Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Phillies Rumors

Phillies, Zach Eflin Avoid Arbitration

By | at

8:21pm: Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports the financial breakdown (on Twitter): a $5.5MM base salary with a $150K buyout on next season’s mutual option. Eflin would receive an additional $50K apiece for reaching 100 and 125 innings pitched, $75K for 150 innings, and a final $125K at 175 innings.

4:37pm: The Phillies and starter Zach Eflin have reached agreement on a contract to avoid arbitration, reports Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia (on Twitter). Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports (Twitter link) that Eflin will be guaranteed $5.7MM, and the deal contains an additional $300K in possible performance bonuses. The contract also contains a mutual option for 2023 valued at $15MM, per Nightengale. Eflin is a client of O’Connell Sports Management.

Agreeing to terms avoids the necessity of a hearing for Eflin, who was eligible for arbitration for a final time. His camp had filed for a $6.9MM salary, while the team was seeking a $5.15MM figure. Eflin’s guarantee comes in a bit shy of the $6.025MM midpoint, but he could more or less reach that mark were he to trigger all the performance bonuses.

Arbitration salaries are typically determined over the offseason, with whatever hearings prove necessary commonly occurring in February. This past offseason’s lockout froze league business for 99 days, however, pushing some hearings into the regular season. That’s not a desirable setup for anyone, and the Phils and Eflin are both surely happy to avoid that process. Philadelphia’s arbitration class is now wrapped up.

Eflin, 28, is set to hit free agency for the first time next season. The sinkerballer will be one of the younger arms available, and he’s settled in as a reliably effective mid-rotation arm. Eflin posted an ERA between 3.97 and 4.36 each season from 2018-21. He consistently posted walk rates a few points lower than the league average while inducing strikeouts and grounders at slightly above-average marks. On a rate basis, that’s quality annual production.

Coupled with his youth, that kind of steadiness should make Eflin one of the better arms in next winter’s free agent class. The only real concern would seem to be his health history, as he’s dealt with chronic issues in both knees throughout his career. 2016 surgery on both joints alleviated the problems for a while, but Eflin dealt with renewed patellar troubles in his right knee late last season. That culminated in another procedure last September, one that cut his season short.

Eflin has stayed healthy (aside from a brief stay on the COVID-19 injured list) thus far in 2022. He’s off to a typically solid start, posting a 3.65 ERA through 37 innings. The right-hander has a roughly league average 23% strikeout rate and 45.9% ground-ball percentage, while his 4.6% walk rate is among the league’s best. He has joined Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Kyle Gibson and Ranger Suárez to comprise one of baseball’s top starting staffs.

The inclusion of the mutual option theoretically raises the possibility of Eflin avoiding the open market altogether, but those are rarely exercised by both parties. Rather, they’re typically an accounting measure designed to push the payment of some salary back a few months — in the form of a postseason buyout on the option, rather than as salary to be dispersed regularly throughout the season. If Eflin stays healthy and productive all season, he’s likely to decline his end of the option in search of a multi-year deal on the open market.

Offseason In Review: Philadelphia Phillies

By | at

The Phillies missed the playoffs for the tenth straight year in 2021. That hasn’t been for a lack of aggressiveness, however, and they continued to load up for another shot at snapping the drought this past offseason. Philadelphia added two more big bats to a lineup already full of stars, hoping to overcome deficiencies elsewhere on the roster with an elite run-scoring unit.

Major League Signings

2022 spending: $64.15MM
Total spending: $204.15MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signees

Notable Losses

The story for the Phillies in 2021 was much the same as it had been in prior seasons. Few teams could match the top-end talent, with Bryce Harper posting an MVP campaign and Zack Wheeler narrowly missing out on the Cy Young. The starting rotation was excellent and the team’s top position players more or less met expectations. Yet the core couldn’t entirely compensate for a weak bottom of the lineup, a below-average defense and a bullpen that stubbornly persisted among the league’s worst. The result: an 82-win season, narrowly the franchise’s best mark in a decade but in line with the average results they posted each year from 2018-20.

Failing to earn a playoff spot with this kind of core is deflating, but a top-heavy roster of this ilk is easier to address. After all, it wasn’t hard for Phils’ brass to identify the flaws. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was forthright about the team’s weaknesses at the start of the offseason. The club wasn’t committed to keeping Didi Gregorius as the primary shortstop after he struggled in the first season of a two-year deal; addressing the bullpen and outfield were priorities.

Dombrowski’s comments on Gregorius seemed to position the Phils as a viable suitor for any of the star free agent shortstops available. He name-checked top prospect Bryson Stott as a viable internal alternative, and the club’s behavior made clear that expressed faith in the 24-year-old was not mere lip service. The Phils were never closely tied to anyone of the Carlos Correa, Javier Báez, Corey Seager ilk (at least publicly), and Stott would eventually make the Opening Day roster as Gregorius’ primary competition.

