The Phillies announced a series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game. Deadline pickups Noah Syndergaard and Brandon Marsh have been activated. Pitcher Kyle Gibson has been reinstated from the bereavement list with infielder Jean Segura being activated from the 60-day injured list. Three spots on the active roster were created after last night’s game, with right-hander Mark Appel, left-hander Bailey Falter and outfielder Simon Muzziotti all getting optioned. To create space on both the active and 40-man rosters for Segura, they have released infielder Didi Gregorius.
Gregorius, 32, is perhaps best known for the five-year stretch with the Yankees he had from 2015 to 2019. In that time, he played 660 games, hitting 97 home runs, stealing 27 bases and slashing .269/.313/.446 for a 101 wRC+.
After reaching free agency, he signed a one-year, $14MM deal with the Phillies for 2020, going on to hit 10 homers in the shortened season and producing an overall line of .284/.339/.488, 116 wRC+. After that successful campaign in Philly, the two sides re-upped on a two-year, $28MM deal that unfortunately preceded an incredible downfall in the shortstop’s production.
Last season, Gregorius hit a miserable .209/.270/.370, 68 wRC+, meaning his production was 32% worse than the league average hitter. After that dismal campaign, his grasp on the shortstop position for 2022 seemed tenuous at best. Philadelphia’s president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski publicly admitted as much in October.
Although there was a superstar class of shortstops available in free agency this winter (Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Javier Baez, Trevor Story, Marcus Semien), the Phils focussed on upgrading their outfield, adding Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos. Despite apparently losing faith in Gregorius, they felt they had a potential in-house solution at shortstop with prospect Bryson Stott.
Stott cracked the Opening Day Roster and seemed to be in a bit of a competition for infield playing time next to second baseman Jean Segura. With both Gregorious and third baseman Alec Bohm having down years in 2021, Stott was given time at various infield positions to start the year. However, he struggled out of the gate, getting optioned back to the minors April 25. At that time, he was hitting just .133/.161/.167. Those struggles seemed to give Gregorious and Bohm more time to get back on track.
In May, Stott was recalled, which was followed a few weeks later by Segura fracturing his finger, opening up the infield for all three of Stott, Gregorius and Bohm. In that time, Stott and Bohm have improved after sluggish starts while Didi simply has not. Since June 1, Stott has hit seven homers and is slashing .227/.296/.384. That’s still below average production (90 wRC+), but it comes despite a .222 batting average on balls in play. Bohm, meanwhile, scuffled through June but had a monster July, hitting .405/.427/.583 since that month began. Gregorius had an okay start to the year, hitting .288/.338/.356 through May for a wRC+ of 96, but has slashed .181/.234/.284 since, wRC+ of just 42 since the start of June and 57 on the season overall. With Segura’s return and Bohm and Stott looking like better options, the Phils decided to was time to move on from Gregorius as they gear up for a pennant race over the final two months of the season.
Gregorius is making $15.25MM this year as part of that two-year deal he signed, leaving around $5MM left to be paid out. Any team that signs him at that point would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum with the Phillies on the hook for the remainder.
wow
Sucks to suck
On the contrary. Contracts are guaranteed. Still pays to be bad and/or unmotivated when many millions are secured.
cws,
“unmotivated?” If you’re going to cast aspersions on someone’s character, you really ought to bring some evidence to support your claim.
I didn’t. See use of “and/or”. Have no opinion of Didi. In this case, probably bad. It was a direct reply to “sucks to suck” comment above. When any player is making a ton of guaranteed money or person in any profession regardless of performance, that isn’t close to a bad situation for the individual.
A team that could be interested in Gregorious could be the Yankees. They wanted to acquire Sosa from the Cardinals before he was traded to the Phillies.
Yankees are not interested. That’s just fans’ rose-tinted glasses. Didi has underperformed on both sides of the field. I don’t see him going to any contender, but his experience could help a younger club.
A change of scenery could help him. I believe the Yankees will not pass the opportunity to add him to the club. Gregorius was playing quiet well defensively in the past days.I guess he will play for a contending team very soon, but let’s see maybe you are right.
Smart move he’s done
Figured
Headline should be “Phillies release Sir Didi Gregorius”
big oof
It was time.
Time for the Edmundo Sosa show. The Phillies pitchers would appreciate having him out there.
