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Phillies Sign David Dahl To Minors Contract

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The Phillies have agreed to a minor league deal with outfielder David Dahl, according to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman (via X).  The contract will become official when Dahl passes a physical.

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.

Phillies Sign Whit Merrifield To One-Year Deal

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The Phillies announced they have signed infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield on a one-year contract. It’s reportedly an $8MM guarantee that takes the form of a $7MM salary this year and a $1MM buyout on an $8MM club option for 2025. There are also bonuses for the Warner Sports Management client that can take the full value to $16.6MM over two years.

Merrifield, 35, reached free agency at a late age, due to both being a late bloomer and signing an extension with the Royals. He made his major league debut in 2016 at the age of 27 and didn’t truly establish himself until the year after, his age-28 campaign.

From 2017 to 2020, Merrifield was solidly above-average at the plate and in other areas as well. He only walked in 6.3% of his plate appearances but limited his strikeouts to a 15.4% clip. His .297/.345/.452 batting line in that time amounted to a wRC+ of 111, or 11% better than league average. He also stole 111 bases in that time while providing quality defense at second base and all three outfield positions.

In the midst of that stretch, Merrifield signed a four-year, $16.25MM extension with the Royals, with that deal having a club option as well. He didn’t have a lot of leverage since his late-bloomer status meant that he wasn’t slated to reach free agency until after his age-33 season. That extension allowed him to lock in some decent money while giving up his age-34 season via that club option. The Royals would later trigger that option in advance, as part of restructuring his deal in early 2022.

The past three seasons have seen Merrifield’s production slip, a period of time that saw him traded to the Blue Jays midway through. Since the start of the 2021 campaign, his walk and strikeout rates have both stayed low as he has hit .269/.313/.392 for a wRC+ of 92. He added another 94 steals but his defensive metrics have taken a step back. In the outfield, both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have considered him to be subpar in those recent years. OAA still likes his work at second base, whereas DRS gave him +14 at the keystone in 2021 but negative numbers in the past two years.

Coming into the offseason, MLBTR predicted that Merrifield could get $18MM over two years. This contract takes roughly that same shape but only half of it is guaranteed, with the second half depending on whether or not that option is picked up.

For the Phillies, Merrifield is likely to serve as a bench/utility piece, though one that could see fairly regular playing time. The club has Bryson Stott at second base, though he’s a left-handed hitter. Merrifield is right-handed and has modest traditional platoon splits in his career: .289/.335/.458 batting line and 111 wRC+ against lefties compared with a .282/.328/.407 line and 97 wRC+ the rest of the time. Stott actually has reverse splits overall but was even in 2023.

In the outfield, with Bryce Harper now entrenched at first base and Kyle Schwarber likely to be a regular as the designated hitter, that leaves Nick Castellanos as the everyday option in right field and Johan Rojas in center. There’s some uncertainty with Brandon Marsh in left after he recently had arthroscopic knee surgery. The Phils are still hopeful of him being ready for Opening Day but it will be tight. He also hits left-handed has strong platoon splits for his career, with a .272/.347/.438 line and 115 wRC+ against righties but a .223/.278/.312 showing and 63 wRC+ against southpaws.

If Marsh were to miss time, the options to replace him weren’t terribly inspiring. Neither Cristian Pache nor Jake Cave have hit much in their big league careers. It seems Merrifield could see some left field time, either covering for Marsh or platooning with him once he’s healthy. He could also cover second on occasion if Bryson Stott needs a breather. He has a tiny bit of experience on the infield corners so could perhaps spell either Harper or Alec Bohm from time to time, as well as serving as a pinch runner if he’s not in the starting lineup. After the Marsh injury, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski downplayed the club’s likelihood of acquiring outfield help as they didn’t really have the playing time to offer, but Merrifield’s versatility makes him a better fit than a traditional outfielder.

The move brings the Philadelphia payroll to $246MM, per Roster Resource. That’s a bit north of last year’s $243 Opening Day figure, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. RR has their competitive balance tax figure at $261MM, above the second tax tier of $257MM. They also finished last year between the second and third tax tier. Going over the third line, which is $277MM, would require the club to have its top 2025 draft pick moved back 10 spots.

