Phillies Select Casey Fien’s Contract

The Phillies have announced the addition of reliever Casey Fien to their 25- and 40-man rosters. Fien will take the place of fellow reliever Joely Rodriguez, whose designation for assignment is now official.

Philadelphia acquired the 33-year-old Fien in a cash trade with Seattle last month, which came after the Mariners outrighted him. The right-hander signed a $1MM deal with the Mariners over the winter and then posted disastrous results in six innings with the club, allowing 10 earned runs on nine hits and four walks, with six strikeouts. Fien also struggled in the majors last year across 39 1/3 innings with the Twins and Dodgers, combining for a 5.49 ERA despite logging 8.0 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9.

Unlike 2012-15, when he pitched to a 3.54 ERA over 223 2/3 innings with the Twins, home runs have been problematic lately for Fien. He gave up homers on 24.5 percent of fly balls last year and has yielded them at a 50 percent rate during his small sample of big league work this season. That could be an issue in the Phillies’ hitter-friendly confines, but there’s little harm in giving Fien an opportunity to reestablish himself in the majors. The 21-36 Phillies are already out of the playoff race, after all, and their bullpen has produced the majors’ seventh-worst ERA (4.74). Fien, for his part, fared well with their Triple-A affiliate before his promotion, throwing nine homer-less innings of two-run ball and adding 11 strikeouts against two walks.