Debuting and being DFA’d on the same day?

The head of this article sounds somewhat unbelievable, doesn’t it? Still, it is what happened to David Hale last night. 

David Hale, a 30-year old reliever, broke into the Majors with the Atlanta Braves in 2013. In that year he started in two games and recorded a win with a microscopic ERA of 0.82. Even after his second year with a 4-5 record and a 3.30 ERA, things looked promising for Hale. But after he was traded to the Colorado Rockies, things started to turn around for Hale. 2015 was an injury-riddled season with a lot of rehab stints in the minors. Eventually Hale finished the season with the Rockies with a 5-5 record and a 6.09 ERA. The following year he hit rock bottom as his ERA rose to 13.50 in two appearances.

In the 2017 season, David played for the Dodgers organization and moved back and forth between the Tulsa Drillers (AA) and the Oklahoma City Dodgers (AAA) but never made it to the bigs.

At the end of January of this year, the Yankees signed Hale to a minor league contract. After he started the season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, he was called up on April 22nd. And finally last night, in the clubbing of the Minnesota Twins, Hale made his debut for the Yankees. In two innings, he gave up three hits and struck out as many. A good omen one would guess. Not quite.

As the Yankees came to terms with the Washington Nationals about right-handed pitcher A.J. Cole yesterday, the Bronx Bombers had to make room on the roster. You may guess what happened. After his fine debut with the Yankees, Hale was designated for assignment. This doesn’t necessarily mean he will not be pitching for the Yankees anymore, but his chances are diminishing.

When you read the information about this acquisition, you may wonder why the Yankees opted for Cole instead of keeping Hale:

With this move, the Yankees prove that baseball is a cold and hard business. Unfortunately, David Hale is the victim of it.