Jon Morosi of MLB.com first connected the two sides on an $8MM guarantee and first had the $1MM buyout. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first relayed the 2025 option and details.

Alec Bohm Wins Arbitration Hearing Against Phillies

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Infielder Alec Bohm has won his arbitration hearing against the Phillies, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The Boras Corporation client will make a salary of $4MM this year as opposed to the $3.4MM figure the club was hoping for.

Bohm, 27, is coming off arguably his best full season in the majors. He hit 20 home runs while reducing his strikeout rate to just 15.4%. His 6.9% walk rate was still on the low side but his .274/.327/.437 batting line translated to a 105 wRC+, indicating he was 5% better than league average at the plate. He split his time almost evenly between third base and first base, covering the latter while Rhys Hoskins and Bryce Harper were both unavailable due to injuries. He didn’t receive especially strong grades at either spot but the versatility is surely still valuable to the club.

This was the first time he qualified for arbitration and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Bohm for a $4.3MM salary this year. The two sides couldn’t reach an agreement prior to the filing deadline and both of them filed under that projection. The arbiters decided to go with the player’s camp and awarded him the higher figure.

Players get raises based on their initial arbitration figure so establishing a strong base in the first year is often important for them, while the clubs conversely want the base to be low in order to tamp down future earnings. All players tendered contracts for 2024 now have their salaries determined except for Marlins left-hander Tanner Scott.

Yankees Claim McKinley Moore From Phillies

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The Yankees claimed right-hander McKinley Moore off waivers from the Phillies, per announcements from both clubs. The Yanks put right-hander Lou Trivino on the 60-day injured list to open up a roster spot.

Moore, 25, was designated for assignment by the Phils earlier this week when they signed Spencer Turnbull. Originally a draftee of the White Sox, he came to the Phils in the 2022 Adam Haseley trade. Moore has shown a powerful arsenal but has also struggled to harness that stuff.

Last year, he made his major league debut, which didn’t turn out to be the dream scenario. He issued five walks and allowed seven earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. That means he currently sports a gruesome earned run average of 18.90 in his career. But that’s obviously a tiny sample size and he at least averaged a potent 97.2 miles per hour on his fastball in that time.

Looking at his minor league work, he threw a combined 120 2/3 innings over the past three years at various levels. He posted a 3.88 ERA in that time, giving out walks to 13.1% of opponents but also striking out 32.9% of them. The Yankees are known to favor ground ball guys and Moore has kept about half of balls in play in the dirt throughout his career.

The righty is obviously not a finished product but he has a couple of option years remaining and just a few days of service time. He’ll provide the bullpen with a bit of depth that can be summoned from the minors when needed, while they will presumably try to help him rein in the command.

As for Trivino, the 32-year-old was just signed a couple of days ago, but the club was well aware that he underwent Tommy John surgery in May of last year. He’ll now be officially ineligible to come off the IL until late May, which likely wasn’t going to be a possibility anyway.

Orioles Claim Diego Castillo, Designate Livan Soto

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The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve claimed infielder/outfielder Diego Castillo off waivers from the Phillies. Fellow infielder Livan Soto was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

The 26-year-old Castillo has bounced from the D-backs, to the Mets, to the Yankees, to the Phillies and now to the Orioles all in the span of two months. He appeared in only one game at the MLB level for Arizona last year and went hitless in a single plate appearance. A year prior, he logged 283 trips to the plate with the Pirates but mustered only a .206/.251/.382 batting line in his debut campaign in the majors.

Though he’s yet to have any big league success, Castillo possesses an outstanding track record in the upper minors. He hit .313/.431/.410 in Triple-A Reno last season, walking more often than he struck out: 17.4% versus 14.2%. Castillo has played in 177 Triple-A games to this point in his career and delivered a stout .296/.410/.407 line thanks to that keen eye at the plate and his excellent bat-to-ball skills. He’s walked 124 times in Triple-A against 125 strikeouts. Beyond that, he’s experienced at second base, shortstop, third base and in left field.

