The New York Yankees got the brutal news they had been bracing for on Monday.
Former Cy Young Award winner and six-time All-Star starting pitcher Gerrit Cole will not throw a pitch for the Yankees in the 2025 regular season. He’s set to undergo Tommy John surgery on Tuesday just months after re-upping on a four-year, $144 million agreement to stay in the Bronx.
Clearly, the loss of their ace is a tough pill for the Yankees to swallow. But this is still the team with Aaron Judge on it, and New York also added a potential new ace in Max Fried in December. There’s still a chance the Yankees could live up to their promise as the best team in the American League.
To do that, though, they’ll likely need at least one more starting pitcher at some point. And one baseball insider has some interesting ideas as to who that next Yankees starter could be.
On Monday, ESPN’s Buster Olney named several potential Cole replacements for the Yankees. Among them, he listed Toronto Blue Jays free-agent acquisition Max Scherzer, a 40-year-old former three-time Cy Young who signed a one-year, $15 million contract this winter.
“If the Toronto Blue Jays struggle in the first half, they could be a key source for all kinds of needs, including starting pitchers,” Olney wrote. “(Max Scherzer might) draw interest if Toronto ever looks to rebuild and, in the Yankees’ case, is willing to deal within the division.”
Scherzer had an injury-shortened 2024 campaign with the Texas Rangers, but still managed a 3.95 ERA and 40 strikeouts in nine starts. He’s looked excellent so far in spring training, allowing just two earned runs and striking out 14 batters in nine innings of work.
Because Scherzer is a one-year rental, the Blue Jays might consider allowing him to stay in the division via trade if they fall far out of the race. But New York might also have to pay a “Yankee tax” in terms of prospect capital to get him in such a scenario.
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