Don’t forget Bryson Stott.
Umpires do not!
Sosa will still be a backup/defensive option. Phillies have Stott and Segura and Stott’s bat has really come alive.
rip
Tigers should pick him up. His performance would be a good fit for their offense! 😉
Zaidi here’s your chance for another DFA
Didi will certainly hit better than the Machado he traded for.
Wow. It was necessary, but still a shocking move.
Sir Didi Gregorius. You will be missed. One of the best personalities. Fantastic on Twitter. He put up some nice defense this last few weeks, but outside of that, he hasn’t performed.
Not surprising. Was overdue.
Phillies can be a surprise team if they make the playoffs this year. Playing Didi would have hurt them.
D.D. knows that. He was waiting to activate Segura. The subtraction of Di Di, Odebel, and especially Familia, cuts loose the “dead wood”.
His range is pretty limited, but he did make most of the plays at ss this year. Di Di was awful at the plate, especially in clutch situations. No other decision was possible. Releasing Familia was cause for celebration on Tuesday!! Now we have Segura back also.
Just retire already. Your peak days were with the Yankees. Solid career though
Am tired of the arrogant, snide comments if one is not a Yankee.
Retired you.
English please. Nothing he said in his comment is inaccurate, since leaving NY he has not performed well. Plain and simple.
He was one of the Phillies best hitters in the covid-shortened season
Sounds like a perfect pick up for the Angels.
The Angels have two shortstops, one that is one of the worst hitters in baseball and the other who is one of the worst fielders in baseball.
Why would anyone want to bring in a player that combines those two attributes into one player? Oh wait, it’s the Angels. Never mind. I’m sure Perry will sign him shortly. After all, he just brought in Moniak from the Phillies.
Yep. Didi is on par with the rest of the team.
This team is really hard to watch. Without Trout and Rendon, there isn’t one league average player in their current starting eight.
Didi was actually playing pretty good defense this year.
The 32 year old catcher JT Realmuto will probably be Anaheim’s big target this off-season. Or maybe the 31 year old, extremely injury prone, 6’7 300 lb Aaron Judge (rarely in MLB history has there been a free agent with a higher number of glaring red flags than him).
Judge has the most red flags ever???? He’s about to win the MVP
31 years old, 6’7 300 lbs, major history of being injury prone. Any 1 of those 3 facts makes it stupid to sign him. The combination of the 3 makes it insane.
Some WAR fanatics will see AJ WAR only. Just look those fans of Carlos Correa over Lindor. Just look now their GP, r, hr, rbi, tc, dp, errors, etc. WAR only shows how much money owners assigned to replacements. The bonus per position is a joke. Anyway, we will see another owner opening his wallet based on WAR only and being blind to other statistics, advanced or not. Sorry WAR only fans and those making money with it without full disclosure here.
Judge is 280 & 30. If you have to exaggerate (to put it kindly) to make your point, don’t post anything.
His point, I think is that a longer term contract for a body like his is risky. Injuries increase with age, not decrease.
He’ll be 31 next season and 280 is generous. I see a listing where he’s 287 lbs.
He’s 31 the 1st season of his next contract and the 1st month of his next contract. 31. His next contract will be a disaster- Zero chance he ages gracefully (and he was already a physical wreck in his 20s).
Guys with judges body type tend to age quickly. I know that judge is better then both but dunn and sexton are two recent examples. Both done in early 30s
schellis – Is that a medical fact or did you just pull that out of somewhere to defend your point?
Gotta love the commenters with psychic abilities to see into the future
You are making an idiot out of yourself. Just stop posting
Realmuto is 31 and is under contract for several more years.
‘This’ is where we’re at. I remember reading a preseason article (I pulled it up right now) and it talks about the battle for shortstop. Luis Rengifo, Velazquez, Tyler Wade, and Jack Mayfield. ALL of those guys are AAA or at best MLB bench players.
This is a team with two of the best athletes on the planet.
Kobe and Shaq didn’t win shiit without key players and Phil Jackson. Yes different sport but 2 superstars with a circus around them.
We get a Phil. Phil Nevin.
The circus continues. Last night Shohei pitched another good game for a wonderful 3-1 loss to the AAA Athletics.
Sigh.
Red Sox can throw him at 2B until Story comes back. More upside than Sanchez.
