The Red Sox announced that Taylor Cole has been signed to a minor league contract, with the right-hander receiving a non-roster invitation to Spring Training. Since Cole began the offseason as a minor league free agent, he is eligible to sign during the lockout.
Cole posted a 2.08 ERA over 8 2/3 innings in the Dominican Winter League, which marked his first action of any kind since he pitched for the Angels in 2019. Beyond the canceled minor league season and postponed MLB season in 2020, Cole was also set back by shoulder problems that forced him to undergo surgery in August 2020. He didn’t pitch at all last season while recovering, until finally returning to the mound this winter to audition for scouts in the Dominican.
Cole posted a 4.97 ERA over 88 2/3 career innings with the Blue Jays and Angels from 2017-19, with a 23.9% strikeout rate and a 49.4% grounder rate. The righty had some bigger strikeout totals during his minor league career, and his grounder-heavy attack did a generally good job of avoiding the long ball until the homer-heavy 2019 Triple-A season, as Cole surrendered five home runs over 23 1/3 total innings with Anaheim’s Triple-A and high-A affiliates.
He hasn’t yet had a chance to rebound from that rough 2019 campaign, but the Red Sox clearly saw enough in the DWL to take the low-risk move of inviting Cole to their spring camp. Cole has worked as both a starter and reliever during his career, thus perhaps lining up as a swingman or long relief option as Boston looks to cover innings and create flexibility within its pitching staff.
I know it says “more to come,” but we got it.
Dumpster diving many will say. I look at Whitlock last year and give Bloom the benefit. Grab as many of these type deals as you can until free agency starts again. Cost is minimal
Dewey – I agree with everything you said, and if he does not pan out the Red Sox simply release him after spring training.
The normal “dumpster dive” comments at this time would show how ignorant the person posting is as the only players signing are minor league free agents which are not expected to make the MLB roster let alone much of an in game difference.
IMO Cole probably does not even stick on the AAA roster as it is already full, but there is no harm in giving him a look.
Cole probably does not even stick in AAA as the Worcester roster is pretty full of arms with a much higher up side than Cole, but as Dewey wrote look at Whitlock….
Soxprospect projected Worcester Red Sox
Pitching staff
Rotation
RH Connor Seabold
RH Kutter Crawford
RH Josh Winckowski
LH Kyle Hart
RH Brian Keller
Bullpen
RH Eduard Bazardo
RH Phillips Valdez
RH Zack Kelly
RH Michael Feliz
RH Taylor Cole
RH Durbin Feltman
RH Frank German
RH Kaleb Ort
RH John Schreiber
RH Caleb Simpson
RH Geoff Hartlieb
Great info. Do you think the Sox will lose anyone in the Rule 5 Draft?
The Red Sox may loose some interesting bullpen arms that are Rule 5 eligible like Feldman, German, Kelly, and Ort as well as Cottman who is a catcher, Fitzgerald a utility infielder. Here is the entire list of Rule 5 Red Sox players:
December 2021
Cole Brannen
Marco Cardoso
Pedro Castellanos
Felix Cepeda
Taylor Cole
Franchy Cordero
Kole Cottam
Ricardo Cubillan
Osvaldo De La Rosa
Tyler Dearden
Jonathan Diaz
Tyler Esplin
Durbin Feltman
Ryan Fernandez
Ryan Fitzgerald
Antoni Flores
Frank German
Rio Gomez
Devlin Granberg
Kyle Hart
Geoff Hartlieb
Gilberto Jimenez
Zack Kelly
Dominic LoBrutto
Bryan Lucas
Charlie Madden
Elih Marrero
Joan Martinez
Johan Mieses
Alexander Montero
Oddanier Mosqueda
Brendan Nail
Kaleb Ort
Yusniel Padron-Artiles
Aaron Perry
AJ Politi
Ceddanne Rafaela
Oscar Rangel
Tyreque Reed
Jesus Rosillo
Roniel Raudes
Yasel Santana
Victor Santos
Zach Schellenger
John Schreiber
Gregori Segovia
Chase Shugart
Caleb Simpson
Miguel Suero
Jake Thompson
Carlos Velez
Thaddeus Ward
Grant Williams
Izzy Wilson
JC#1 – You appear to be a self proclaimed expert.
