The Phillies announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Jeff Hoffman. To open a spot on the active roster, fellow right-hander Yunior Marté was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. To create room on the 40-man roster, righty James McArthur was designated for assignment. The club also announced that righty Nick Nelson, who was on the injured list with a hamstring strain, was reinstated from the IL and optioned to Double-A Reading.
It was reported earlier today that Hoffman had an opt-out in his minor league deal, which he had triggered on Monday. The club then had 48 hours to add him to the big league roster or release. More than 48 hours have elapsed since then, but it seems the two sides worked something out to get Hoffman his roster spot today.
The 30-year-old Hoffman signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the offseason but he had opt-outs in that deal, the first of which was at the end of March. He didn’t make the club out of camp and was granted his release, signing another minor league contract, but this time with the Phillies. The latter deal came with a $1.3MM base salary and opt-outs on May 1 and July 1.
The righty reported to Lehigh Valley and made nine appearances. His ERA of 7.00 in that time certainly isn’t pretty, nor is his 17.9% walk rate. However, he struck out 41% of batters faced and also had an unfortunate strand rate of 37.7%, leading to a much more palatable FIP of 3.71. Matt Gelb of The Athletic had reported earlier that Hoffman has been touching 99 mph in that short stint.
In a sense, that mixed bag is a sort of microcosm of Hoffman’s career. He’s long tantalized clubs with his power arm, getting selected ninth overall by the Blue Jays back in 2014. He’s since bounced around to the Rockies and Reds, logging 348 1/3 innings with a 5.68 ERA while walking 11.1% of batters faced. Last year was a bit more encouraging as he pitched for the Reds exclusively as a reliever, apart from one outing as an opener. He finished the year with a 3.83 ERA in 44 2/3 innings, striking out 22.8% of batters faced but with a high walk rate of 11.7%.
The Phils will give him a shot to see if he can harness his stuff at the big league level this year. If he’s able to succeed and hang onto his roster spot, they would have the ability to retain him via arbitration for another season as well. Hoffman currently has four years and 105 days of service time, meaning he would be between five and six years if he stayed up the rest of the way. But if the Phils want to remove him from the roster at any point, Hoffman is out of options and would have to be designated for assignment.
In order to prevent Hoffman from returning to the open market, the Phils have removed McArthur from their roster. A 12th round pick of the Phils in 2018, he was added to the 40-man roster in November of 2021 to prevent him from being selected in that year’s Rule 5 draft. At that time, he had just finished a season in which he tossed 78 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A with a 4.25 ERA. Unfortunately, he’s hit a few speed bumps since then, making just 13 starts last year before suffering a stress reaction in his throwing elbow that prevented him from pitching after June. He reached Triple-A for the first time this year but has a 7.31 ERA through 16 innings.
The Phils will now have a week to trade McArthur or pass him through waivers. His rough showing this year notwithstanding, he’s a starter that can be optioned to the minors. Given that multiple clubs around the league are dealing with significant rotation injuries, it’s possible one of them could be interested in picking him up.
I shall return.
And we’ll reserve your rooms.
We’ll book ’em, Danno.
…to AAA Lehigh Valley after he’s outrighted
Go Iron Pigs!
Exchanged one piece of junk for another. Really establishing this is not the Phillies year.
Lol. It’s May. And these dudes are irrelevant to this year.
McArthur’s park is melting in the dark…
A Webb gem.
):0) Hey,I like it. Sue me.
):^o
All the sweet green icing flowing down?
Awesome. And just before the Phillies visit Coors Field next weekend too. It’ll be one of the first times I will be happy to see Hoffman pitch in Coors
no
Today is my birthday!
May the fourth be with you.
So Cotham sees something in Hoffman….?
That’s one of the only possible reasons why?
Either way after the smashing in LA, I retreat to my Yuengling…. and trust in Cotham….
Wouldn’t life be great if his first name was Jack
i hope mike hockesgone feels better real real soon
Adolph Oliver Busch says hi
The middle school comedy club shaking after that banger
You don’t know Jack.
James MacArthur
Bookem Danno
I thought he was dead though
His mother was Helen Hayes
Yes
longines64…………
And he married Melody Patterson, aka Wrangler Jane on F Troop who lied about her age when auditioning, She was 15 when she got the part,
Ah, the simpler days of yore when you could do stuff like that if you had the gumption. Now every single thought you ever had is forever saved on the net and nobody can get away with anything.
Wasn’t Hoffman the guy they flew in to pitch simulated games to Harper while he was rehabbing from TJ surgery?
one of them
That’s one way to get promoted.
This team is an unfocused mess right now