Righty Phillippe Aumont has declined the Phillies‘ outright assignment and instead elected free agency, Jake Kaplan of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports on Twitter. Aumont was designated for assignment over the weekend.

Aumont had previously been outrighted, meaning that he had the option to hit the market this time around. The 26-year-old righty had never managed to show sustained results as a big league reliever, struggling in particular to limit free passes. Aumont lost his 40-man spot early last year, but remained in the organization after clearing waivers.

He was doing a nice job of preventing runs at Triple-A this season after moving back to a starting role, posting a 2.35 ERA in 65 innings despite continued control problems. Philadelphia brought Aumont up for a big league start to bolster its threadbare rotation, but the results weren’t pretty. He walked seven batters in just four frames and served up two home run balls en route to allowing six earned.

With Aumont formally leaving the Philly organization, we can officially close the books on the 2009 deal that sent Cliff Lee to the Mariners. The Phillies never received any significant contributions from the young players it acquired, though of course the club ultimately re-signed Lee not long after.

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