If this jackass GM is doing such a great job why are the Red Sox $6.275M from the CAP and yet have so little to show for the $73M that has dropped off the books since Bloom took over? Yes that means he’s WASTED over $65M of the payroll on slugs making $12M or less and not performing up to their cost! His entire time in Boston has been one continuous dumpster dive and only idiots applaud it!!!
If you want to bash others who comprehend the game far more than you it would be smart to start writing intelligent comments that are researched. No harm in dumpster diving?
Let’s list the harm in dumpster diving:
1 – Talent lost is not replaced (Mookie replacement from the dumpster?)
2 – Wasted payroll. $73M set for 2022 (not counting 2020 or 2021)
3- Wasted time – TWO YEARS without a Division Title under Bloom
4 – Wasted resources. Personnel used on fruitless insignificant claims.
This isn’t 1849 California were sifting for gold was a long shot way to be successful. The GM shouldn’t approach player acquisitions as if it’s the Lotto. These are the actions of a desperate man!!
Bloom should have known from all his years in the business which young players were worth claiming but he has proven he wasn’t the brains in TB. I just looked at his initial transactions as GM of the Boston Red Sox from October 31, 2019 until January 10th 2020 (prior to dumping Mookie and Price) and he made 24 transactions of absolutely NO SIGNIFICANCE other than signing Plawecki as back-up catcher. The young hotshot with all the promises already belly flopped and then he tore the heart of the clubhouse with his Mookie/Price deal.
It’s two years later and the talent level is now barely above Baltimore thanks to Bloom. No division titles. One “everything went right” season that didn’t lead to a division title or as a wild card a league title.
Enough is enough. No more dumpster diving. It’s time to run the ball club with dignity and integrity so fire Bloom to increase the dignity and Cora to raise the integrity and let fans be proud of the organization once again!!
Typical KD banter. if I tried to digest it all, I’d throw up. Bloom came to the Sox with a plan. The pandemic required short and long term changes. Last year’s run was a surprise. Why ingnire it since not many believe the team under Bloom is one and done. The cap is nothing to worry about. The team is building for now but waiting to understand the new CBA. You want to build a team in a computer. Too many variables. As Aaron Rodgers would say RELAX.
@KD
Your argument is a bit flawed. You still don’t give credit where credit is due. We didn’t win the division but we did go to the ALCs… you failed to mention that as a success.
There’s also the fact that you are complaining when we are in the middle of a shutdown, which leads me to believe you just want to dissent and have a voice in the matter, no matter what happens.
Bloom is dumpster diving at the moment because right now that’s all he can do until the shutout is over. But what about the international signing he made? Care to give an opinion on those?
Bloom had been far from perfect but he’s done a decent job in my book, when I doubted him originally. Not sure that makes someone an idiot believing that.
Honestly, this is you finding something to complain about in the middle of a shutdown when activity can’t reach your standards no matter which way.
For one who felt DD did exactly what ownership wanted and should not have been fired, I’m very happy with Bloom’s body of work. I believe the team benefited by the pandemic better than anyone else. They rebuilt their farm, reset their tax base and almost made it to the WS last year.
From your post KD most be his normal jerk self. Glad I muted that S O B.
Pwndroia – I am going to respond to your comment because unlike Dewey’s it actually has opinions backed with facts not childish insults!
So we disagree on a couple of points about the significance of winning the Division versus winning a wild card game or an ALDS series. For me division titles mean more because you performed for 162 games as the best team in your division which happens to be one of the toughest in baseball.. A wild card win was an over achievement but frankly I felt the game was more of loss for a very uninspired Yankee team than a commanding win for an over achieving Red Sox team. Likewise, in the ALDS I felt TB spit the bit much more than Boston out-played them. Other than Wander Franco and a few other guys they seemed flat. Whether it was the lack of perceived competition or something else was going on it’s hard to say. A mighty acquisition in Nelson Cruz didn’t look like the Minnesota version of Nelson Cruz. Yes, winning the ALDS was an achievement that was completely unexpected based on the talent level. A division title is a 162 game victory, a wild card is a 1 game victory and the ALDS is a 4 to 7 game victory. I weigh their significance based on the size of the accomplishment.
