Luplow is a right-handed hitter who has hit for power against lefty pitching. The veteran has connected on 33 longballs in 565 big league plate appearances against southpaws. He’s only a .197/.287/.343 hitter versus right-handed pitching, so he’s best suited in a short side platoon capacity. He initially seemed as if he’d have a shot at playing that role in Atlanta as a complement to the lefty-swinging Jarred Kelenic. The Braves took that off the table when they reunited with Adam Duvall on a $3MM free agent pact instead.
Atlanta released Luplow within hours of the Duvall signing to allow him to explore other opportunities. He gets that look with Atlanta’s biggest threat in the NL East. The Phils already have a fairly right-handed bench group. Cristian Pache profiles as the fourth outfielder, while Whit Merrifield is a versatile option who could contribute throughout the infield or corner outfield. Philadelphia’s projected starter in left field, Brandon Marsh, has been delayed in camp after undergoing a minor procedure on his left knee at the beginning of February.
While the Phils anticipate Marsh being ready for Opening Day, there’s little harm in adding an experienced outfielder to camp. Luplow had been hitting well this spring, putting up a .276/.364/.621 slash with a trio of homers in 12 games.
]]>In his comments, Casas reiterating that he hopes to play in Boston for “the rest of [his] career” while also providing an update on the discussions he’s had with Red Sox brass. Per Casas, the sides are still talking but there’s been “no numerical values” discussed to this point and that “nothing has really accelerated” to this point. Even as the 24-year-old makes clear he hopes to spend his entire career in Boston, it doesn’t seem as though he feels much urgency to get a deal done anytime soon.
“I think I have a lot of work to do before I feel like I can say I deserve that contract extension to be the long-term first baseman for the Boston Red Sox,” Casas said, as relayed by Speier. “…So if I don’t get that offer, I’m not upset at anybody in the organization. I’m not upset with myself.”
Although Casas claims to have not yet performed at a level that would warrant the extension he’s looking for, he certainly turned in a strong performance in his first full big league season last year. In 132 games with the Red Sox, Casas slashed an impressive .263/.367/.490 (129 wRC+) in 502 trips to the plate. That strong overall performance was bolstered by a torrid second half that saw Casas slash an incredible .317/.417/.617 in 54 games with a 175 wRC+ that was the fifth-best figure among all hitters with at least 200 plate appearances down the stretch, bested by only Shohei Ohtani, Matt Olson, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Mookie Betts. If the sides are unable to come to an agreement this spring, a 2024 campaign that even comes close to resembling his second half last year would surely improve Casas’s earning power considerably.
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]]>As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, that $42MM annual rate is the largest on any contract extension in the sport’s history and the fourth-largest AAV on any contract ever, placing Wheeler only behind Shohei Ohtani, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. Wheeler has now been added to MLBTR’s list of the game’s largest AAVs ever, as well.
That the contract begins in 2025 rather than overriding the final season of the right-hander’s current five-year, $118MM contract is notable for luxury tax purposes. Because the deal goes into place in 2025, Wheeler’s CBT hit will remain $23.6MM for the upcoming season before vaulting substantially in 2025. The Phillies were already into the second tier of luxury penalization, and a significant boost for Wheeler would’ve pushed them into the third tier, dropping their top pick in the draft by 10 spots.
Wheeler already has more than ten years of major league service time, and he’ll hit five years with the Phillies at the end of the 2024 season. That’ll give him 10-and-5 rights, granting Wheeler the power to veto any potential trade over the life of his new contract with the Phils.
It’s rare for any nine-figure deal in free agency to wind up being considered a bargain, but Wheeler has been worth every penny of his original $118MM contract — and then some. Currently 33 years old, Wheeler ranks fourth in Major League Baseball with 629 1/3 innings pitched dating back to 2020, the first season of the contract. His 3.06 ERA, 2.90 FIP and 3.42 SIERA rank 11th, fourth and 15th among 121 qualified big league pitchers in that time.