Sorry we have enough in the lineup already that do not hit in Boston
Sadly, while Sanchez can’t seem to hit at all his glove is one of the best at 2B in the league
That escalated quickly.
I didn’t see Appell pitch. I’m curious how he looked.
He’s solid.
Not bad is how I would describe him.
He’s been solid so far but hasn’t thrown in any high-leverage situations. yet. He’s probably more of a backend bullpen arm but certainly worthy of a spot on an MLB roster. in my opinion.
Better than Familia
Don’t live in Philly anymore, so I didn’t see him pitch, but went to youtube.
Looks like his fastball is pretty straight…so if his location is off, may be an issue. Otherwise he totally profiles as an MLB reliever. I expect him to be on the squad all season in 2023….
Great teammate and clubhouse presence. You root for a guy like him, but his time to move on had come in Philadelphia. Wish him the best.
Appel was only optioned – he’s still on the 40-man. I don’t think it’s his time to move on. It’s his first year as a reliever and I’d say it’s been pretty successful considering his past. He’ll certainly be up in September and perhaps sooner if there are injuries.
I should’ve been more a little specific in my description. I was discussing Sir Didi Gregorius, and not Mark Appel.
A great teammate, means nothing, when his fastball is too slow, and he can’t throw strikes. Familia should have been released 6 weeks ago.
Who would have thought Mark Appel would be a better #1 pick than Mickey Moniak.
I wouldn’t say that yet.
I hope Moniak feels less pressure in Anaheim. Maybe he can start hitting and turn his career around.
As a pro-rated league minimum flyer for the rest of the season i could see someone giving Didi a chance but the outlook beyond this season does not look promising
Reds will pick him up and he will out perform drury for rest of season
ummmmmm….
giants need to be all over this
Totally agree with that. It’s not like Crawford has been a world beater this year, but his replacements have given them next to nothing. Gregorious would be an upgrade.
Estrada was fine at SS. I think SS is the position he’s most comfortable. Hard pass on didi. Giants need to get younger and more athletic. Ruf for Davis was a step in a better direction.
Well, that was a bad contract.
I was surprised the Phillies were starting him this week. Maybe they were giving him one last chance to show something, anything. Along with Familia and Herrera this is addition by subtraction.
He had a good week and saved some runs defensively. Arguably the best defensive week he had as a Philly. He simply started because Segura was still hurt and their new acquisitions weren’t here yet.
I think the Phils were doing Didi a solid. By trying to let him get to 1000 hits …
Dang, didn’t think that would happen. We’ll miss you Didi!
Yo Dee Dee! Maybe he can help fortify the giants awful defense
You gonna option a guy with a 1.74 era wow.
He threw maybe 16 pitches tops. Haha.
Adding Thor, Marsh, Robertson and Sosa while subtracting Hererra, Familia and Gregorious.
Plus Jean is coming back.
Hell of a couple of days for the Phils. I’m sure Bryce is chomping at the bit to get back. More than he was before.
All the bad rapping of Dave Dombrowski was ridiculous. He’s put together quality teams wherever he’s gone. They competed and some won championships.
In less than 2 years he’s turned the Phillies from a rudderless ship into a professional operation top to bottom.
He had a lot of adjustments to make during this season. It’s not the Padres that NL teams need to be afraid of in the playoffs – that’s coming from the national baseball media that runs on reputations, flash, and narratives (which they manufacture). Be carful of the Phillies if they get in the playoffs. Yes, they’re flawed some. But they now have a killer bullpen, upper echelon starters, and hitting when Harper and Segura get back. The D need to tighten up a bit – DD did that. They have a sensational manager that is attempting to get his team to peak through September and into October. The players need to get and stay healthy.
Masterful job by Mr. Dombrowski.
I think you are a little too optimistic! Good luck with your prediction. Are you the uncle of DD or the president of his fan club!
I think you need to look at the Phillies roster in opening day, and the way the individual players were performing.
The awful bullpen is now at least in the top 1/3’rd of MLB. The starting pitching has been solid. The defense is slowly improving as the coaches have progressed with all the players daily (Tonight Castellanos threw out a runner from RF trying to score from 3rd on a fly ball with one out to win the game). They have a solid defensive CF. They have 3 guys that can play SS better than Didi could on opening day. They have grown a RH hitting utility player in Matt Vierling that can play any of the OF positions as well as 2B and 3B. They brought up a LH DH in Darick Hall that no one saw as a prospect to make the majors, let alone have an OPS over .800.
