The Yankees announced that they’ve designated righty A.J. Cole for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Troy Tulowitzki, whose one-year, Major League contract is now official.
The Yankees bought Cole from the Nationals last April, acquiring him in exchange for cash after Washington had designated the one-time top prospect for assignment themselves. Cole gave the Yankees 38 innings of 4.26 ERA ball from that point forth, pitching in primarily a multi-inning relief role. Along the way, Cole offered some signs of encouragement, as he averaged 11.6 K/9 and registered an enormous 15.9 percent swinging-strike rate with a very good 34.3 percent opponents’ chase rate on out-of-zone pitches.
However, Cole was also exorbitantly homer-prone, yielding nine long balls for an average of 2.13 homers per nine innings pitched. That’s been an ongoing problem for the 26-year-old in each of the past three MLB seasons, as he’s averaged a staggering 1.9 homers per nine innings in that time. In 148 innings at the big league level, Cole has a 5.05 ERA with 9.2 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9.
AJ Cole is another arm that a bad team in rebuild mode should consider. Jays, O’s, Royals, Tigers, Marlins, Rangers….
Im surprised the Yankees aqcuired him last year. He did pitch decent though. I agree. A team will want him thats rebuilding. I hope the marlins get him
He wasn’t decent at all
With Yankees he posted a 4.26 era. Had 49 strikeouts in 38 innings batters hit .258 against him. Its not great. But its decent. What does raise some red flags for me are the homeruns: 9 in those 38 innings. But someone will definitely take a chance.
He was better than kahnle
That’s not saying much
Larger pitcher friendly park with a. Rebuilding team and he will look like an all star
Kahnle has a better upside, he was great 2 years ago.
He wasn’t decent at all for the Yankees, but for the bottom feeders like my Jays he will do just fine for now.
Lowtalker… A larger park like Yosemite.
Miami or Kauffman should suffice
He also will likely not be pitching his home games in a HR paradise like Yankee Stadium when he goes somewhere else.
He could give a home run pitching on an airport tarmac.
Like the Grand Canyon maybe the ball will stay in the park
Makes sense for the Marlins.
The Royals especially; their park is a little bigger and any one of their outfielders could run something down
My thoughts exactly! Miami & Detroit with their expansive dimensions would be a fit as well…
Can they run to oklahoma?
I agree the Royals need to take a chance on him. With that big ballpark why not?
Cole actually pitched well with the Yankees when he had opportunities. I’m sure he will get another chance, possible in MIL or SD.
You must have seen a different person then
Homer rates are highly random in small samples. He allows about 3 fewer dingers last year and all of a sudden he’s a really good reliever. Have a feeling someone will get more from him than the Yanks get from Tulo.
His homer rate in 148 career innings is 1.9 hr per 9 IP.
That’s not a small sample.
148 innings is what… a little more than half a season for a starter?
he was actually pretty great early on, but had a rough second half
High BB/9, terrible GB%, high BABIP… Pretty much the exact opposite of what the Brewers front office has been looking for in pitchers so I highly doubt it would be there.
As long as he wants to start 30 games and pitch 10 innings, he’ll be right at home on the brewers
I can see the indians picking him up. They usually have good luck finding bullpen talent
@ chadkaboom;
Not much at all since Callaway left.
Mets would do well to step in and turn Cole over to Callaway and Eiland.
Truth be told, Rothschild has not been terribly effective the past few years with pitchers trying to establish themselves. He’s OK re calibrating veterans that are out of kilter.
Boone put this bum in so many close games last season smh. Thank god he’s gone !
bum that’s made it further than little league career ever did
If only Boone would be gone next
AMEN
Welcome back from your suspension!!
You are an arz if you really think I was suspended, I have been posting in an alias, watching you make more of a jerk of yourself posting and being nasty to others.
BONG, BOOM, BASH, Smash
You are not as smart as only you think you are because I have had most of your personal posts to me removed.
Now that I feel like I have won the lotto, I will sit and watch again!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OR maybe not, you’ll never know
@ Yankeepatriot;
Not in games I saw…..
