More Bad News in New York: Yankees Ace Gerrit Cole Set to Undergo Season Ending Surgery

A Season Lost: Gerrit Cole’s Road to Recovery Begins

Gerrit Cole, the Yankees’ ace and the reigning AL Cy Young winner, received some devastating news this week as the Yankees prepared for the 2025 MLB season.

Elbow discomfort. A second opinion. A flight to California. These are baseball’s darkest omens; by evening, the worst had been confirmed: Cole will undergo Tommy John surgery on Tuesday. He will not pitch in 2025.

For a franchise still riding the highs of its first World Series appearance since 2009, the news landed like a gut punch. Cole had fought off an elbow issue last spring, returning by June and re-establishing himself as one of the sport’s most dominant arms. But this time, there would be no comeback, no midseason resurgence. Instead, there is only the long, uncertain road back.

The First Signs of Trouble

Cole’s offseason had been built around prevention. He adjusted his training, shortening his usual rest period in hopes of fortifying his arm. By February, his outlook was brimming with optimism.

“I’m in a really good spot,” he said on Feb. 12. “Probably slightly ahead of where we were last year.”

And for a time, he was right. His first spring training start on Feb. 28 was clean and controlled: 3 1/3 innings, five strikeouts, solid command. But something changed after his second outing against the Twins, where he surrendered six runs in 2 2/3 innings. Days later, reports surfaced of discomfort in his pitching elbow. The imaging followed. And soon after, inevitability set in.

No Replacing Gerrit Cole

Even before the announcement, Aaron Boone did his best to keep perspective.

“This is not a death sentence for us,” the Yankees skipper said on a team broadcast.

Perhaps. But it is a massive loss.

The Yankees still have a rotation loaded with talent—Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, and Marcus Stroman—but no arm can fully replace Cole. Even with Luis Gil sidelined by a lat strain, the Yankees have options. Carlos Carrasco and Will Warren will battle for the fifth starter role. But the weight of expectation, the innings, the postseason presence—those belong to Cole alone.

The Long Road Back

For Cole, this will be his first significant surgery, a harsh interruption to what has been a Hall of Fame-worthy career. Now, next to 2025, there will be a blank space.

A pitcher’s arm is a fragile thing. The toll of throwing 95 mph, over and over, can break even the most methodical, the most durable, the most prepared. For years, Cole had defied that inevitability. But now, even for baseball’s greats, reality catches up.

Boone, ever the optimist, framed it differently.

“If he does have to get surgery, hopefully that serves us well in the long haul. Gerrit still has a lot of pitching in front of him, pitching with the Yankees, and we want that to be as successful as it’s been already.”

The Yankees will move forward. The season will go on. But Gerrit Cole will not take the mound in 2025. And that, more than anything, will define what happens next in the Bronx.