TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will have season-ending Tommy John surgery on his right elbow on Tuesday.
The Yankees said the 34-year-old right-hander was examined Monday by Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. ElAttrache, the Dodgers’ head team physician, will operate.
“This isn’t the news any athlete wants to hear, but it’s the necessary next step for my career,” Cole said in a statement. “I have a lot left to give, and I’m fully committed to the work ahead. I’ll attack my rehab every day and support the 2025 Yankees each step of the way. ... I can’t wait to be back on the mound — stronger than ever.”
Cole experienced discomfort following his second spring training outing Thursday.
New York also is missing another starting pitcher, AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, who will be sidelined for at least three months because of a strained lat muscle. Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is sidelined indefinitely because of tendon pain in both elbows, and infielder DJ LeMahieu is out with a calf strain.
“You've got to be able to handle it and deal with it and maneuver,” manager Aaron Boone told the YES Network before the team announced Cole's surgery. “It's not a death sentence for us by any means, so it’s an opportunity for someone else. ... The reality is Gerrit still has a lot of pitching in front of him in his career and pitching with the Yankees and we want that to be as successful as it’s been already.”
A six-time All-Star, Cole threw a perfect first inning Thursday and reached 97.6 mph in the second, when he allowed Matt Wallner’s three-run homer on a fastball in the middle of the strike zone. He also surrendered Brooks Lee’s solo homer in the third on a 94 mph fastball with a 3-0 count.
Cole signed a $324 million, nine-year contract before the 2020 season.
After winning the 2023 AL Cy Young Award, the six-time All-Star didn’t make his first start last year until June 19 because of nerve irritation and edema in his right elbow. He went 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA in 17 starts, and then was 1-0 with a 2.17 ERA in five postseason starts.
He exercised his right to opt out of his contract on the third day after the World Series, giving up $144 million over four years and starting a two-day window for the team to void the opt-out by adding a $36 million salary for 2029. New York decided not to add the year, and Cole then elected to keep his contract.
Cole is 153-80 with a 3.18 ERA in 12 seasons for Pittsburgh (2013-17), Houston (2018-19) and the Yankees (2020-24).
Max Fried now heads a rotation that includes Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Marcus Stroman.
Will Warren and Carlos Carrasco are among the options for a fifth starter.
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New York Yankees' Gerrit Cole pitches to the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of a spring training baseball game Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for the International Board of Peace overseeing the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on Wednesday reiterated longstanding demands that Hamas and other militant groups, calling them “not negotiable.”
Seven months ago, the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Hamas included disarmament as a key provision but little progress has been made. Negotiations have centered around details, some of which Mladenov referenced on Wednesdaay, about gun buybacks and small arms for law enforcement.
But Mladenov also said Hamas could have a role in post-war Gaza if they disarmed. “We are not asking Hamas to disappear as a political movement,” he said.
He criticized the group for consolidating power in parts of Gaza and said they were doing it “to squeeze better terms of a negotiation.”
The remarks conflict with some of Israel’s aims to destroy the militant group that has governed Gaza for two decades.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Nickolay Mladenov, the top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal in Gaza, was in Jerusalem on Wednesday seeking to advance the ceasefire deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to more than seven months ago.
His appearance comes as efforts to advance the phased ceasefire have stalled, without much progress on its key tenets, including demilitarization and reconstruction. The truce envisioned Hamas handing over its weapons, Israeli forces withdrawing and rebuilding destroyed swaths of the coastal enclave after more than two years of war.
Instead, the seven months since the ceasefire have seen Israel and Hamas trade accusations of violations. Aid groups say Israel has not allowed the promised amount of aid in. Hamas has not disarmed and remains in control of roughly half the strip.
Israel has stepped up its attacks in Gaza in recent days, since the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, and many Palestinians fear a return of more airstrikes and full-scale war may be imminent.
Mladenov is a longtime U.N. diplomat and consultant who has also been a government minister in his home country, Bulgaria. Last year he was named high representative for Gaza for the President Donald Trump-led International Board of Peace designed to oversee post-war plans for the strip.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas-led militants stormed Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages. Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed over 72,724 Palestinians, including at least 846 since a ceasefire took hold last October.
That’s according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children. The figures by the ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
A Palestinian man carries water containers in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
FILE - United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov, attends a press conference at the (UNSCO) offices in Gaza City, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)