While Castillo has never been touted as a top prospect, he’s a versatile and contact-oriented hitter who can provide some depth — hence the whopping five teams he’s now been with in just two months. That said, there are reasons he’s been unable to hold down a roster spot. Castillo hit just three homers last year and has only twice reached double-digits in plate appearances. He’s never swiped more than 13 bases in a season. He’s generally considered a below-average runner with below-average power and a sub-par (albeit versatile) defensive skill set.

But Castillo has a minor league option remaining, and there’s still value in a bat-first utilityman with plus bat-to-ball skills. He can provide cover for the Orioles at a number of different positions, and as shown by last year’s .323/.445/.439 slash against lefties, his right-handed bat is particularly interesting in platoon situations.

Soto, 23, was just claimed off waivers from the Angels eight days ago. He’s hit .375/.414/.531 in a tiny sample of 71 big league plate appearances but benefited from a sky-high .469 average on balls in play during that time. Despite that strong showing in the majors, Soto has typically been a light-hitting but solid defensive shortstop in the minors. He split the 2023 season between Double-A and Triple-A in the Angels system, hitting a combined .237/.342/.358 between those two levels.

The Orioles will have a week to trade Soto or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If he goes unclaimed, they can retain him without dedicating a 40-man roster spot.

Phillies, Zack Wheeler Have Opened Extension Talks

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The Phillies have begun extension discussions with Zack Wheeler’s camp at Wasserman, the star righty told reporters (link via Matt Gelb of the Athletic). Talks are in the early stages and there’s no indication a deal is imminent.

Philadelphia has made no secret of its desire to retain Wheeler beyond the 2024 season. MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki wrote in December the Phils considered an extension a priority. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski went on record to confirm that last week.

Wheeler, who turns 34 in May, is entering the final season of a five-year free agent contract. The club’s $118MM investment over the 2019-20 offseason has been one of the best free agent acquisitions of the past few years. Wheeler has turned in a 3.06 ERA over his first four seasons in Philadelphia. He has appeared on Cy Young ballots in three of them, including a runner-up finish in 2021. Only Gerrit Cole, Sandy Alcántara and teammate Aaron Nola have thrown more innings since the start of 2020.

The former #6 overall pick didn’t show many signs of slowing down a year ago. Wheeler took a full slate of 32 starts and worked 192 innings. While his 3.61 ERA was his highest as a Phillie, that partially reflects a spike in offense around the league. Wheeler’s 26.9% strikeout rate matches his prior season’s output. He walked only 5% of opponents and finished 13th in MLB in innings. Wheeler induced swinging strikes on a career-best 13.3% of his offerings and averaged a robust 95.9 MPH on his four-seam fastball.

Wheeler is under contract for $23.5MM for the upcoming season. An extension would surely come with larger annual salaries for 2025 and beyond. Long-term extensions for pitchers covering their mid-30s are rare, as one might imagine. Over the past five seasons, the only starter to sign an extension covering at least three years at age 33 or older is Yu Darvish. Last February, the Padres inked Darvish to a surprising five-year, $90MM pact covering his age 37-41 seasons.

That’s not a great comparison point for Wheeler, who is three years younger than the San Diego righty was at the time. An extension would take effect in his age-35 campaign. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, two pitchers — Max Scherzer and former teammate Jacob deGrom — have secured nine-figure free agent deals at that age. deGrom landed a five-year, $185MM guarantee from the Rangers at 35 last winter. Scherzer secured a three-year, $130MM pact from the Mets covering his age 37-39 campaigns in November ’21. The $43.333MM average annual value was a record at the time; it’s now tied for second after being matched by Justin Verlander and topped by Shohei Ohtani.

Wheeler hasn’t matched the levels of dominance turned in by deGrom and Scherzer at their best. He has a far better durability track record than deGrom, though, and he’s a couple years younger than Scherzer was when he signed with New York. Those pitchers had the benefit of open market bidding. Wheeler won’t have that in extension talks with Philadelphia, but it’d very likely take something approaching free agent prices for him to sign early.

“I just want to be paid [based on] how I’ve done, what they expect out of me,” he told reporters (including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer). “It’s not all about the money to me, either. I took less to come here and be in a good spot and be happy and for my family to be happy. I do want — what’s the right word? — I want what I feel like I’ve earned. … Market value. There you go.”

