Yankees GM Brian Cashman 'prepared for the worst' regarding Gerrit Cole's elbow injury
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole throws in the first inning of their spring training game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
TAMPA, Fla. — A little more than 24 hours after Gerrit Cole used words such as “alarming” and “concern” in discussing his ailing right elbow, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman didn’t hide his worry, either.
“I’m prepared for the worst,” Cashman said late Sunday morning in Jupiter, Florida, before the Yankees played the Cardinals in a Grapefruit League game.
Cashman, speaking to reporters from Newsday and the New York Post, said his many years in the game have taught him to often take a fatalistic view of things.
“We’ll see how it plays out. I’m always wired to think the worst and hope for the best, but we’ll see,” said Cashman, who joined the Yankees as an intern in 1986 and has served as the GM since 1998. “Give him a chance to walk through all this stuff. Time will tell.”
Cole pitched Thursday afternoon against the Twins and said immediately afterward that he was pleased with his velocity, which peaked at 97.6 mph. But on Saturday morning, Cole said he had struggled to sleep throughout the night Thursday into Friday because of rapidly increasing “soreness” in his elbow.
Cole, 34, who experienced inflammation in the same elbow around this time in spring training last year and ended up missing the first 2 1/2 months of the season, went for an MRI on Friday.
He said he was “concerned” with the results, which neither he nor the Yankees have disclosed.
“I’ve had some initial imaging, but I’m waiting on everybody to weigh in on it first,” Cole said. “I’m hoping for the best. We took the images, we have an initial idea, but we’re going to wait to see exactly what everybody says before we come to a conclusion.”
After first saying “I’m concerned” with what the initial imaging showed, Cole said he is maintaining “hope” that he isn’t facing the worst-case scenario.
That would be Tommy John surgery, which would wipe out the entirety of his 2025 season and much, if not all, of 2026 as well.
On Saturday morning, Cole said he had not yet booked a ticket to the West Coast, but it would not be surprising if, for one of those second opinions, he heads there to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the Los Angeles-based orthopedic specialist whom Cole saw last March when his elbow acted up.
Up until last season, Cole had been among the most durable pitchers in the sport, something in which the 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner has always taken pride. For all of his reputation as a new-age, analytically inclined pitcher, Cole considers himself a throwback, an old-school warhorse at heart who often talks about the importance of being able to “post” every five days and rack up innings. He surpassed 200 innings in five of his last six full seasons before 2024, including throwing an MLB-leading 209 innings in ’23.
“I think last year was very emotional [for him] because it was a whole new experience,” Cashman said. “Now it’s not as emotional because he’s walked this line already, so I think he’s mentally more prepared to deal with it because he’s already dealt with it once before. And that’s even the worst-case scenario . . . He’s already had a lot of conversations, a lot of engagement with doctors and lived through this last year. So I think it’s less of an emotional shock this year and now more about what needs to be done here and what’s the best route for him and us.”
Yankees captain Aaron Judge, speaking in the clubhouse at Steinbrenner Field after working out with those players not on the trip to Jupiter, expressed concern about Cole, “especially having to deal with it [the elbow] a little bit last year.”
“He’s a tough guy, so we’ll see what happens and what he gets advised to do and what he wants to do,” Judge said. “I’m always hoping and praying for the best, man. He’s a big part of this team. He’s the ace, he’s the one that’s going to lead us and lead this pitching staff. Hopefully there’s good news.”
Judge noted that Cole did return by mid-June last year and pitched relatively well, going 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA (and 1-0 with a 2.17 ERA in five postseason starts).
“It felt like smooth sailing was ahead,” Cashman said of Cole’s elbow issues perhaps being behind him. “It’s obviously now more concerning because it’s not the first episode, it’s now the second episode.”
With David Lennon in Jupiter, Fla.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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