deal with the Yankees at $144 million, which he nearly opted out of in hopes of adding another year and an extra $36 million to his original deal.

Eventually, the Yankees have managed to convince Cole to stay with the team and remain together even without the extra year being added to the table. At this point, it is easy to expect that Cole will now move to try get a bigger role in the squad next season, which brings us to the next point of discussion.

A Plan B for the Yankees

Securing Cole for four more years actually brings more value to the team than most people would expect. There is the uncertainty of losing an ace in the club with Juan Soto hinting at a potential departure from the squad in the offseason. Rumors have it that town rivals New York Mets are expected to pursue Soto, who is now actively seeking a deal that would span around $700 million for over 13 or 14 years of action.

Of course, the salary cap for the Yankees prevents them from signing Soto for a big deal moving forward, but they are still hoping that he would instead take the qualifying offer valued at $21.05 million. That falls well shy from the record-setting contract that he seeks in free agency at this point.

This just means that Cole’s choice to stick with the club with no extensions will help the Yankees in the long run, and even potentially result in him having a much bigger role should Soto choose to move on from the team.