Cone In Pinstripes For $12M

December 5, 1999 / 2:11 PM EST / CBS/AP

David Cone chose the familiarity of pitching with the New York Yankees instead of the security of a two-year contract.

Cone signed a $12 million, one-year deal with New York, beating a Tuesday deadline that would have ended his career with the Yankees and passing up a chance to seek a two-year contract with another team.

"The Yankees made it perfectly clear that they weren't going to budge off their one-year offer," Cone said Monday. "I was faced with a deadline to decide whether to cut off the Yankees or not. It was a tough choice."

Cone, who has pitched 5 1/2 years with the Mets and 4 1/2 with the Yankees, had stated his preference was to stay with the Yankees as did Allen Watson. Although the team didn't announce it, the left-hander agreed to a $3 million, two-year contract.

Cone's salary is the fourth-highest for a pitcher, trailing only the averages of Kevin Brown ($15 million), Randy Johnson ($13.1 million) and Pedro Martinez ($12.5 million).

Cone had a clause in his expired contract that gave the 36-year-old right-hander the right to prohibit the team from offering him salary arbitration. If Cone had exercised that right and didn't sign with the Yankees by Tuesday, New York would have been unable to re-sign him before May 1.

Cone said other suitors were waiting until the Yankees dropped out of the bidding before making a serious offer to him.

"A lot of teams didn't take me seriously because they knew I loved playing with the Yankees," Cone said. "The only way to get taken seriously was to cut off the Yankees. I wasn't prepared to do that. ... The Yankees were clear only going to offer one-year, but they would do a top-dollar contract. They did."

Cone made $9.5 million last season after going 12-9 with a 3.44 ERA, second-best in the American League, and pitching a perfect game July 18 against Montreal.

While the Yankees were unwilling to give Cone the second year, they did give him an approximately $2.5 million raise. Their are no incentive clauses in his new deal.

"You can't overstate what David Cone has meant to the success of the New York Yankees in the 90s," general manager Brian Cashman said. "We have been in the postseason every year since he was acquired in 1995, with three world championships in the last four seasons. David is a proven winner and an outstanding leader. We are extremely happy he will be back in 2000."

Cone was 9-4 with a 2.86 ERA at the All-Star break, but struggled in the second half, going 3-5 with 4.28 ERA. Yankees manager Joe Torre was forced to give Cone extra rest down the stretch. That move paid off in the postseason, as Cone rebounded to go 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two starts.

Cone had an aneurysm in his right shoulder in 1996 and had arthroscopic surgery to repair the shoulder following the 1997 season. Dr. James Andrews examined MRIs, X-rays and stress tests done on Cone's right arm and gave him a clean bill of health.

"It reaffirmed what I felt. I'm not a time bomb," Cone said. "I do have normal wear and tear in the shoulder. If you go looking for something wrong, you can find it. But I just gave normal wear and tear and I can go on and pitch for a number of years."

He went 20-7 with a 3.55 ERA in 1998, prompting New York to sign him to an $8 million, one-year contract with $1.5 million in performance bonuses, all of which he earned. Cone has the same bonus clauses in the new deal: $100,000 per start from 15-31.

The New York Mets, Cleveland and Baltimore were among the teams thought to be interested in Cone, but none made offers.

The only other prime starters left on the free-agent market are Chuck Finley and Aaron Sele.

Watson, 29, went 4-1 with a 2.89 ERA in 24 games this year for the Yankees, who signed him after the Mets released him. His new deal calls for a $200,000 signing bonus, $1.2 million next year and $1.6 million in 2001.