Cole did a lot of mop-up duty, and was withheld from close games.
You missed a lot of his games then. Boone put him in numerous close games and it made me sick of Boone
Definitely still has promise, he was pretty solid out of the pen for the yanks outside of maybe 4 or so tough outings out of close to 30 appearances.
I saw a lot of his games and he was a nightmare when he came in. He started hot but then regressed to what he really is
Exactly! He looked great the first handful of game he came in on, but quickly sucked, and yet they kept him on the roster. I will admit, they did let him go long stretches without pitching, so I wonder if any of that led to the bad performance. But all in all, he was there as a long man/mop u guy and failed.
So glad he got DFA’d because at least I know that THEY know he sucks lol
Yes If I remember correctly those five rough outings were June, July, August. September and 2015-2017.
Lost a good reliever for a guy that as I type just pulled a groin and a hammy
A lot of guys pull their groin but never go on the DL.
Hope you’re talking about Robertson because Cole is not good at all
If he would just get hooked up with Astros his spin rate would increase 150%…look at the other Cole.
Good
Good riddance, and he can take Cessa with him.
Hes next when Britton signs probably
This!!!
hey Al…Comerica should hold some of those long balls…
Hopefully Cessa is next,Cole started strong and then became absolutely horrible in Key situations.Not sorry to see him go.
Pick him up Marlins. Won’t hurt…
Sounds perfect for a team using the “Opener” strategy. A’s?
I hope he clears and Yankees get him back.
Thank God!!!!
To me, there is no justification for the Tulo signing when it means Cole gets released as a result… at this point in his career, no chance Tulo is more valuable than a 26 year old Cole. I do not understand the move at all by the Yankees, especially when I don’t even see Tulo making the team.
Tulo is league minimum bench depth with experience and a potential (but extremely unlikely) lightning in a bottle and cole is a scrub reliver who is a dime a dozen
What is wrong with this again ? Lol
Well 10-15 real MLB teams feel differently on whether Tulo was worth it.
Tulo is only 1 year removed form a 3.4 War season, will be on a minimum contract, and by all accounts looked good in his workouts. There’s a pretty good chance he could wind up better than a negative WAR reliever with a high walk rate and low ground ball percentage pitching in Yankee Stadium. Maybe he makes the roster and maybe not, but he provides some flexibility due to injury or future roster moves.
Seriously? Cole is beyond terrible and Tulo can supply solid defense and may hit as well.
At least Tulo has been good. When has Cole not sucked?
Cole is that guy with a ton of potential that everyone thinks they can fix
His WHIP for the past four seasons
1.61
1.33
1.50
1.59
Career ERA is over 5.00
At some point it would be nice if some of that potential got someone out.
Obviously making room for Machado
Or Stevie Wonder.
Never forget AJ Cole and Ian Krol we’re part of the same trace once
“I bless the rains down in Africa” Is that what he’s saying?
AJ Cole
Bay bay
lmao #undisputedera
Ownership can spend money…….
But a large segment of Yankee fans stand out as the most entitled, front-running, low baseball-IQ, classless fans in all of MLB.
Hey we aren’t front-running.
What are you going on about? Samuel
Hey Dolan, there’s fresh meat on the scrap pile…..hurry up before the flies sign him…I’m mean get on him
Wins Above A Replacement: -0.1
One DFA Down AJ Cole One more to go Luis Cessa Never been this happy since the Yankees gave Sugar Shane Robinson his DFA walking papers
50man roster. Get it done, mlbpa
He has a good arsenal of pitches so I’m guessing his issue stems from a lack of control which allows batters to sit back and wait on his fastball or he’s tipping his pitches. Either way it can be corrected with the right pitching coach and adjustments. I’d take a flyer on him if I thought my coaches could help him make the necessary adjustments.
The Pirates should grab Cole and assign him #45. Got to sell that merch.
A’s
Preller should claim him and DFA Pirela
Weird.
Christmas was over a week ago.
Getting DFA’d on your birthday—ouch.
Colorado.