The Phillies have sent Michael Plassmeyer and Erich Uelmen outright to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, the team announced. Presumably, both pitchers will soon elect minor league free agency.
Plassmeyer bounced from the Mariners to the Rays to the Giants before landing in Philadelphia in June 2022. The southpaw got off to a strong start in the organization, pitching to a 2.83 ERA in his first 11 starts at Triple-A. That was enough to earn him his first call to the show, where he threw 1 1/3 scoreless in his big league debut. However, Plassmeyer ultimately only made just appearances for the Phillies over the past two seasons, largely serving as rotation and bullpen depth at Triple-A. The 2024 season will be his age-27 campaign.
Uelmen, for his part, made just one appearance for the Phillies in 2023 after coming over from the Cubs in an offseason trade. While he made 25 appearances for the big league club in Chicago last year, he posted a 4.67 ERA and -0.2 FanGraphs WAR in 27 innings of long relief. In other words, he didn’t make a particularly strong first impression in his rookie campaign. Not too surprisingly, he spent almost all of the 2023 season at Triple-A. He turns 28 next May.
Plassmeyer should get scooped up by a second division team pretty quick.
If he was outrighted, it means every team passed on him.
Not wanting him on the 40 man isn’t the same. They’ll sign minor league deals somewhere and try to make a team in the spring.
Minor league deals, elsewhere…you don’t say.