Since signing with the Phils, Wheeler has punched out 26.7% of his opponents against a sparkling 5.3% walk rate. Despite the homer-friendly nature of Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, Wheeler has yielded an average of just 0.74 homers per nine frames — closely in line with his career mark of 0.83.
Wheeler’s 96 mph average fastball velocity in 2023 was down from its 97.3 mph peak (set in 2021), but he actually posted excellent swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates, sitting at 13.% and 36.6%, respectively. Those two marks were not only his best as a Phillie but the best single-season marks he’s posted in either category in his entire career to date. When opponents did manage to make contact against Wheeler, it was typically of the feeble variety. Hitters averaged a dismal 86.9 mph exit velocity against Wheeler this past season, placing the right-hander in the 88th percentile of big league pitchers.
Detractors can point to Wheeler’s 3.61 ERA in 2023 as a sign of decline, but as already laid out, Wheeler missed bats at career-best levels in 2023, maintained plus velocity and kept his walk rate among the league’s best. The primary skill change in Wheeler’s approach was a decline in grounders (41.2% — down from 49.6% in his first three years with Philly). That led to a few more home runs but correlated with the uptick in missed bats. Given that the Phillies annually trot out a poor defensive alignment behind their pitchers, the increase in missed bats is a better portent of long-term success than a reliance on keeping balls on the ground anyhow. Wheeler’s 71.3% strand rate — an outlier mark when looking at his year-to-year levels — figures to regress closer to the 74.3% mark he carried into the 2023 season. Assuming that indeed plays out, so long as Wheeler maintains something close to his current K-BB%, there’s a good chance his ERA will improve accordingly.
The dominance for Wheeler stretches far beyond his regular season work, however. He’s been an integral part of the Phillies’ deep playoff over the past two seasons — his first two tastes of postseason action to this point in his career. Wheeler has made 11 appearances (10 starts, one relief) and piled up 63 1/3 innings of 2.42 ERA ball with a 28.6% strikeout rate against a 4.2% walk rate while pitching in the postseason.
With Wheeler now entrenched in Philadelphia through the 2027 season and Aaron Nola also re-signed for another seven seasons, the Philadelphia rotation is set for the foreseeable future. That pair will continue to lead the way, with Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez and Taijuan Walker all controlled/signed for multiple additional seasons. Suarez is arbitration-eligible through the 2026 season, while Walker is signed through 2027 and Sanchez is controllable all the way through 2028. Strong as that group may be, the Phillies continue to be linked to a possible short-term deal with reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell — though signing Snell would catapult the team into the top tier of luxury penalization, which would push the team’s top draft choice back ten spots and likely mean more than $35MM in taxes on top of any salary.
Barring a one final, surprising splash on the free agent or trade market, the Phillies have other depth options in house. Former Tigers righty Spencer Turnbull and former Braves/Rangers southpaw Kolby Allard both signed big league deals over the winter. The Phils also have a stable of touted pitching prospects including Andrew Painter (currently rehabbing from Tommy John surgery), Mick Abel and Griff McGarry all working their way toward MLB debuts, giving them some quality young options. Painter isn’t likely to pitch at all in 2024 while recovering from last summer’s surgery, but he was in the mix to be the team’s fifth starter last year in spring training despite being just 19 years old during camp. He’ll be firmly in the 2025 rotation mix, though the team will presumably have him on some form of innings limit.
The Wheeler extension will take the Phillies north of $200MM in payroll commitments for the 2025 season before the first pitch of the 2024 campaign is even thrown, and with him now signed through the 2027 season, the Phils have a quartet of nine-figure deals they’ll be paying out at least four years down the road (Wheeler, Nola, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper). From a CBT standpoint, the Wheeler deal all but ensures that the Phillies will again be luxury tax payors next season at the very least. RosterResource projects Philadelphia for a hefty $229MM of luxury obligations next season, and that doesn’t even include next offseason’s dealings or any of the team’s arbitration-eligible players.
