The Phillies released righty Chad Gaudin this morning when he failed his physical, reports Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). The 30-year-old swingman signed a minor league deal with a MLB Spring Training invitation back in January, and had been expected to provide a solid pen and rotation depth option. Instead, the Reynolds Sports Management client will return to the open market.
Depending upon the issues that led to the failed physical, Gaudin should still find takers for his services. He put up appealing numbers last year with the Giants. Throwing in his age-30 season, Gaudin put up a 3.06 ERA in 97 innings (including 12 starts). He reached those marks with 8.2 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and a 38.4 percent ground-ball rate.
Gaudin has extensive experience working from the rotation and the pen: he made 34 starts with the A's in 2007 and has thrown the first pitch in 87 of his 344 career outings. His career 4.44 ERA does not reflect a significant difference in performance between the two roles: he has allowed a 4.56 ERA and .762 OPS as a starter, and a 4.30 ERA and .776 OPS as a reliever.
Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. declined to comment on the details, but told reporters, including Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, that the club was disappointed to have to let Gaudin go. "It hurts," said Amaro. "Obviously the roles he can fill as a long guy, a guy who can sit for 10 days and not pitch and then pitch as a starter, all of those things you like to have a veteran guy to be able to do. We have to find out of that guy is in our camp."
