Cardinals could aid Yankees Gerrit Cole backup plan after all, just not in trade

The New York Yankees suffered a huge blow to begin the offseason when superstar outfielder Juan Soto agreed to a massive 15-year contract with the crosstown rival New York Mets. After this, the Yankees bounced back in a big way, led by a massive signing of Max Fried. At the time, Yankees fans had no idea exactly how huge the Fried signing would truly be.

Recently, Gerrit Cole and the Yankees revealed that Cole would be having Tommy John surgery to fix his injured throwing elbow. This will sideline the ace for the entire 2025 season as well as potentially part of the 2026 campaign. Fried will need to step up as the ace in Cole’s absence.

But the Yankees still need to replace Cole. Starter Luis Gil is also expected to be sidelined for a few weeks, if not longer, so the starting rotation is quite depleted in the Bronx. And the perfect solution could come by way of the St. Louis Cardinals.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Yankees could target once-Cardinals pitcher to replace Gerrit Cole, but it’s not Erick Fedde

When looking at the Cardinals, there are two very obvious options to replace Cole: Erick Fedde and Sonny Gray. Both of these guys would work as a consistent veteran in a New York rotation that desperately needs a bit more stability. But it would also cost the Yankees some prospects in order to land one of these two righties and the Bronx Bombers don’t seem too keen on giving up any top prospects.

Instead, the Yankees could target free agent pitcher Kyle Gibson, also formerly of the Cardinals. ESPN’s Buster Olney recently suggested the Yankees would explore signing Gibson to help lessen the blow of losing Cole.

The 37-year-old put together a decent campaign in 2024. He made 30 starts and tossed 169.2 innings. The righty held a 4.24 ERA, 4.42 FIP, and 1.35 WHIP as he was worth just under 1.0 WAR for the year.

While this could be a low risk addition for the Yankees, it’s hard to believe he’s better than some other options on the table. Even prospect Will Warren seems to be headed toward a better year than what should be expected for the veteran righty.