The Phillies announced their signing of infielder Josh Harrison, making that deal official. To create room for him on the 40-man roster, right-hander Sam Coonrod has been designated for assignment.
Coonrod, 30, was a starting pitcher as a prospect in the Giants’ system when he lost most of his 2018 season to Tommy John surgery. Since then, he’s been working primarily as a reliever, with a blistering fastball but mixed results overall. With the Giants in 2019 and 2020, he made 51 appearances with a 5.74 ERA, 18.9% strikeout rate, 11.9% walk rate and 47.5% ground ball rate.
He was traded to the Phillies prior to the 2021 season and seemed to take a step forward that year. He tossed 42 1/3 innings for the Phils with a 4.04 ERA, striking out 25.9% of batters faced while walking just 8.1% and getting grounders at a 57.1% clip. He surely would have liked to build on that performance in 2022 but he was shut down in the spring due to a shoulder strain and wasn’t able to return to the club until mid-August. He made 12 appearances down the stretch but was torched for a 7.82 ERA in that small sample.
The Phillies will now have a week to trade Coonrod or pass him through waivers. Despite some inconsistency, it’s possible he would find interest from other clubs. His fastball has averaged 97-99 mph in the past few seasons, which he has occasionally used to good effect. He also still has one option year remaining, allowing a club to keep him in the minors as depth so long as they are willing to give him a 40-man roster spot.
Coonrod surpassed three years of service time last year and qualified for arbitration for the first time. He and the Phillies agreed to a salary of $775K for the upcoming season, just above the $720K league minimum. If he were to clear waivers, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency but might opt against it. Players with over three years of service time have that right but only players beyond the five-year mark can both reject an outright and retain their salary. If Coonrod were really motivated to try free agency, he’d have to be willing to leave that $775K on the table in order to do so.
Coonrod is terrible, get him out of the league pronto
Coonrod was actually pretty good for the team in 2021.
Good luck to this poor dude growing up with this surname. I knew a gal in high school whose name was Woodcock. Don’t kid yourselves, these surnames can be devasting to young folks growing up.
Before I was adopted, my last name was Austin, acceptable and almost cool. My adopted last name caused me misery and denigration all throughout high school. There should be a law where a fledging adult can shave years off embarrassment, by changing their last name.
And we wonder where bullying comes from…
Former Marlins coach Rusty Kuntz agrees with you.
Just because he did not fit into your woke city does not make him terrible. Do you think you could hit his 98 mph fastball.
WOKE? Thank you Donald.
Potential was there but he’s hurt too often and we now have so many options out of the bullpen now
Someone may take a flier on him. 2022 wasn’t his year but shown flashes prior
Surprised at this one, as Coonrod showed signs of brilliance in 21.
Yeah I’m a little surprised by this one, too. But I supposed with the dearth of options we have now he was expendable?
Dearth?
His average velocity was down a bit in 22, plus strikeouts and ground balls went down while walks and fly balls were up. It’s a small sample, but those are not the best trends. Even considering that he wasn’t as bad as the 7.82 ERA from 22 makes him out to be.
I think someone is going to pick him up and he’s going to be a serviceable RP, but I’m wondering if the Phillies are thinking he’s lost a tick or two on his fastball and he’s going to be more like the 22 version of himself moving forward rather than the 21.
Yes, but he was also coming off an injury, so I assumed given more time he’d be solid again.
I’m shocked how guys like McArthur, Vasquez, Ortiz, and Cave have outlasted many better players this off-season.
This represents just how far this bullpen has come. At the beginning of last season, I would have given anything to have a healthy Coonrod over the likes of Familia, Norwood, or Damon Jones, not on the 40-man, but on the freaking 26-man roster. Think about what they were trotting out there. Now, to have him not be on the 40-man, it feels like the bullpen is finally not the achilles heel it used to be.
darylict;
A bullpen can’t be fixed in a year. Nor can most components of an MLB team.
Dave Dombrowski has done a lot of great things in MLB. The Phillies are going to be his crowning achievement. He didn’t just bring in players. He had the coaches (at all levels) and the manager work with who was on the roster. If a player couldn’t be effective after multiple tries DD brought in others. His staff was – and is – always looking for candidates in organized baseball that can be brought in and improved if the Phillies have an injury or a player regresses. What he has done with that organization should be studied by anyone wanting to run a MLB FO some day. Just mind-boggling.
The bullpen wasn’t fixed in a year – it’s been fixed in two Look at the 2021 and 2022 Phillies bullpens. Last year’s iteration was a big upgrade over 2021. 2023 should likewise be an upgrade over 2022.
I’m convinced that the Bryce Harper NLCS pretty much clinched Dombrowski’s HOF bid. He already had an impressive record, but the Phils coming out of nowhere to make the World Series in DD’s second season adds a pretty nice exclamation point.
Carson “too tall” Ragsdale never made it to the show.
Don’t know if this applies to him or not, but in this day & age where max velo is all the rage, command suffers or the ball straightens out and usually the pitcher gets hurt. Guys who throw hard free and easy are fine. Whatever happened to guys reaching back for something extra? Now, they throw all out, max effort on every fastball, and it takes a toll.
Somewhat shocking, and I know that they liked him. The only thing that comes to mind is the health of the arm might not be all the way back and they will bank on lesser upside on someone else with better risk factors. Not that Coonrod was elite, but one could see that he could get outs in the majors when healthy.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m alittle surprised of this move.For some reason I thought he pitched really well in the postseason. Hopefully he will pass through waivers and stay in our system. As the Phillies have shown since the 2019 season, YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TO MUCH BULLPEN DEPTH.
Coonrod didn’t pitch in the post-season , maybe you were thinking Brogdon who did pitch well in the post-season.
I loved the last part about his salary. I had no idea that was even a thing. Please keep including these interesting tidbits about contracts and service time!
Sounds like he will be a Scott Harris special soon. Onto the Tigers 40 man and then try to slip him through waivers. Especially with him being an ex-Giant.
Coonrod designated…German designated hours later by the Red Sox. DD connection to Boston. Could it end up being as simple as a swap of designated arms that still have some upside for the change of scenery play?
Have not seen German throw in a while, but the upside was very solid…could see him being a 40 man fit while they move someone else and try to sneak them through instead.
He will be picked up. Good arm and showed signs of success at the big league level
I agree…he throws gas when healthy