The Phillies have activated left-handers Jose Alvarado and Matt Moore from the injured list and selected the contract of center fielder Odubel Herrera, per a club announcement. The team optioned lefty Bailey Falter, righty Spencer Howard and outfielder Mickey Moniak in corresponding moves.
The Phillies went the past week without Alvarado and Moore, whom they placed on the COVID list along with infielder Ronald Torreyes on April 19. None of those players tested positive for the virus.
The most noteworthy move here is the return of Herrera, a 29-year-old who last appeared in the majors in 2019. Herrera was a standout with the Phillies earlier in his career, leading the team to sign him to a five-year, $30.5MM extension heading into the 2017 season. Two years later, though, Major League Baseball issued an 85-game suspension to Herrera for a violation of the MLB-MLBPA joint domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse policy. The Phillies outrighted Herrera in January 2020, and he was off their 40-man roster until today.
Philadelphia’s hope is that Herrera will provide a spark in center, which has been a problem position for the club this season. The Phillies have divided playing time among Moniak, Adam Haseley and Roman Quinn, though their production has been horrid. They’ve hit a combined .114/.213/.177, which pales in comparison to Herrera’s lifetime .276/.333/.423 mark through 2,492 plate appearances.
Are we supposed to “cancel” the Phillies because of Herrera returning? I don’t remember the rules for boycotts or cancel culture.
You didn’t receive the last memo? It should have been attached to your soy milk.
Whoops cancel that. I just received word from the station; they are no longer attaching memos to soy products. Lebron James is just tweeting them out.
Sadly, quite a few players are in the same situation. We’ve forgotten about quite a few, but there are more than I’d like to mention.
Let me go ask Keith Law. I think he has a complete list of things we’re no longer supposed to consume or support. It’s a long list; I just need it updated so I can keep my grade-A rating on the latest virtue signaling list.
Not sure what Keith Law has to do with it, but it does seem that Noge Relgneps could use some help.
Lol hahahahaha
Usually it’s the player that gets cancelled not the team – now people are going to get triggered why Herrera is getting an another opportunity but is a black eye compared to a 22-year old kid who was projected to be something when he was drafted years ago.
Bad job by the organization in showing so little patience with Moniak. This is a kid — still just 23 — just beginning to show some potential and then being swatted down and shoved aside. I’m sure Herrera will get a nice friendly reception when the Phils return home.. Not.
They probably want Moniak in AAA to get more ABs/experience since the season starts pretty soon.
Lack of patience? They gave him plenty of starts. He was terrible in the field and had 2 hits in over 30 at bats.
…30 ABs is not patience, my dude.
Steve, it was more than his at bats..his D in CF was just bad, really bad..
When you bat less than .100 in plenty at bats, something is wrong. You need to develop.
Yes cancel the Phillies for unnecessary slap in the face. I hope he pulls a groin muscle in first at bat.
Give him a chance., I love MONIAK just needs more fine tuning.
I hope u do the same thing on your way to work, that is if you do work and not live in your mother’s basement
well…
I figured they would try Maton in CF before they would call up Odubel and open that can of worms.
I don’t want Maton in CF. Let’s not ruin a talented young SS.
Sometimes, I just shake my head when reading some of these things…
Sorry. I thought he was a baseball player and not a 12 year old. If 100 games in the outfield ruins you, you don’t deserve to be a big leaguer.
Maton won’t get a chance at short until next spring at the earliest. You know the line, “You break it, you bought it?” Dombrowski is stuck with Sir Didi. Over 30 and clearly declining.
Didi will be fine for 2 years.
I remember that username from the phillies mlb site before they decided comments weren’t allowed.
I wrote to Todd Zolecki a bunch of times re: MLB dropping our ability to converse with each other via the site..Todd and I went back and forth..He claimed he didn’t know anything about it..It wasn’t like MLB didn’t have the funds. They didn’t run it.. We had Disqus (sp), Lyvefire (also sp) and another..It didn’t take any MLB employee away from normal duties..
It was lots of fun to be able to talk back and forth on “game day threads”!
I had lots of friends made with all other teams fans.
MLB Trade Rumors gives us that opportunity, but it is not the same.
*See Scott Kingery.
“See Scott Kingery”…A little vague..what does that mean?
Maton should be given the first chance to replace Cutch in LF. Watch the veteran game-after-game and it’s clear that his tank is empty. Maton has a nice live bat.
I’d stick with Cutch. His batted ball profiles say he should be hitting a lot better. Lot of bad luck for him to start the year. Plus his eye is still elite.
Playing people out of position isn’t a good solution. The Phillies defense is already bad enough.
You realize Odubel was a SS until they tried him in CF right? This happens all the time.
Young players can try other positions…. and it can be an early ticket to MLB success. Wasn’t Mike Schmidt once a shortstop? Mickey Mantle was. He moved. Bobby Murcer was, he moved.
This team needs live bats. Maton appears to have one. That’s not putting him in Cooperstown or the Wall of Fame. Just being open-minded to his becoming an in-house fix to a legitimate problem.
Howard getting dicked around some more……
yes because he totally nailed down a spot last year.
Howard got rocked last year and has been horrible in his few appearances this year. Sometimes you can ruin players by calling them up too early. He needs to develop.
He has a 0.79 FIP, if the team wasn’t awful defensively his ERA wouldn’t be where it is.
