The Phillies made another personnel move on Tuesday, when they released starting pitcher Aaron Cook, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.
Cook, who signed a minor league deal with the Phillies back in January, was one of a handful of players signed in the off-season to help provide some pitching depth to the rotation. And despite having a solid March, where he had a 3.38 ERA in 18 innings over six appearances, the Phillies didn't deem it necessary to keep him around.
If you ask me, it was a wise move, because no matter how well Cook pitched during the spring, you can't hide from the fact that he has a career ERA of 4.60 over an 11 year career. To boot, Cook is notoriously a contact pitcher, as evidenced by the fact that he has a K/9 of 3.7. In 18 starts with the Boston Red Sox last season, he struck out fewer than two batters per nine innings. Even though he would have been called upon to make the occasional spot start, Cook's inability to strike hitters out makes him a liability.
This move also signals that the Phillies are more comfortable with their current minor league stable than they would have been with Cook. The candidate most likely to be called up in a pinch appears to be Tyler Cloyd, who made the most of his cup of coffee last season, with a 4.91 ERA and 8.2 K/9 in six starts. Conceivably, the Philles could also tap LHP Adam Morgan, who impressed last season at AA and during the spring, or RHP Jonathan Pettibone, who had a 3.10 ERA between AA and AAA in 2012.
While the Phillies would prefer not having to deal with an injury to the rotation, it takes a massive amount of luck to avoid something like that over 162 games, so it's quite likely that we will see one of the younger arms during the course of the season.
