The Phillies announced Monday that first baseman Bryce Harper has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. To make room on the active roster, Philadelphia designated utilityman Buddy Kennedy for assignment.
Harper missed just under four weeks due to inflammation in his wrist. He’ll be back in the heart of the Phillies’ order starting Monday, looking to improve on a .258/.368/.446 slash. That’s quality output at the plate — 26% better than average, per wRC+ — but constitutes a “down” season relative to Harper’s lofty standards.
To his credit, Harper touted a more robust .276/.382/.470 line in late May but hit only .143/.273/.286 in eight games before landing on the injured list, so it seems his wrist had been bothering him for awhile before he finally sat down to let it heal up. Manager Rob Thomson said at the time of Harper’s IL placement that the wrist had been bothering the former NL MVP for “awhile” without specifying just how long. Harper was also plunked on the elbow by a Spencer Strider heater in the middle of the eight-game slump that preceded his IL placement and missed several games in the aftermath, so it’s likely that he was pretty banged up by the time Philadelphia pulled the trigger on an IL stint.
Kennedy, 26, has now been designated for assignment twice by the Phillies this year. He’s out of minor league options and didn’t make the club out of spring training, prompting a DFA and a quick return on a minor league deal after he briefly elected free agency. He was selected back to the majors just 11 days ago and appeared in only four games, going hitless with a walk in a small sample of eight plate appearances.
Kennedy has appeared in parts of four major league seasons between the D-backs, Tigers and Phillies, but he’s only tallied 157 plate appearances in that time. He’s a .193/.287/.296 hitter at the big league level but touts a nice .281/.391/.437 slash in nearly 1600 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s primarily played second base and third base in pro ball but does have more than 400 innings at first base and 93 innings of left field work under his belt.
The Phillies can trade or waive Kennedy at any point in the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so he’ll have a resolution on his DFA within a week’s time. If Kennedy clears waivers, he’ll have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
okay, hopefully he can get this offense going a lot more even then scoring 1 run in 3 games and scored13 runs in the next.
Great timing for the sadres
Just give them the trophy already! With Harper, the Phillies are unstoppable.
Call up Justin Crawford
I am almost of the same mind on him. I have heard they want to wait and use him as trade bait and they don’t want to expose his flaws by bringing him up too soon. At the same time I would be okay with Kennedy and Kepler being shown the door sooner than later. I don’t think Rojas sticks much longer either if anybody is eventually canned and they have to make future shaping changes.
I concur. If Crawford is not traded he should be promoted to the Show August first. Marsh can handle center, though, and Crawford may have to go to get anything worthwhile in a trade.
his flaws? he has 1 flaw – he doesn’t hit home runs. He is a protypical leadoff hitter, something the organization has desperately needed. if they trade Crawford for a 1 year rental bullpen arm they are crazy
Agreed. But in a deal for a reliable power-hitting outfielder, or as part of a larger deal it might be reasonable.
Ground ball machine.
GREAT in the 1970’s with artificial turf BUT I like the idea of playing him if left field and hitting him 9th
I initially read the headline as Phillies DFA Bryce Harper . . .
Bye Buddy, hope you find your dad.
Watch out for the yellow ones, they don’t stop.
Kepler has been a disappointment. I thought it was a good signing but he’s shown nothing at the plate. Not looking for power just get on base and/or move runners in scoring position.
I think they hoped Kepler would be the Temu replacement for Schwarber so they could easily let him walk. They may still have to in order to afford Suarez. They always will prioritize pitching over position players. But I don’t think Kepler was what they hoped.
I’m surprised after a month they won’t send him to AAA for a few games to get his timing down rather then bringing him up cold turkey.
The majority of the team looks like it’s going through something cold turkey.
I have to tell you, it was a truly enjoyable game to watch at a sold out CBP last evening, regardless of the type and temperature of poultry.
Zack Wheeler pitched a gem, and the Phillies hitters got the job done mostly with small ball (along with a Nick Castellanos solo homer, for good measure).
I may have very minor dyslexia because I read this as Bryce Harper DFA’ed twice before reading it right. Wondered for a second if there was another Bryce Harper in the league.
You might have him confused with Bruce Hooper.
NO that woulf be Jed Cooper from Hang ’em, High
Buddy might clear waivers and become a FA and sign a minor league contract. Some teams like the Rockies might claim him. He showed me that when he was with the Tigers he can do somethings and contribute. Wouldn’t be a shock that Detroit would sign him as a non roster minor league contract player.
Classic Quad A player
Buddy seems like a good friend to have.
Quite the punster.
I like that.
I sort of Wish he would have sat another week. He made comments about how while it was much better, it was not fully healed.
Anyone think they’re holding off on promoting Crawford to cheat him on his service time for the future?
I’ve heard that argument regarding Otto but not Crawford…
Simply put…IMO Crawford is just not ready