Wheeler has a solid case for a four-year deal that pushes well into nine figures. He has a better track record than the likes of Sonny Gray and Chris Bassitt, each of whom secured three-year deals covering their age 34-36 campaigns. Gray landed $75MM from the Cardinals this winter, while Bassitt inked a $63MM pact with the Blue Jays a year ago.

The Phillies haven’t been shy about making long-term commitments, although they don’t have anyone making more than $28MM annually. Each of Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Nola, J.T. Realmuto, Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber and Taijuan Walker are on the books for at least $18MM per season beyond next year. The deals for Turner, Harper, Nola, Castellanos and Walker stretch at least into 2026.

Roster Resource projects the organization’s 2025 payroll around $171MM; they’re at approximately $187MM in luxury tax obligations. The base tax threshold for the ’25 season will be $241MM. A Wheeler extension would likely push their tax number past $215MM, potentially north of $220MM. They’re set to exceed the threshold for a third straight season in 2024, so they’d be subject to the maximum penalties for repeat payors in ’25 and beyond. That hasn’t been a stumbling block for owner John Middleton in recent years. A Wheeler extension would all but ensure they’d pay the CBT for at least a fourth consecutive season in 2025.

There doesn’t seem to be a firm deadline for a deal to get done. Wheeler suggested he’d be amenable to continuing talks beyond Opening Day but noted he’s taking a “hands-off” approach to negotiations between the team and his agents.

Phillies Designate McKinley Moore For Assignment

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The Phillies have made their previously-reported deal with right-hander Spencer Turnbull official, announcing that they have signed him to a one-year contract. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, fellow righty McKinley Moore was designated for assignment.

Moore, 25, has powerful stuff but serious control issues. Last year, he was able to make his major league debut, getting into three contests and tossing 3 1/3 innings. He averaged 97.2 miles per hour with his fastball in that time but issued five walks and allowed seven earned runs.

He was optioned to the minors and spent some time on the injured list down on the farm. He tossed 29 2/3 innings at different levels with a tiny ERA of 0.91, but paired his 38.4% strikeout rate with an 18.4% walk rate.

That’s generally been the recipe with Moore to this point in his career. He has split his minor league time between the White Sox and Phillies, switching orgs as part of the 2022 Adam Haseley trade. He has faced 605 hitters in the minors and struck out 199 of them, a strong 32.9% rate, but his 86 walks make for a 14.2% clip.

Despite those control issues, he is still young and has a couple of option years remaining. He could appeal to a club in search of some extra bullpen depth and perhaps a bit of patience for a long-term project. Matt Gelb of The Athletic relays that there is expected to be trade interest from other clubs around the league. The Phils will have one week to work out some kind of deal or pass Moore through waivers.

Phillies Claim Kaleb Ort, Designate Diego Castillo

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The Phillies announced today that they have claimed right-hander Kaleb Ort off waivers from the Marlins, with infielder Diego Castillo designated for assignment in a corresponding move. They also announced that right-hander David Buchanan has been signed to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. Additionally, both right-hander Andrew Bellatti and outfielder Simón Muzziotti cleared waivers and will remain with the organization.

Ort, 32, has been bouncing around the league in recent months. He finished the regular season with the Red Sox but has since gone to the Mariners, Marlins and now the Phillies. The Fish designated him for assignment last week when they claimed righty Declan Cronin.

The righty has flashed some big velo, which has led to big strikeout numbers in the minors but not yet in the majors. He has thrown 51 2/3 innings in the majors over the past three years, averaging 96 miles per hour on his fastball but allowing 6.27 earned runs per nine innings. He only struck out 20.9% of batters faced while walking 10.2% of them.

His work in the minors has been more impressive. Over that same three-year span, he logged 97 2/3 Triple-A innings with just a 2.76 ERA. He struck out 31.1% of opponents while giving out walks at a 10.9% clip.

Those minor league numbers are clearly enticing to clubs around the league, based on how many transactions he’s been a part of this winter. He still has one minor league option remaining, which adds to the appeal. The Phils have a strong bullpen but can keep Ort in Triple-A until a need arises, if he holds onto his 40-man roster spot.