MLB is a playoff league. It’s not a matter of “getting hot”. It’s a matter of filling your rosters weakneses through the season, and having a strong coaching staff that makes the players better through the season. Dave Dombrowski oversaw and orchestrated all this, so you can stick your juvenile childish comment where the sun don’t shine.
Good Lord, this drooling and worshipping Dombrowski is downright scary. Robertson should help, but a top pitching prospect for a 37 year old rental? Having to trade O’Hoppe because Dombrowski signed Realmuto to a bad 5 year contract that is going to haunt the Phillies? 3 years with an option for a 4th would have been so much more sensible. He signed Gregorious for 2 years, then had absolutely no clue what to do with him this year. Gibson was his only good acquisition. His other great additions? Familia, Alvarado, Coonrod, Kintzler, Kennedy, Knebel, Nelson, Norwood, Sheriff, Mercado…..
Gotta love fans and commenters who can predict the future
This is a good week for the Phillies.
Didi is at 999 hits. I hope someone gives him a chance to get at least one more hit.
They will. He has more in the tank them many of the Ham and Eggers minus players in the league.
Former Yankee. PS Cashman got BEAT as usual this trade season. He should have been fired years ago= 1 world series title in 22 years and none in 13 years- despite staggering payrolls (very often the biggest payroll in MLB) year after year after year.
This is not about the Yankees.
How many GMs have seen their team in mors playoff appearances? I hate the Yanks, but Cashman is a complete success
So he got beat by addressing areas of need?
A rebuilding team will take a chance on a very solid clubhouse guy.
Back in pinstripes
one hot from 1000
Nice guy. Wish him luck. It was clearly time.
Yes indidi?
Gotta give Dombrowski credit, he doesn’t hold onto sunk costs like previous Phillies GM’s have. Odubel, Familia, and Didi have all been terrible this year and had to go. With Segura now back and Harper probably not far behind I’m thinking they have a great shot at making the playoffs after all the deadline moves.
He should just retire he’s got his 10yrs of service time in set for life
According to Baseball Reference he isn’t quite at 10 years service time yet.
Predicate. The Sosa trade was to upgrade for Stott defensively when Segura returned to play 2B. In that scenario there was no place for Gregorious. Segura is ahead of him on the depth chart, Stott has since surpassed him, and Sosa will be the primary defensive option. That aside, Gregorious has the most unprofessional approach to hitting of anyone on the Phillies roster. He’s a hack. If it were little league, I would insist he not swing at all.
Kelly Leak he is not……
Fortunately Di Di is no longer on the Phillies roster!!
Thank goodness. Keep Thomson from putting him out there to torture fans.
Jays better sign him
The Ray’s should grab him until Franco is back. Taylor Walls makes him look like a Hall of Famer.
Didi will most likely be picked up by someone for the league minimum. I haven’t seen any takers on Herrera or Familia yet, but it does take a few days to go through the process.
Didi and Herrera have value. Familia seems done although he was apparently a mentor to a lot of young arms.
didi didn’t like philadelphia, so he unplayed his way out
You’re probably the same guy who brings up the Santa Claus thing on football sites….
never visit anything but the baseball site
Remember, Santa gets booed in The city of Brotherly LOVE!
cpdpoet,
Here’s your guy -> @UWPSUPERFAN77. Hanging onto a story from 1967 (55 years ago) like grim death.
Didi may be an upgrade over IKF
No takers, not even from the clickbait-hungry NYC tabloids.
How would a player with a negative WAR be an upgrade over a player with a positive WAR?
That’s SIR Didi Gregorius to you, MLB Trade Rumors.
l can smell Yankees will snag him in the next 24 hours.
Sir Didi should talk to Carpenter and get connected with the guys who helped restore his swing. At 32, he’s not old in baseball years, but he probably needs to move to another position too.
Dumpster diving…
Father Time is putting Didi Gregorius and Robinson Cano on his Old Timers Day roster even though they are still on Active MLB payrolls.
The turds all finally flushed
So the Yanks are not going to “trade Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar” for Sir Didi?
Frazier is in the Cubs system. He was signed in the off-season.
Any update on if Didi is expected to sign with a new team this season?