I mean I know it was Colorado,but that relief appearance wasn’t pretty. Phillies need him more in the future than right now.
They were probably going to demote him to AAA anyway, so I’m not too upset. As for the relief appearance, it wasn’t great, but that ball to McCutchen should not have been a triple.
It’s gonna be strange seeing Herrera in that lineup again. Who knows, maybe he’ll finally be that player everyone expected him to be by now. Not gonna hold my breath, but…….
The Sixers and Flyers thank the Phils for putting out this distraction right now-
philly sports talk will be all NFL draft and Odubel the next few days.
Philly sports talk is always NFL first. It’s also consistently negative. I’m a Phillies fan, and I prefer NY radio.
Being a S. Jersey native transplanted to the NY market, sadly, I have to agree with you.
Don’t forget the Eagles, they are now free to draft seven QB’s this week and no one will notice.
Let’s go chiclets
For tonight’s game, batting seventh and starting in Center Field, number 37, Odúbel Herrera. Welcome back, Goofy,
What’s the corresponding 40 man roster move with adding Herrera?
I think they’ve been holding Adam Haseley’s 40-man spot free.
I was wondering the same thing, was putting Haseley on the restricted list a 40 man move cause I didn’t think it was.
It was. Players on the restricted list are removed from the 40-man roster.
Nobody else in the world they could have chosen to fill the spot other than a woman beater. He was the only possible option.
They tried every other possible option and they’re hitting for an average of like .100.
Thom Brennaman said this on a Reds broadcast during second at bat of Odubal Herrera in April 2016.
“This Herrera is a guy who will frequently get a letter from the league about his pace of play in the batter’s box… 29 seconds for Hererra to get into that batter’s box. Stephenson was standing there waiting on him… This is a ridiculous situation. I mean really, it’s ridiculous… You don’t let the Odubel Herreras of the world determine how fast we’re playing games. He’s gone swinging. Thank God!”
Truly a man of faith.
As soon as I saw this article, I thought of his 3 minute long 4 pitch ABs.
I guess he replaces Cano for the “hurry the f— up and step in the box” player.
He is the new “Human Rain Delay” taking over for Mike Hargrove.
Sigh.
I don’t condone what he did but people certainly deserve second chances. How many chances did Dykstra get? And that dude is a f$&&ing sociopath. What bothers me more about this is all of the white knights on the message boards acting like they’ve never done anything wrong in their entire lives. I’d imagine things would be quite different if the script was flipped. Maybe not as extreme as Herrera’s scenario but people get behind a keyboard and suddenly they’re infallible.
It’s always interesting to see who is forgiven and who is blacklisted. It seems to be based on talent level which is unfortunate.
Remember what Charles Barkley said about this city back in the day? We can try brushing it under the rug all we want, but he wasn’t wrong…
Exactly, VPH. If it were Realmuto, everything would be forgotten and he would be welcomed back with open arms and a parade.
I was JUST having this discussion with the security guard in my building. There seems to be levels of justice based on athletic skill & ability.
I think it’s possible Odubel wore out his welcome in the clubhouse before the domestic abuse charge. At best, it appears only a few of his teammates are even lukewarm about his call up.
That’s interesting..Based on what? Have any teammates given interviews?
Dad,
Yes, and please don’t ask me to do your research. Google is your friend…
Slow your roll there slick, my response wasn’t to you, it was to the OP that talked about him deserving a 2nd chance. You need to lay off the whippets apparently.
Maybe you like to slap women around but I do not. I’m sure Herrera appreciates your support.
Sid,
I can forgive your claim if you’ve been smoking crack, but I’ve never once defended or supported Odubel Herrera.
Guy deserves a second chance. This is it. LFG!
Why does he deserve a second chance?
Love it, hope he does well , that Philly OF sure does too.
Can’t say Moniak wasn’t given every chance available..One, his play in center was just awful..add to that, he didn’t hit..CF has been a huge hole this year..I have always been a Roman fan, but I’m just done with it..He has not changed his approach at the plate and seems like he never will…
Next, Kingery was supposed to be working on his swing and came back (out of necessity) and his swing is exactly the same (strike out swing).
Where is last years offense?
And, that bull-pen…OMG, really? Three (3) 3 run home runs, and a grand slam…not even counting all the other homers the rest have given up..
I wrote when Vince was going to get a start, that what we could expect along with Hector Scare-us..I wasn’t disappointed….
I’m starting to have that same gut feeling I had last year…when it counts, they can’t get anyone out..
For those wondering… why? Guaranteed contracts. If MLB actually wanted to take a stand and dole out punishment they’d make it a voidable offense, and have a longer ban period to prevent the ‘take a flyer’ on him that would undoubtedly happen the following year.
The only reason he is still around is bc his contract counts against the lux calc.
I’m not sure that you are correct on that (you could be, I’m no expert, just going off memory) because isn’t that why Rusney Castillo (or whatever his name was) from Cuba was never added back to the Red Sox 40 man, because his huge contract would have been a luxury tax problem?
Winning is the most important thing to them it’s a business and people complaining about this move will still go to the parade and celebrate if they won the World Series.
As an organization, you are now permissive to what this guy did by putting him out there in front of the fans in this city. I can’t speak for all fans in this town but to me, it’s weak. If this guy wants a “second chance”, let him get it elsewhere
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