SAN ANTONIO -- The New York Yankees declined to give ace Gerrit Cole a contract extension by Monday's deadline, but Cole ultimately decided that he didn't want to leave as a free agent anyway and is staying with the Yankees for at least the next four years.

The Yankees had until 5 p.m. Monday to give Cole a one-year, $36 million extension to void his opt-out, but when they didn't exercise the right, Cole elected to stay put and will still be paid the four years and $144 million remaining on his original nine-year, $324 million contract.

The Yankees and Cole will remain in talks about a revised contract, but there no longer is a deadline.

Cole exercised his opt-out clause Saturday, allowing the Yankees to walk away and save $144 million. Yet, they still would have needed to hit the free agent market to replace him. They ultimately decided he's better than anyone on the market, even with Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell and Max Fried available. They also weren't about to enter the 2025 season with a starting rotation of Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman.

Cole, 34, certainly has been everything the Yankees envisioned during the first five years of his contract, going 59-28 with a 3.12 ERA. Yet, after being limited to 19 starts this past season because of nerve inflammation in his elbow, the Yankees balked at immediately giving him another year in which he would have been pitching at the age of 40. If the Yankees had given him the extra year, Cole's contract would have turned into a 10-year, $360 million deal, the richest in baseball history for a pitcher.

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The Yankees and Cole left negotiations Monday with the understanding they will continue to talk about an extension, with the Yankees seeking to lower Cole's average annual salary for luxury tax purposes.