This New York Yankees legend wasn't a fan of this move by the Boston Red Sox.
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole took the mound for the first time since March 2025 on Wednesday afternoon, tossing one scoreless frame against the Boston Red Sox.
No, it doesn't mean that Cole will be ready for Opening Day. His return timeline is still late May or early June. But it was obviously a major step in the right direction.
While Cole's one inning of work was generally uneventful, there was one instance that resulted in a little bit of buzz: the Red Sox's decision to bunt.
Braiden Ward decided to lay down a bunt on Cole's first pitch of the game, and it ended up being a leadoff single for the outfielder. Cole attempted to make the play at first base and made a sliding grab, but Ward easily beat it out for a base hit.
Well, New York Giants legend and WFAN host Tiki Barber decided to fire off a text to former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia — who famously ripped the Red Sox for bunting on him way back in 2017 — to ask his thoughts on the situation, and Sabathia's response probably won't surprise anyone.
"Kind of trash," Sabathia told Barber via text. "They definitely talked about it before the game."
CC Sabathia. Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images.While Sabathia does not think Boston manager Alex Cora made the decision, he feels that another player — probably a veteran — may have told Ward to drop down a bunt in an attempt to get under Cole's skin.
Cole, who has an old-school mentality himself, didn't seem too aggravated over it, but you do have to wonder if he was actually annoyed.
Was it really disrespectful to Cole to bunt on his first pitch back from Tommy John surgery? Maybe, depending on who you ask. But at the end of the day, it was a player in Ward who has never even had a regular-season big-league at-bat, so I doubt Cole or anyone else on the Yankees roster is losing any sleep over it.
Plus, Cole needed just 10 pitches to get out of the inning, so it's not like the leadoff bunt resulted in any runs.
The most important takeaway from all of this is that Cole is inching closer and closer to a return, and if he is healthy, New York will have its true ace back in the fold.
The Yanks will open up against the San Francisco Giants next Wednesday.
Sabathia, by the way, will have his number retired by the Yankees this season.
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