I’m not sure about the dissent and have a voice comment. My viewpoint on complaining is that it’s just more of the same whether a lockout exists or not. You believe there is no action due to the lockout. I see a constant flow of dumpster diving because the pinhead spent all but $6.275M of the payroll and his roster only needs two bench hitters. He painted himself into a corner with bad moves like Wacha, Paxton, JBJ and Barnes. Those mistakes will cost the team over $38M in 2022. Given a choice between those four clowns and Mookie at $36M, I would take Mookie in a heartbeat just like most real Red Sox fans.
Thanks for asking about the international prospects. I do have an opinion.
There are 5 teams in the division and here are the players they got:who are closest to helping their teams.. I have included Baseball America (BA) and MLB rankings. I tend to agree more with Ben Badler from BA than Jessie Sanchez from MLB when evaluating international prospects.
Yankees –
Roderick Arias SS from the Dominican Republic (DR) – BA-2 MLB-1
Toronto –
Luis Mesa C from Venezuela BA-11 MLB-33
Jean Carlo Joseph OF from the DR BA-49 MLB- Not ranked
Baltimore –
Braylin Tavera OF from the DR BA-18 MLB-22
Tampa Bay –
Miguel Tameres SS from the DR BA-40 MLB- Not ranked
Boston –
Fraymi de Leon SS from the DR BA-32 MLB-50
Freili Encarnacion SS from the DR BA-37 MLB-19
If the rankings are close to right it suggests the Yankees did very well. Toronto did well. Boston did close to as well as Toronto and Baltimore got one very good prospect. TB seems to be the loser based on the rankings but I’m always leary of TB. Now that we’ve seen Bloom vs TB for two years it’s clear he wasn’t the brains in their organization. It wouldn’t surprise me if Miguel Tameres ends up being the premiere player in this draft. It should be several years before we’ll know.
To finish up, it’s not me finding something to complain about. It’s Bloom doing the same thing he’s done for two years. He dumpster dived yet again and it will result just like all the other dives in wasted money for the organization wasted resources on analysis of non impact players and it is potentially damaging the farm system even more than he has so far.
Barring the two draft picks who came from failure, the quality of the players don’t seem to be going up. The players progressing in the minors existed in the minors before Bloom arrived. The ones he has acquired are dropping quickly especially the highly touted Jeter Downs.
Nobody in their right mind can state he has improved the farm system if you eliminate Yorke and Mayer all the gained points turn to points dropped! So if you buy into the farm system ranking then he’s hurt the farm system. I don’t buy into the system because it measures potential and results matter to me so I prefer counting the graduates and so far none are from Bloom!!.
Also, people need to better understand how a farm system works. It’s a finite number of players and for each addition their is subtraction unless the roster isn’t fully stocked at year end. We’ve seen dozens of additions but nobody has gathered all the cuts to see which is better. I’m working on that and will present the exhaustive list as soon as I can. FYI… he had 2 dozen transactions from Oct 31, 2019 until January 10, 2020 (just prior to the Mookie mistake) and the ONLY transaction that impacted the major league team is acquiring Plawecki after he traded away Sandy Leon.
Where are those other 23 players now since we know they aren’t in the majors after 2 years?
That’s taking playing the long game to an extreme and doing it badly!!
JC#1 – I’m not sure how I missed sifting you out of my daily view on the website but based on your pure ignorance, I’m hitting the mute button. Hope some day to meet you after you called me a SOB. Big balls for a very little man hiding in the shadows!!.
