Yankees' Gerrit Cole on Kevin Mathers' Comments: 'It's Just Tired'

New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole chimed in on the comments made by former Seattle Mariners President Kevin Mather, urging players around the league to view them as a wake-up call to the way teams think about their players.

In addition to criticizing the English language skills of two players, Mather also said some of the organization's top prospects will stay in the minors to start the season just so the team can "manipulate their major league service time," Marly Rivera of ESPN.

"It's just tired," Cole said. "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."

Mather resigned Monday after the comments that he made in a meeting with a local Rotary Club became public following video being posted online. The MLB Players Association released a statement calling the comments a "highly disturbing yet critically important window into how players are genuinely viewed by management." Cole serves as one of eight players on the MLBPA's executive subcommittee.

"Those conversations are being had, and unfortunately that's the kind of way a lot of clubs are acting," Cole said Tuesday. "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."

Yankees star outfielder Aaron Judge also commented on Mather's comments, calling the former executive's willingness to hold players in the minor leagues to push off their status as a free agent "sad."

"It's tough to hear because, as a player, I've always wanted to have the best product out there on the field. This is about winning this championship. And it doesn't matter if you're 40 years old, if you're 18 years old, if you're the best player at that position, you should get that opportunity," Judge said.

Per Rivera, manipulation of service time is expected to be one of the major talking points when the MLBPA and the league meet to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement, with the current one set to expire Dec. 1.