The Phillies announced that first baseman Darick Hall has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. To open a spot for him on the 40-man roster, outfielder Dalton Guthrie was designated for assignment.
Hall seemed like he was destined to take over the first base job in Philadelphia when Rhys Hoskins suffered a torn ACL during Spring Training. However, Hall suffered his own injury early in the season when he tore a ligament in his thumb and required surgery. He’s been rehabbing for the past few weeks but the club has decided to give him some more time in the minors to get into a groove after an extended absence. They’ve been using a platoon of Alec Bohm and Kody Clemens to cover first base and will presumably continue with that arrangement for the time being.
Rehab assignments come with a maximum length of 20 days for position players, so Hall needed to be reinstated from the IL, which has bumped Guthrie out of his roster spot. He was first added to the club’s roster late last year and hit .333/.500/.476 for a scorching hot debut, but in a small sample of 28 plate appearances. This year, he hit a much more tepid .167/.286/.208 in another 28 plate appearances.
He doesn’t have a ton of major league experience but he’s always performed well in Triple-A, hitting .296/.359/.467 over 609 plate appearances at that level. An infielder earlier in his minor league career, he’s moved to being primarily an outfielder as time has gone on.
The Phillies will now have a week to trade Guthrie or pass him through waivers. He has very little service time and a full slate of options, which could make him an appealing long-term depth option for a club that’s intrigued by his Triple-A offensive output.
This is weird, but I actually prefer Clemens to Hall. Clemens has impressed. Hall has more power, but I think contact is what the Phillies need.
How would you feel about Goldschmidt instead of Clemens?
Obviously an upgrade, but I’d rather see the Phillies spend their trade assets on pitching.
Phillies are coming Von, same as last year.
Dombrowski has built an organization. Lots of people pitching in to find players and make them better.
ML team looking good the past 2 weeks on the road.
The road aspect is what’s been most impressive to me. Good stuff, but unfortunately the Braves and Marlins are not losing either.
Plus he’s a decent RP filler
Guess it’s back to the bar in KC to beat up Brad Wesley’s henchmen.
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For the Phillies sake, I hope he just gets outrighed to Lehigh Valley. Provided lots of defensive versatility but this year he did have little in the way of offense
Why is Josh Harrison still on this team? DFA him instead
Not Ellus? Baffling.
Disappointed Hall wasn’t activated to roster. I think Clemens showed over the weekend his bat is cooling. They scored only 3 runs in two straight games vs the worst pitching staff in baseball. I am fine with Clemens being on roster but he shouldn’t be soaking up regular at bats. He is a utility player…
Most of the Phillies haven’t hit much for the last several games. Also, the A’s starters have a 3.15 ERA over the last dozen games or so, a stretch that included a 7 game winning streak.
Clemens didn’t play in 1 of those two games.
I too have seen the Paul Goldschmidt rumors..Me personally, I do not want to give up the few pitching prospects we have.. I say no. I would also say after watching Harrison in right field yesterday, it was ugly. Not everybody can play all positions. While Pache (sp) is not a great hitter, he is fun to watch in the field.
There will be less expensive offensive options to pickup than Goldschmidt and I expect Hall will eventually get a look. Clemens, Soto and Harrison are backups and shouldn’t be soaking up at bats for contenders.
Need another starter. Flat out Turner is the key to the offense to no pun turning it around.
Starting pitching was great against Braves and they were swept in the series. They need to shake up the lineup and stop playing Clemens. He was a nice story for a short stretch but he now looks lost. The Phillies need to show some desperation and urgency. They are sitting on outside right now of the playoffs. The Giants, Dodgers and Marlins have those spots right now and I expect SD to make a run.