@Dewey, my comment simply means there wasn’t much more to be added than the initial headline. I never use the term dumpster diving. That’s usually fans who don’t understand why certain moves are made. Yes, some claims are depth moves for the minors. Other moves may be because the teams sees something they can fix. Whitlock was never a dumpster diver move. The Yankees collect and develop interesting arms which is why they’ve had more players claimed in the Rule 5 in recent years. No matter who they left off last year (meaning player #41!) was going to be taken and not returned. I think the Yankees gambled maybe Whitlock coming off TJS might deter a claim. They gambled wrong!
The Red Sox are heading that way too as Bloom continues to build out depth.
LordD99 – Another self proclaimed smart fan who gets why dumpster diving is a good thing. hahaha
If you really were smart you’d not write things like “depth moves in the minors are smart”. That’s about as vague as air is good. You aren’t considering any of the factors that make a move smart.
Lets begin with the premise that by adding a player you are adding depth. FALSE!! You do understand that the rosters in the minors are finite so for every roster add there must be a drop if your roster begins full like it should from the previous year. Next, the player added must perform better than the one released. So let me make it simple for you.
Bloom’s brilliant trade of Benny for Cordero is a perfect example of Cordero not improving the roster. You want to mention the minor league crap we got in that deal? OK. Tell me when that part of the deal is going to pay off. I hope I’m still alive. This is a dumpster dive trade that went badly for Bloom. What is the result of the bad move? The talent level of the club drops. Why is that important? Talent is a key ingredient to winning.
The minors work the same way. Who will be cut to make room for Taylor Cole? Are you 100% sure that he will be better than the player dropped? What if the guy cut when Cole is added turns out to be the next Whitlock? Did you really add depth or did you lose depth? No way to tell so declaring Bloom deals as adding depth comes with a massive assumption that suggests the new player is better than the player he replaces on the roster which is unknown.
Bloom has already proven at the major league level he’s not good at adding players with talents better than the ones he gives up.
Need some examples?
1 = Mookie for Verdugo, Downs and Wong
2 – Benny for Cordero
3 – Renfroe for JBJ
There is a 2 year history of failure in judgment. You assume his minor league dumpster dive pick-ups help the organization. I say based on his history of ineptitude there is no reason to think Cole is an improvement over the player to be dropped and clearly that whole “depth” concept lacks validity.
So what matters in a trade or a claim?
CONTRIBUTION AT THE MLB LEVEL.!!
Bragging about what great players are at Worcester is fun as a fan especially if you will get to see them play but the end goal seems to be fading like it did for 86 years prior to 2004. The end goal is to win rings and take Duck Boat rides.
Dumpster diving doesn’t lead to Duck Boat rides!!
Actually, Renfroe replaced Benny… sure he wasn’t in the trade but if we didn’t trade Benny Renfroe might not have fit on the roster, so that’s why trading Benny wasn’t the worst idea. Cordero was a flop, but is that the only one you got?
Mookie had to be traded, no matter which way
You know, I wish they’d count thumbs down here because I would think you would have a lot of them. Believe me, I wouldn’t be one of them.
To take a flyer on any Rule 5 player is one one level a dumpster dive with no risk other than returning the player for half cost. How many competitive teams though take up a roster spot for the full season? He’s done it twice although in 20 it was during an abbreviated 60 game schedule.
Trading Benny for Franchy is like saying he traded Renfroe for JBJ. Nonsense. Look at the full trade.
Pwndroia – So we lose Mookie and gain Verdugo (big step down in talent and cost), we dump JBJ at $11M and gain Hernandez out of position for $7M, we lose Benny for Cordero but the trade is so bad Renfroe needs to be added to make up for the mistake, Then we ironically trade the $3M Renfroe (2 yrs) for the discarded JBJ but costing a million more than when he was cut. We lose Chavis and gain Arroyo. Devers, Bogaerts, Dalbec and Vazquez persist at their positions. Improvement? NO WAY. Less money? Some but at what cost to talent?
Now the pitching! Sale, Eovaldi, Houck all would be here with or without Bloom. We lost Price and E-Rod and added Pivetta, Wacha, Paxton and HIll. We added and lost Ottavino. We still have Brassier, Taylor and D Hernandez but added Whitlock, Sawamura, Davis while losing Workman, Walden, Brewer, Hembree and Weber. Barnes should be gone but Bloom re-signed him for far too much money compared to his value.