Wheeler would have been one of the top arms available in a deep class of free agent pitchers next winter. The 2024-25 offseason will still feature Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Shane Bieber, Walker Buehler, Scherzer and Verlander — pending further extensions among the group. Gerrit Cole also has an opt-out in his contract next winter, though the Yankees can (and very likely will, barring any sort of major injury) override that opt-out by picking up a club option for a tenth season at $36MM.
Wheeler would’ve landed behind younger aces like Burnes and Fried in terms of overall earning power, but as this extension shows, his earning power on a strict AAV basis very well could have been the highest of the bunch. Instead, he’ll anchor a deep Phillies rotation that’ll take aim at a third consecutive NLCS appearance in 2024 and look to secure the World Series title they fell just short of back in 2022.
ESPN’s Buster Olney first reported that the two parties had agreed to a multi-year extension. Matt Gelb of The Athletic first reported the terms of the contract.
]]>USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote over the weekend that the Phils had interest in Snell if he takes a short-term contract. However, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported differently this afternoon. According to Gelb, the Phillies have not “seriously discussed” a pursuit of Snell, regardless of the contract length required.
Snell declined a qualifying offer from the Padres at the beginning of the offseason. Gelb suggests the Phils weren’t interested in signing a player who rejected a QO, which would require them to forfeit their second and fifth picks in the 2024 draft and $1MM in bonus pool space for international amateurs. Philadelphia did relinquish their right to a compensatory pick by re-signing Nola, though that would have been only one draft choice that fell after the fourth round. (Snell is the only of the seven players who declined the QO who remains unsigned.)
Even independent of the draft compensation, the Phillies haven’t seemed a great fit for Snell since they retained Nola. Philadelphia has $246MM in player commitments for the upcoming season, as calculated by RosterResource. That’s a little north of last year’s $243MM franchise-record Opening Day mark. The Phils have nearly $262MM in competitive balance tax commitments. They’re going to exceed the CBT for a third consecutive season, leading to higher penalties as a three-time payor.
Philadelphia is already set to pay roughly $13MM in luxury taxes. Further additions either during the offseason or around the deadline will add to that mark. The Phils would pay a 62% tax on their approximate next $15MM in spending. That’d be followed by a 95% charge on the following $20MM and a 110% tax on any money thereafter.
A short-term contract for Snell would assuredly come with a lofty average salary, heightening the CBT commitments. A $35MM annual value, as a hypothetical, would add around $28MM to Philadelphia’s tax bill on top of the money going to Snell. It would also vault the Phils past the $277MM line that marks the third tier of CBT penalization, pushing their top pick in the 2025 draft back 10 spots in the process. A longer-term commitment could soften the CBT hit but would add another extended pitching investment to the Nola, Wheeler and Taijuan Walker contracts — which all run through 2026 or later.
Every team would benefit from installing Snell into their rotation in the short term. The Phillies have a strong starting five already, though. Wheeler, Nola, Ranger Suárez, Walker and Cristopher Sánchez is a good group. Philadelphia took a flier on Spencer Turnbull as a long man/sixth starter and added Kolby Allard and Max Castillo as further rotation depth. Prospects Mick Abel and Griff McGarry are higher ceiling options who could make their respective big league debuts in 2024. Andrew Painter is likely to miss all of this season recovering from Tommy John surgery, yet he should be a factor in the ’25 starting staff.
