TAMPA, Fla. — Despite a brief opt-out scare early this past offseason, Gerrit Cole said that he always planned on remaining the Yankees‘ ace.

Cole, who signed a record-setting nine-year, $324 million contract before the 2020 season, opted out of the final four years and $144 million left on his deal on Nov. 2. The Yankees had the ability to void that opt-out by adding an additional year and $36 million to Cole’s pact, but they decided against that.

Rather than test free agency, Cole then decided to stick with the Yankees for the remaining four years on Nov. 4.

“We had good conversations as a group, and ultimately decided to just continue along the path that we were at and maybe at some point in the future pick the conversation back up,” Cole said Wednesday during his first media availability of spring training. “The intention wasn’t to do anything other than stay.”

Cole, who is represented by Scott Boras and enjoys a close relationship with Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, added that he didn’t harbor any frustration over the club declining to add a 10th year to his contract.

“I got what I wanted,” the righty said. “I wanted to be here.”

Added Yankees manager Aaron Boone: “He had a good way about it. He came in and just kind of talked about it openly after the fact when he came back in. So he put us at ease a little bit and gave us a laugh.”

Asked if he was ever concerned about Cole hitting the open market, Boone said, “You never know.”

“Great pitchers are obviously really attractive on the market,” the manager continued. “As great as he is and has been, you never know. But I was obviously relieved when he came back in.”

The Yankees didn’t have much incentive to tack another year onto Cole’s deal, and that’s still the case now that he’s locked in for another four seasons. Perhaps things would have been different had Cole, who won his first Cy Young in 2023, stayed healthy last season.

Instead, a case of elbow inflammation suffered in spring training, limited Cole to 17 regular season starts. He didn’t always look like his usual self, lacking velocity and command and struggling with the longball at times. However, the 34-year-old ended up with a 3.41 ERA over 95 innings before recording a 2.17 ERA over five postseason starts.

Cole started Game 5 of the World Series. While he didn’t allow any earned runs in the Dodgers’ decisive win, his failure to cover first on a Mookie Betts dribbler contributed to a sloppy fifth inning for the Yankees.

Now motivated to get back to and win his first World Series, Cole said that he is ahead of schedule compared to this time last year. He began throwing earlier this winter than in years past, a decision he made following last season’s injury and mid-season buildup. He also consulted some of his older friends in the sport about adapting more of a year-round throwing program to “keep the arm live as we age.”

“He kind of didn’t put the ball down this year, which you’re seeing more and more [across baseball],” Boone said. “We’ve tapped into that the last few years, keeping guys’ arms moving in some way, shape or form.”

Cole noted that he’s already faced hitters. He plans on facing more on Thursday.

Cole said that he still expects to be the Cy Young version of himself in 2025. He’d also like this season to end without a bitter taste in his and his teammates’ mouths after several Dodgers trash-talked the Yankees’ lackluster performance in the Fall Classic.

“We hadn’t been back to the World Series in over 10 years, so there’s a lot of stuff to be proud of,” Cole said, “and a lot of business yet to be accomplished.”