Philadelphia did strike more aggressively in the other areas Dombrowski cited as targets. After buying out both Odúbel Herrera and Andrew McCutchen, they were left with two outfield vacancies alongside Harper. The Phils were linked to Starling Marte in free agency and a potential Kevin Kiermaier trade but ultimately came up empty in their pursuit of a center fielder. Just before the lockout, though, the Phils made a push for Kyle Schwarber to play left field.

A deal didn’t come together before the work stoppage, but the talks set the stage for renewed discussions a few months later. In March, the Phils and Schwarber agreed to terms on a four-year, $79MM deal. The burly left-handed hitter had struggled during the 2020 season with the Cubs, leading to an eventual non-tender. After signing on with the Nationals, Schwarber turned a corner in May and broke out as the hottest hitter on the planet by June. That continued even after an injured list stint for a hamstring strain and intervening trade to the Red Sox, with the 29-year-old looking like the kind of impact bat many have envisioned since he was selected fourth overall in the 2014 draft.

The Phillies clearly believe that’s what they’re getting, and Schwarber should be a marked upgrade over late-career McCutchen. His early tenure in Philadelphia hasn’t been great, but it’s far too soon to suggest his 2021 production was a fluke. Bringing in a bat-first player like Schwarber raised a few eyebrows, given the Phils’ longstanding defensive issues, but it was a rather straightforward pickup of one of the best players available at a position of clear need.

More surprising was how the Phillies followed up on that signing. The day after they agreed to terms with Schwarber, Philadelphia was reported to be making a strong run at Nick Castellanos. A few hours later, the Phils and Castellanos came to terms on a five-year, $100MM contract. One of 13 nine-figure deals handed out over the winter, the Castellanos signing also cost the Phils a draft choice after he’d rejected a qualifying offer from the Reds.

Castellanos is a similar player as Schwarber. A middle-of-the-lineup masher, he generates huge exit velocities and power production and consistently posts excellent numbers at the dish. Castellanos’ track record is a bit more consistent and he makes a higher rate of contact — Schwarber is more dependent on drawing walks to keep his on-base percentage up — but they’re each bat-first players with bottom-tier defensive metrics in the corner outfield.

With Harper already in tow, few would’ve envisioned the Phillies landing two of the top corner outfielders available. The implementation of the universal designated hitter does afford room in the lineup for all three players. The Phils aren’t leaving manager Joe Girardi much flexibility to rotate anyone else through the DH spot — and Harper’s been a full-time DH of late after suffering a small tear in the UCL of his throwing elbow — but the Phils have thrown defense to the wind in efforts to create an elite run-scoring group.

That’s a decision that came with its share of detractors, but it’s not without logic. Adding at least one corner outfielder opposite Harper was a necessity. Also bolstering center field would’ve been more straightforward, but the alternatives there were limited. Starling Marte was the only regular available in free agency. Players like Kevin Kiermaier, Bryan Reynolds, Cedric Mullins and even Joey Gallo were floated as possible trade candidates, but none of that group wound up changing hands. Faced with that dearth of center field options, the Phils pivoted to bringing in position player talent where opportunities presented themselves.

Would they have been better off instead signing Marte, whose deal was a near-match for Schwarber’s, alongside Castellanos? One could make that case. Yet the club was seemingly more content with the longer-term projection for Schwarber, who is four years younger than Marte with a game much less reliant on athleticism. Time will tell whether they should’ve more aggressively tried to keep the latter from the division-rival Mets, but there’s no denying the Phillies markedly improved the lineup.

That’s also true of the bullpen, where the club devoted essentially all of its remaining resources. The Phils avoided any long-term commitments there but promised a decent chunk of the 2022 payroll to typically-reliable veterans in an effort to raise the floor in the middle innings. Philadelphia landed Corey Knebel for one year and $10MM, a solid price point after the righty bounced back with a 2.45 ERA and a 29.7% strikeout rate over 27 outings for the Dodgers last season. Knebel’s 2019-20 campaigns were mostly wiped away by Tommy John surgery, and he lost a couple months to a lat injury in 2021. There are obvious durability concerns, but Knebel’s been a solidly above-average reliever when healthy since his 2017 breakout with the Brewers.

The Phils’ other bullpen pickups were more “buy low” dice rolls on formerly elite late-inning arms. Brad Hand and Jeurys Familia inked matching $6MM guarantees during Spring Training. Each was among the best relievers in the game a few years ago, but they’ve both taken steps back as they’ve entered their 30s. Hand’s velocity and swing-and-miss rate have fluctuated over the past couple seasons; Familia’s arm strength and whiffs have remained strong, but he’s been prone to bouts of wildness and occasional home run issues.

The pickups of Hand and Familia were generally reminiscent of last winter’s shot on Archie Bradley. The team has continuously shied away from longer-term commitments to relievers, seemingly averse to the volatility that plagues many late-inning arms. Attacking the bullpen with bulk lower-leverage types hasn’t worked for the Phils in years past, but it’s also hard to blame the organization for spreading their resources around. They lost Bradley, Héctor Neris and midseason trade acquisition Ian Kennedy to free agency, leaving multiple bullpen spots to plug.