Is the pitching staff better? Pivetta is a step up at the SP4 spot and I’d call it a draw at SP5. Whitlock is a big plus so far and the rest coming and going relievers are a draw. So is the the pitching better off? Slightly maybe but not enough to offset the talent loss in the hitting.
Also, if Mookie had to be traded as you are suggesting, why in the world would you go get 3 or 4 players for under $12M with Mookie’s money rather than a guy of comparable talent like Scherzer to fix the pitching or Story or Springer for the hitting? If Mookie had to go he needed to be replaced by something more than Verdugo. Heck, Verdugo got pushed out of his RF position by a journeyman named Renfroe. Renfroe, Verdugo and Benny are all slightly above league average players. Did we need to give up one to get another but not before wasting money on Cordero?
Did you say you wouldn’t be one of them? I’m confused was that a typo?.
Frankly, I don’t write my opinions for anyone’s approval. I simply look at the facts, draw conclusions from the facts and then express them on sites like this one so people can have a version of the truth rather than the paid social influencers opinions. Spinning the truth without facts to back the opinions is what influencers are all about. Then the ignorant read it and have so little understanding of the game and the facts that it becomes their mantra. Thus, the paid influencers earn their money and people like Bloom create a public perception that doesn’t fit the facts of his actions. It’s a heavy cross to bear but somebody needs to present the facts not the fiction ownership, the front office and ignorant fans are spewing.
FYI It’s a really screwed up concept to present a thumbs down. It discourages the reason for having a site like this one. If you disagree all you have to do is state that and why. The anonymity of a thumbs down promotes the childish behavior seen in so many of these comments where people don’t agree so they simply insult. That’s pure ignorance. Having a thumbs up is good because many times the person writes something you completely support and the thumbs up is like a nod if you were in the same room or on a video conference.
Given the uncertainty/unlikelihood around a season, I”m thinking guys like Cole are the ones who can’t land a job in Japan or Korea or Taiwan.
A couple of years ago he could have been an option for a CPBL team but now he’s probably not. NPB could’ve still wanted him as well.
There are restrictions on how many US players teams in those leagues can have on their roster.
KBO is three foreign players, CPBL is four (only three on the major league roster at a time), NPB has a limit of four on the major league roster at any given time, no limit in the NPB minor league.
Will always remember him for being a part of the no-hitter, remembering Tyler Skaggs.
Low risk move. If healthy, he could crack that bullpen. Now they have to make their D better to make him want to stay.
A better D will encourage anyone to stay.
Sorry
I wonder what Taylor Cole looks like now. She used to be really hot.
haha. Have you seen The Walk music video she is in?
I hadn’t seen. I just looked it up and watched, it was really good. She’s even hotter firing a gun. It was very Mr. and Mrs. Smith like, except she’s way better than Angelina Jolie. The song also wasn’t bad lol.
Glad you liked it. I think it was pretty well done.
Taylor is a really great guy and I’m happy to see him back on track with his career. He worked his butt off to get back here and I wish him well (even in Boston ha ha).
It was a short sample, but his fastball velocity was up a couple ticks in the DWL and he ended the season feeling great.
He was sitting 95 on his fastball? That could really come in handy as he should have a larger margin of error compared to when he was just sitting 93
I see a low FIP the last two seasons and already I like this deal.
For these fringy guys, I look for either a K/W > 2:1, or a K/9 of > 1.0. This guy has both, so it shows he can get guys out. Now we just have to hope he learns a new trick, The stats and age look a little like Brasier.
Pwndroia – Just curious which suggests more luck a high BABIP or a low FIP?
I consider both stats bogus especially with the rapid increase in shifting. I would rather see a guy like Ripken know the hitter and the pitch and the location then translate that into the best pre=pitch positioning than have RIpken with a card in his hat that positions him based on averages of where a player might hit the ball in totally different conditions.
I’m very curious what you think. As a modern metrics supporter how do you give any credence to these two stats?