]]>The news isn’t surprising in the sense that plenty of teams would similarly love to have Snell on these terms, though the Phillies’ interest in Snell was described by The Athletic’s Jayson Stark back in November as “lukewarm.” In Stark’s view, the Phils saw Snell as a fallback plan if they couldn’t add their higher-priority targets (i.e. Nola or Yamamoto). There is also the fact that the Phillies already have a set rotation on paper, with Nola, Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez, Taijuan Walker, and Cristopher Sanchez combining to form a very solid starting five.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has spoken multiple times this offseason about how much he likes his rotation options, and about how the Phils’ other forays into the starting pitching market were focused on depth additions. That said, Dombrowski also noted last month that “I can’t tell you that somebody doesn’t fall into your lap at some point where you say, ’Gee, that’s an opportunity we can’t turn down.’ ” It seems possible that Snell’s seemingly limited market might now represent such a possibility for the Phillies to get involved.
Snell’s reported willingness to consider shorter-term offers could mean that a five- or six-year contract simply might not be on the table at this late date in the offseason. Even back in mid-February, MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald wondered if Snell would be better off aiming for a very high average annual value within a short-term deal, so the left-hander could then potentially opt out next winter when the market is more favorable and more teams might be willing to spend. The Yankees, Giants, and Angels have all been linked to Snell’s market, and that list probably widens considerably should the reigning NL Cy Young winner start focusing on just short-term contracts with opt-outs attached.
Philadelphia is undoubtedly in win-now mode, and both Dombrowski and team chairman John Middleton have a history of making aggressive moves in search of a World Series crown. Signing Snell and moving to either some kind of six-man rotation or in making Sanchez something of an over-qualified swingman would improve what is already a good rotation, and no postseason opponent would want to face the trio of Snell, Wheeler, and Nola within a short series.
Even as a short-term signing, however, Snell has its drawbacks for the Phillies. The club would have to give up $1MM in international bonus pool funds and its second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2024 draft, because Snell rejected a qualifying offer and because Philadelphia was a luxury-tax payor in 2023. In fact, the Phils have crossed the Competitive Balance Tax threshold in each of the last two years and are poised to make it a trifecta in 2024, with a projected CBT number of $261MM (as per RosterResource).
This figure is already over the second-highest penalty threshold of $257MM, and adding Snell would surely put Philadelphia over the third tier of $277MM. Teams who cross that third tier face the further penalty of a ten-slot drop for their first selection in the following season’s draft, as well as even steeper financial costs. As a three-time tax payor, the Phillies would be taxed at a 95% rate for every dollar spent above the $277MM mark.
For a one-year splurge on Snell, Middleton might deem the CBT costs as worth it if the left-hander is a final piece who can nab the Phillies that elusive championship. But the risk is obvious, as if Snell struggles in 2024 or gets injured, suddenly what might’ve looked like a one-year deal with Snell opting out now looks more like a fuller commitment or two or three years, and a further strain on the Phillies’ books. This might not be ideal for a team that has been prioritizing an extension with Wheeler, and most of the Phils’ most prominent players are signed through at least 2025.
]]>This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
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The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
]]>The 31-year-old Gallagher has participated in parts of seven big league seasons, the first six of which were spent in the Royals organization. That included a stretch from 2019-21 where Gallagher served as the primary backup to franchise face Salvador Perez. During that time, Gallagher hit .251/.315/.364 across 118 games, good for an 82 wRC+ that, while below average, was fairly in line with expectations for a glove-first back-up catcher. On defense, Gallagher boasted strong framing numbers with an impressive +11 Defensive Runs Saved during his time with the Royals.
Kansas City dealt Gallagher to the Padres just before the 2022 trade deadline, though he did not appear in a big league game before being designated for assignment and claimed off waivers by the Orioles in September. Gallagher was then outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster after the season without having made an appearance in Baltimore, allowing him to test free agency for the first time in his career. That led him to sign a minor league deal with the Guardians last January, with whom he made the Opening Day roster as one of two back-up options to Mike Zunino on the club’s bench.
