The Phillies have designated Sergio Escalona for assignment, according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com (via Twitter). The left-hander was DFA'd to make room on the 40-man roster for J.C. Romero, who was officially re-signed on Thursday.
Escalona spent 2010 with the Phillies' Double-A affiliate, turning in a 3.81 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 across 54.1 innings of work. The 26-year-old has 14 major league appearances to his credit, all of which came in 2009 for the Phillies.
26 is kinda old for AA. He showed some flashes of talent when up with the big club back in ’09. I was hoping he would develop into JC Romero’s replacement someday. Maybe Rube was too, since now that JC is back, Sergio is likely not the answer.
why DFA’d him? out of options?
Not sure if he was on the 40 man roster in 2008 or not, but that could be the reason. If he was at any point, he would be out of options going into 2011 I believe
They needed to open up a spot on the 40 man for JC Romero. Escalona was the odd man out.
ive seen him pitch pretty good, potential to be better then most left handed relief options available. If he is looking for some mlb time he can look 2 hours south of philly for the O’s
Odds are he’ll get a shot somewhere as a camp invitee. He’s got okay stuff and he’s shown flashes but he’s not likely to be a top LOOGY on a good club.