Castillo, 26, has also been roving around the league this offseason. He spent 2023 with the Diamondbacks but was designated for assignment in December. He has since gone to the Mets, Yankees and Phillies on waiver claims, but has been booted off a roster yet again.

He only played in one big league game last year, spending the vast majority of his time in Triple-A. He did a great job of getting on base but provided little power. In 556 plate appearances, he only hit three home runs but drew walks at a 17.4% clip. His .313/.431/.410 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 117.

In addition to that work at the plate, Castillo also has other attractive attributes. He can play all over the field, having lined up at all four infield spots in his career, as well as the outfield corners. There’s also enough speed for him to have stolen 13 bases last year. He still has an option remaining, allowing him to provide a club with some depth all around the diamond. The Phils will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers.

Buchanan, 35 in May, pitched for the Phils in 2014 and 2015, throwing 192 1/3 innings with a 5.01 ERA. He was stuck in the minors in 2016 and has been overseas since then, going to Japan and then Korea. He pitched for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball from 2017 to 2019, putting up a 4.07 ERA in 433 2/3 innings. He then joined the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization and has been with them for the past four years with a 3.02 ERA in 699 2/3 innings.

The Phillies are set in the rotation with Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez set to be the front five. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski recently spoke about the club’s desire to add more starting depth and then went out and signed Spencer Turnbull. They also have Kolby Allard, Dylan Covey and Max Castillo on the 40-man but Buchanan will give them a bit of non-roster depth.

Bellatti, 32, seemed to be breaking out in 2022 when he posted a 3.31 ERA with a 33.9% strikeout rate. But he couldn’t maintain that in 2023, as his ERA shot up to 5.11 and his strikeout rate dropped to 22.1%. Now out of options, he got nudged off the roster when the Phils acquired Michael Rucker last week and it seems none of the other 29 clubs were willing to grab him. He has previous career outrights and could have elected free agency, but the Phils announced that he will be in camp as a non-roster invitee, so it seems he has decided to stay.

Muzziotti, 25, got to make his major league debut in 2022 but was given just nine plate appearances. He spent all of 2023 in Triple-A, keeping his strikeout rate down to 15.5% but hitting just seven home runs. The resulting .296/.358/.404 slash line amounted to a wRC+ of 93. He stole 26 bases and can play all three outfield spots but no club was willing to take a chance on him. This is his first career outright so he’ll have to stick with the club in a non-roster capacity.

Quick Hits: Roster Sizes, Phillies, Yankees, Burnes

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Each offseason veteran players with experience at the upper levels of the minor leagues and in the majors routinely qualify for minor league free agency and test the open market in search of fresh minor league agreements with clubs willing to offer them an invite to major league Spring Training. Such arrangements have been increasingly difficult to come by this winter, however, and Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper recently explored a significant reason why.

As noted by Cooper, the new collective bargaining agreement between MLB and minor league players gave the league the right to limit the total number of domestic minor league players to just 165 ahead of the 2024 season, with a limit of 175 players during the offseason. Cooper notes that reduced figure slashes a total of 450 roster spots around the league or 15 per club. That limited roster flexibility gives clubs far less opportunity to offer minor league free agents deals that have long been considered “no-risk fliers,” as now clubs will often times be forced with potentially cutting a younger minor league player early in their professional career to make room for an interesting veteran journeyman.

While minor league deals are typically regarded as low-risk signings that are relatively unlikely to result in a given player making an impact at the big league level, one needn’t look very hard to find examples of players heading to camp on minor league deals only to provide considerable value to that club throughout the year. Dodgers outfielder Jason Heyward and Rangers outfielder Travis Jankowski are two examples of veteran hitters who came into camp on minor league deals last year, earned a spot on the Opening Day roster, and played well enough to earn a big-league deal with their respective clubs after returning to the open market this winter.