Gallagher’s time in Cleveland saw him continue to flash defensive excellence behind the plate, with +5 Framing Runs per Statcast and +7 DRS. That quality work with the glove was unfortunately overshadowed by dismal production at the plate, where Gallagher hit just .126/.154/.168 in 149 trips to the plate with the Guardians last year. That production translated to a -17 wRC+, the worst figure among all hitters with at least 100 plate appearances last year. Those brutal numbers at the plate led the Guardians to designate Gallagher for assignment back in November, returning him to free agency.
Now with the Phillies, Gallagher figures to offer the club a quality, glove-first depth option behind the club’s established duo of J.T. Realmuto and Garrett Stubbs. The only other catcher currently on Phildelphia’s 40-man roster, switch-hitting youngster Rafael Marchan, has been sidelined this spring with a back injury according to Gelb. By adding Gallagher, the Phillies protect themselves from further injuries during camp thinning out their depth behind the plate entering the 2024 campaign as they look to return to the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
]]>It’s another back-of-the-roster move for Baltimore. The O’s have been the sport’s most active team on the DFA market over the past few weeks. Ort himself has spent a decent chunk of time in DFA limbo. Since the 2023 season ended, he has gone from the Red Sox to the Mariners, Marlins, Phillies and now Baltimore via waivers or minor trade.
The 32-year-old righty has only ever pitched at the big league level in Boston. He appeared in parts of three seasons with the Red Sox, although all but one appearance came over the last two years. He owns a 6.27 ERA in 51 2/3 career innings, including a 6.26 mark over 23 frames a year ago.
While Ort hasn’t found much big league success, his various sojourns around the league suggest teams like him as a depth arm. He throws reasonably hard, averaging 95.8 MPH with his fastball at the MLB level last year. Ort’s arsenal has played at the Triple-A level. Over parts of four seasons there, he carries an impressive 3.09 ERA while striking out nearly 32% of opposing hitters. He still has a minor league option remaining. The O’s could send him to Triple-A Norfolk without putting him on waivers if they keep him on the 40-man roster.
Burdick, 27 next week, was one of the aforementioned recent DFA pickups by Baltimore. The O’s acquired from the Marlins in a cash trade last Wednesday. Within the next week, they’ll flip him themselves or try to run him through outright waivers.
The righty-hitting outfielder has appeared briefly at the MLB level in each of the past two seasons. Burdick has slumped to a .200/.281/.368 batting line while striking out nearly 40% of the time over his first 46 contests. Strikeouts have been an issue in the minors as well. The Wright State product fanned in an untenable 36.6% of Triple-A plate appearances last season. He has big raw power and has twice topped 20 homers in the minors — including 24 longballs in Triple-A a year ago — but he’ll need to take a significant step forward with his pure contact skills.
]]>Ort, 32, has posted huge numbers in the minors but struggled to replicate those results at the major league level. But since he still has one option year remaining, that makes him appealing as a depth arm who is potentially on the verge of a breakout. That has made him just enticing enough for plenty of teams to want to take a shot on him, but his hold on a roster spot has been tenuous. He finished the 2023 season with the Red Sox but that club put him on waivers in October. He has since gone to the Mariners, Marlins and Phillies via waiver claims but has now lost his roster spot yet again.
Over the past three years, he has tossed 51 2/3 innings in the big leagues, allowing 6.27 earned runs per nine. He struck out 20.9% of batters faced while issuing walks at a 10.2% clip. Those numbers aren’t especially impressive but he averaged around 96 miles per hour on his fastball and had success on the farm. In the same three-year stretch, he has 97 2/3 innings of Triple-A work with a 2.76 ERA and 31.1% strikeout rate. The 10.9% walk rate was still high but the overall body of work has clearly been better at that level.
The Phils will have a week to trade Ort or try to pass him through waivers. Given the way his offseason has gone, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he were changing teams yet again in the next week. If he were to pass through unclaimed, he would stick with the Phils as non-roster depth.
