The Phillies announced that outfielder David Dahl has cleared waivers and elected free agency. He was designated for assignment earlier this week. Players with a previous career outright or three years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, with Dahl qualifying on both counts.
Dahl, 30, was able to manufacture a feel-good comeback story a few weeks ago but it eventually ran out of steam. The veteran was mostly hurt for the 2020-23 period but looked great after signing a minor league deal with the Phils in the winter. He got into 43 Triple-A games and ripped 12 home runs in that time while also drawing walks at an 11.4% clip. He slashed .340/.416/.660 during his 166 plate appearances as an IronPig.
That got him called up to the majors as the Phillies put Brandon Marsh on the injured list. It seemed for a moment that Dahl was going to be able to keep the good times rolling, hitting two homers in his first three games with the Phils. But he hit a wall after that with a .154/.196/.231 line in his next 56 plate appearances, getting bumped off the roster when Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper returned from IL stints.
Dahl will now look for his next opportunity elsewhere, though the fact that all clubs passed on the opportunity to grab him off waivers suggests he’ll likely have to settle for another minor league deal. Some teams may be intrigued by his blistering start in Triple-A this year, as well as his past record. He hit .297/.346/.521 in 240 games with the Rockies from 2016 to 2019 but, as mentioned, has been hamstrung by injuries since then.
He has suffered a lacerated spleen that led to the organ needing to be removed entirely, as well as a stress fracture in his ribcage, a broken foot, a high ankle sprain, a shoulder strain, multiple back injuries and a quad strain. He has hit .200/.237/.318 in his 390 major league plate appearances since the end of 2019, split between the Rangers, Padres and Phillies.
Dahl passed five years of service this year but won’t be able to get to the six-year mark. If he winds up hitting somewhere and gets back on a roster, he could be retained via arbitration for 2025. With the trade deadline now less than three weeks away, perhaps some upcoming roster shuffling will open a nice opportunity for him somewhere.
I was really pulling for him to make it through the ’23 season as the 4th OF when he was on the Pads. It’s a shame he couldn’t stay healthy, but give him kudos for fighting his way back this year, even if the vibes didn’t quite last.
SOURCE: Dahl to sign with O’s after Josie meet and greet
Pirates
His career batting average is higher than other Pirate OFers except for Reynolds so he can hit.
That’s twice now this writer has incorrectly listed the spleen injury as having occurred since his productive years. Unlike the other injuries listed, the scary spleen injury was in the minors before Dahl even made it to the majors.
He was also named to the National League All-Star roster in 2019, and got a hit!
My first thought is “hang it up already!” But then he still has a chance to make money playing baseball and I have to work a “real job.”
Hope he finds another paycheck in baseball!
Pensions can be key too….every year of service time they can squeak out can be really add up over the years, which is really important for AAAA players like this that never really earned huge amounts of money and whose post Baseball Career prospects will be rocky. Every 43 days of service time gets them another small bump maxed once they hit 10 years. He will never hit 10 years….but every 43 days will be a nice extra chunk of change for the rest of his life.
I’d like to see the Braves sign him and start him in Gwinnett, but he might have a better chance at the majors with a team like Oakland.
After his 3 games with some success, they figured him out. He can’t adjust. Confidence is shot, he’s gone….