More from around Major League Baseball…

  • The Phillies have long been known to be on the hunt for another relief arm after losing veteran closer Craig Kimbrel in free agency this past winter, with the likes of Phil Maton and Jakob Junis reportedly on the club’s radar prior to the pair signing with the Rays and Brewers, respectively. That being said, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer indicated this afternoon that the club is unlikely to pursue further bullpen additions this winter after adding depth starter Spencer Turnbull on a big league deal earlier today. While Turnbull has options remaining, he has enough service time at this point in his career to a refuse a minor league assignment. That leaves Philadelphia with minimal flexibility in their bullpen which would only be further reduced by the addition of another veteran arm. According to Lauber, six arms are all but locked into the club’s relief mix already, leaving just two spots for a group that includes non-optionable hurlers Turnbull, Connor Brogdon, Dylan Covey as well as optionable pieces like Yunior Marte, Kolby Allard, and Michael Rucker.
  • USA Today’s Bob Nightengale this morning indicated that the Yankees discussed right-hander Corbin Burnes with the Brewers prior to the ace being traded to their division rival in Baltimore, though the club “rebuffed” Milwaukee in talks once the club requested outfield prospect Spencer Jones in return for Burnes’s services. The 22-year-old Jones was the club’s first-round pick in the 2022 draft and has generally impressed to this point in his minor league career, though he struggled with a .261/.333/.406 in a 17-game stint at the Double-A level last year. Previous reporting indicated that New York was unwilling to include Jones in a package for White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that the club also passed on parting with the youngster for a rental arm like Burnes.

Phillies Sign Spencer Turnbull

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The Phillies announced that they have signed right-hander Spencer Turnbull to a contract. It’s a one-year, $2MM deal, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). Turnbull, a client of the Boras Corporation, can also earn another $2MM in incentives.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Turnbull to earn $2.4MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility, yet the Tigers chose to non-tender the righty in November.  It is fair to assume that the clashes between Turnbull and the Tigers over service time contributed to the club’s decision moreso than his modest price tag, though Turnbull also has a checkered health history coming off what is almost three straight lost seasons.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has some familiarity with Turnbull, as Dombrowski was still running the Tigers front office when Detroit selected Turnbull in the second round of the 2014 draft.  The righty battled some shoulder problems during his trip up the minor league ladder, but made his MLB debut with 16 1/3 innings in 2018 and then tossed 148 1/3 frames during the 2019 season.  Despite a league-high 17 losses that year, Turnbull had decent enough peripherals that he looked like a potential building block for the rebuilding Tigers.

That potential was further realized when Turnbull posted a 3.46 ERA over 106 2/3 innings in 2020-21.  He pitched well for Detroit during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, and then his 2021 season was highlighted by a no-hitter on May 18 of that year.  Unfortunately, Turnbull made only three more appearances after his no-no before undergoing Tommy John surgery, which sidelined him for the rest of the 201 season and all of 2022.

Returning to action last year, Turnbull struggled to a 7.26 ERA over seven starts, and he didn’t pitch again the majors after May 6.  He was initially optioned to the minors the next day, though that option was overwritten a week after when Turnbull was placed on the 15-day IL due to neck discomfort.  The right-hander was eventually moved to the 60-day injured list and wasn’t activated until August, when Turnbull was then optioned to Triple-A.

Turnbull wasn’t pleased with the demotion because he was also dealing with foot injury at the time, and the situation was eventually resolved in November when Turnbull was awarded a full year of MLB service time.  He now has five years and 20 days of acknowledged big league service time, and would’ve fallen short of the five-year mark had his appeal for more time hadn’t been granted.  This would have delayed Turnbull’s eventual trip to free agency for another year, as he wouldn’t have had the necessary six full years of eligibility heading into the 2024-25 offseason, though that ended up being something of a moot point after the Tigers non-tendered him.

The 31-year-old will now look for a fresh start in Philadelphia under Dombrowski’s watch once again.  Dombrowski spoke last month about how the Phillies were looking to add depth to their pitching staff, though since the Phils already have a pretty set rotation and bullpen mix, the team was having some difficulty in luring pitchers who wanted more opportunities for innings.  This could explain why the Phillies opted for Turnbull, whose market was lessened given his recent injury woes.

Turnbull, Dylan Covey, Kolby Allard, Nick Nelson, and Max Castillo now project as Philadelphia’s top rotation depth options.  Any of this group could also pitch in the bullpen, and Turnbull has a leg up on the others due to the guaranteed nature of his contract.  Working as a reliever might also present a new career path for Turnbull to explore if starting pitching is no longer in the cards, though it still seems too early for that door to be closed.

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