]]>Harper also confirmed that he is interested in extending his contract, as agent Scott Boras stated in December. The idea caught many by surprise given that Harper still has eight seasons and $196MM remaining on his original 13-year, $330MM contract, and he’ll be turning 39 years old in October 2031. While Harper said “I haven’t really thought too much about” his contract situation, he said that “playing into my 40’s, I mean, that’s the biggest thing for me. So I want to get that done.” It remains to be seen if Harper, Boras, and the Phillies could possibly reach some kind of deal to add two (or more?) years onto Harper’s contract, yet president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has downplayed the idea of a renegotiation.
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Brice, 32 in June, last made an appearance at the big league level for the Pirates back in 2022. The righty made his major league debut in 2016 as a member of the Marlins, though he would ultimately pitch just 14 innings with the club before being sent to Cincinnati as part of the deal that sent Luis Castillo to Cincinnati. Over two seasons with the Reds, Brice struggled to a 5.40 ERA with a matching FIP across 70 innings of work before the club designated him for assignment following the 2018 season. After a series of waiver claims, Brice found himself back in Miami ahead of the 2019 season and enjoyed the best season of his career as he pitched to a solid 3.43 ERA in 44 2/3 innings of work for the Marlins.
Unfortunately, that success at the big league level was short-lived, as Brice has posted a 5.85 ERA in 40 innings of work since the start of the 2020 season and spent the entire 2023 campaign in the minor leagues pitching for the Twins and Diamondbacks, for whom he posted a combined 6.92 ERA in 40 1/3 innings. Despite those brutal numbers last year, Brice’s overall body of work at the Triple-A level still features decent numbers. In 170 1/3 innings of work at the level across six seasons, Brice has posted a 4.54 ERA with a solid 25% strikeout rate against a 10.3% walk rate alongside a strong 47.4% groundball rate.
Those serviceable peripheral numbers are brought down, however, by Brice’s troubles with the longball. Brice has allowed a whopping 17.6% of his fly balls to leave the yard for home runs throughout his major league career, and allowed an even higher percentage at the Triple-A level last year. Given his solid peripherals and penchant for grounders, it’s easy to see how Brice could be a serviceable big league reliever if he can get his home run issues under control.
The right-hander will have a chance to prove himself capable in that regard with the Phillies this spring, where he’ll join fellow NRIs such as Ryan Burr and Nick Snyder in competing for a role in the club’s crowded bullpen. Should Brice fail to make the big league roster out of camp, he’ll likely serve as relief depth at the Triple-A level alongside depth options already on the 40-man roster such as right-handers Michael Rucker and Kaleb Ort.
]]>Garrett, 26, has quietly broken out as a quality mid-rotation arm for the Marlins over the past two seasons. In 48 appearances (47 starts) since the start of the 2022 season, Garrett has posted an impressive 3.63 ERA with a nearly-matching 3.64 FIP across 247 2/3 innings of work. During that time, the lefty has struck out a respectable 23.8% of batters faced while walking just 5.1%. The youngster’s strong peripheral numbers are rounded out by his ability to generate grounders, which he has done at an above-average 48.7% clip over the past two years. With Sandy Alcantara set to miss the entire 2024 campaign while rehabbing Tommy John surgery, Garrett figures to slot in toward the front of the Miami rotation this season alongside the likes of Jesus Luzardo and Eury Perez.
With Garrett’s health uncertain entering camp, it’s fair to wonder what impact his status may have on the club’s trade talks regarding members of their rotation. The Marlins have long been known to be listening on their controllable starting pitching in hopes of addressing other areas of their roster, with Luzardo receiving attention from the likes of the Orioles and Dodgers while the Pirates have also reportedly shown interesting in the club’s available rotation arms. While it’s unclear what impact, if any, Garrett’s current shoulder issue would have on his availability in trade, it’s possible the Marlins may be more hesitant to shop any of their starting options until they have more certainty on Garrett’s status. After all, a hypothetical trade of Luzardo would leave the Marlins with only Perez, Edward Cabrera, and Trevor Rogers as surefire starting options entering the 2024 season if Garrett were to require time on the injured list.
