New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole was fairly outspoken the last time one of his star position player teammates was on the verge of free agency.
In 2022, Cole was open in his communication with Aaron Judge as the outfielder explored the open market for the first time. Judge, of course, wound up signing a nine-year, $360 million contract to remain in New York.
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"He's a close friend of mine and a great teammate, so I'll be keeping in touch with him," Cole said at the time. "As far as what the future holds between the negotiations, I'll just be a supportive friend and reiterate everything that he means to us — the support and the talent and the type of player he is, it's just so special. He deserves to enjoy this courting process and he deserves everything that's coming to him."
On Thursday Cole, who is starting Game 1 of the World Series on Friday, said he hasn't spoken to Juan Soto about his pending free agency — not yet, at least.
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"All the way I've left him alone in terms of that," Cole said of Soto. "I certainly would love to see him stay. I think he's a wonderful player, an amazing talent, and hopefully the actions of this organization ... speak for themselves about how much we want him and how much he means."
Soto, who turns 26 on Friday, had a monster season as the Yankees claimed the best record in the American League. He made the AL All-Star team and finished the season with 41 home runs, 109 RBIs, a league-leading 128 runs, along with a .288/.419/.569 slash line.
The Yankees acquired Soto and outfielder Trent Grisham in a trade last December that sent pitchers Michael King, Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe, Randy Vasquez, and catcher Kyle Higashioka to the San Diego Padres.
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Cole, 34, went 8-5 with a 3.41 earned-run average in the regular season after missing nearly the entire first half of the season recovering from an elbow injury.
In three postseason starts for the Yankees, he's 1-0 with a 3.31 ERA in three starts. Cole last pitched in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians, allowing two runs across 4.1 innings in the Yankees' 6-3 victory.
Jack Flaherty is starting for the Dodgers opposite Cole when the World Series begins at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
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