Gerrit Cole: Service-time manipulation 'not productive for anyone'
Gerrit Cole is sick and tired of MLB teams manipulating players' service time.
"It's just tired," the New York Yankees ace said Tuesday, according to ESPN's Marly Rivera. "It's tired, man, and I think players are over it. And if they haven't been awakened to that type of behavior, that's what goes on."
Cole, one of eight players on the Major League Baseball Players Association's executive subcommittee, offered his thoughts on the topic following comments by former Seattle Mariners president Kevin Mather.
Mather resigned from his position Monday after he was filmed discussing the Mariners' service-time manipulation of top prospects Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez.
"Those conversations are being had, and ... unfortunately, that's the kind of way a lot of clubs are acting," Cole said. He added: "That's just not productive for anyone. It's not productive for the product. You're not putting the best players on the field for people to see.
"This guy's talking about players that are making him money. The product is the people that he's talking poorly about."
Manipulation of service time has emerged as a serious concern among players, and the issue is expected to be a focal point in discussions when MLB and the MLBPA negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.
The current CBA is set to expire on Dec. 1.