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Pinto, 30, began his professional career in the Phillies organization back in 2012 and eventually made his big league debut for the club during the 2017 season. Pinto’s first stint in the majors did not go well as he struggled to a 7.89 ERA in 29 2/3 innings of work, striking out just 17% of batters while walking 11.6%. Pinto was then dealt to the White Sox just before the start of the 2018 season, though he did not make a major league appearance for the club.
Pinto eventually caught on with the Rays and returned to the big leagues late in the 2019 season after posting a decent 4.13 ERA in 104 2/3 innings of work for the club at the Triple-A level, though he was shelled for four runs on four hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings for Tampa before the Rays designated him for assignment. After a brief stint in the Giants organization, Pinto headed overseas for the 2020 season to pitch in the Korea Baseball Organization. In the KBO, Pinto was used as a starter for the first time since 2016, when he was still at the Double-A level. While he struggled badly to a 6.17 ERA in his 30 starts overseas, he nonetheless found a spot in the Tigers organization.
The right-hander initially worked as a starter for the Tigers, pitching to a 4.29 ERA over 123 2/3 innings of work split between the Double- and Triple-A levels, but converted back to relief work in his second season with the Tigers. The 2022 campaign saw Pinto pitch fairly well out of the bullpen in Triple-A, with a 3.58 ERA and a 27.7% strikeout rate in 32 1/3 frames across 20 appearances. That’s his most recent stateside work, though Pinto has since pitched in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League, the Mexican League, and the Venezuelan Winter League.
In returning to affiliated ball, Pinto joins a Phillies organization that appears mostly set in the bullpen entering Spring Training. Nonetheless, Pinto will have the opportunity to establish himself in camp alongside fellow non-roster invitees like Ryan Burr and Nick Snyder as well as depth options currently on the club’s 40-man roster such as Michael Rucker and Kaleb Ort. Any of those arms could find themselves on the Opening Day roster in the event of an injury, or perhaps if they manage to outperform an arm such as right-hander Connor Brogdon during camp.
]]>Dahl didn’t see any big league action during the 2022 season, but he returned for a cup of coffee in the form of four games with the Padres at the start of the 2023 campaign. A quad strain then sidelined Dahl for the better part of two months, and after San Diego released him in June, Dahl didn’t get another MLB call-up after signing another minors deal with the Dodgers.
The outfielder will now look for another fresh start in Philly, in what has become something of a journeyman career for the former top prospect. Dahl was selected by the Rockies with the 10th overall pick of the 2012 draft, but his career has been marked by injuries, most notably a lacerated spleen suffered during an on-field collision while playing in the minors in 2015. Debuting in the majors in 2016, Dahl hit .297/.346/.521 over 921 plate appearances with Colorado from 2016-19, and was named to the 2019 NL All-Star roster.
Dahl’s performance dropped off badly in 2020, to the point that the Rockies (surprisingly, at the time) non-tendered him that offseason. Dahl signed with the Rangers but couldn’t regain his form, hitting .210/.247/.322 over 220 PA for Texas before being released in August 2021. The Phillies are now the fifth team Dahl has joined on a minor league contract since he was cut loose by Texas.
Brandon Marsh underwent arthroscopic knee surgery last week and won’t get into any Spring Training games until early March, though the Phillies believe Marsh will be ready to go for Opening Day. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski didn’t think his team would look for outfield help in the wake of Marsh’s surgery, though between Dahl and yesterday’s deal with Whit Merrifield, the Phils have now signed two outfield-capable players in as many days.
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily indicate any concern over Marsh’s timeline, since Merrifield can also play second base and Dahl’s deal isn’t even guaranteed. Dahl (like Marsh) is a left-handed hitter, so Philadelphia has a number of other lefty-swinging outfield candidates on the depth chart in Jake Cave, Simon Muzziotti, and Cal Stevenson.
]]>