Among returning relievers with 20-plus innings, only Connor Brogdon posted an ERA south of 4.00 last season. Bailey Falter and the currently-injured Sam Coonrod were the only two arms with respectable strikeout and walk numbers. José Alvarado and Seranthony Dominguez are the other holdovers, joining the free agent trio of Knebel, Hand and Familia as Girardi’s most trusted arms in high-leverage spots. A trio of smaller offseason acquisitions — trade pickups Nick Nelson and James Norwood, and minor league signee Andrew Bellatti — round out the middle innings.

While the Phillies almost completely revamped last season’s bullpen, they left the starting rotation entirely unaffected. Wheeler, Aaron Nola, 2021 breakout Ranger Suárez, midseason trade pickup Kyle Gibson, and Zach Eflin are all back as the starting five. The early results have been just alright, but that’s one of the strongest on-paper groups in the majors. The Phillies probably could’ve done more to add some depth, given how thin the rotation mix is beyond that top five, but they’re clearly confident in the primary group to stay healthy and assume the bulk of the innings throughout the summer.

Castellanos and Schwarber proved the major additions on the position player side, with the rest of the unit largely status quo. J.T. Realmuto is one of the game’s best catchers. The Phils made small moves from a depth perspective, waiving Andrew Knapp and acquiring Garrett Stubbs from the Astros and Donny Sands from the Yankees. Realmuto will play as much as any backstop around the league so long as he’s healthy.

The infield consists of holdovers Rhys Hoskins, Jean Segura, Alec Bohm and the aforementioned Stott/Gregorius tandem at shortstop. The Phils added former Brave Johan Camargo on a cheap one-year pact as utility depth, essentially replacing Ronald Torreyes in that role. Camargo has earned some early playing time with a respectable start. He’s a good defender at third base, offering Girardi a possible late-game alternative there to the bat-first Bohm, and he can cover the middle infield as needed.

Aside from shortstop, the one position the Phillies identified as a target area but didn’t meaningfully address wound up being center field. After missing on Marte and their trade targets, the club circled back to Herrera on a significantly cheaper deal than the $9MM option decision they’d passed up to open the winter.

The switch-hitting Herrera was fine but not great as the primary center fielder last season, and the options behind him aren’t certain. Mickey Moniak is on the injured list, Matt Vierling has an unspectacular minor league track record, and Simón Muzziotti has barely played above High-A. Roman Quinn was cut loose at the end of last season but brought back after failing to crack the Marlins’ roster out of Spring Training. He has returned to the majors as a defensive specialist and pinch-running option.

The Phillies nevertheless dealt away from their center field group, having soured on former eighth overall pick Adam Haseley. The former University of Virginia star has never hit much in the majors, and he didn’t perform well in Triple-A last season. The Phils dealt him to the White Sox for minor league reliever McKinley Moore, a move that was no doubt easier to swallow since Haseley had been drafted by the previous front office regime.

Time will tell whether the Phillies did enough to finally put forth a better than average on-field product. The early results don’t jump off the page; they’ve started 18-19, albeit with a +18 run differential. They enter play Thursday in second place in the NL East, six games back of the hot-starting Mets.

Anything short of a Wild Card berth would count as a failure. The organization has continued to aggressively add from the outside, and this latest spending spree took them into new territory financially. Signing Castellanos pushed the Phils’ season-opening payroll to around $229MM, shattering last year’s franchise record of approximately $191MM. For the first time in franchise history, owner John Middleton is likely to pay a luxury tax penalty, as the club’s estimated $236MM+ CBT hit is more than $6MM north of the $230MM base threshold. The fee for moderately exceeding the base threshold for the first time is marginal in the context of the team’s overall spending — roughly $1.2MM, pending future acquisitions — but it’s nevertheless a notable symbolic marker for the organization to cross.

That win-now mentality is unlikely to stop, and the Phillies figure to be aggressive around the trade deadline if they’re in contention as expected. Philadelphia’s farm system is generally regarded as one of the league’s worst, but no organization is entirely devoid of minor league talent. The Phils struck to acquire Gibson and Kennedy from the Rangers at last summer’s deadline. Dombrowski, general manager Sam Fuld and their staff will be equally eager to add this time around — with the bullpen, center field and perhaps back end of the rotation standing out as potential needs.

With more than ten years in the rearview mirror since the last playoff appearance, the Phillies are feeling as much pressure as any team in baseball to show results. Missing the postseason again would raise plenty of questions about the franchise’s outlook — with particular scrutiny likely to mount about Girardi, who’s in the final guaranteed season of a three-year contract. There’s enough talent here to expect to compete, but overarching concerns about the bullpen, defense and roster depth will persist until they start winning consistently.

Latest On Bryce Harper

By | at

Bryce Harper will miss his third straight game for the Phillies tonight, as the outfielder continues to recover from a PRP injection over the weekend.  The small tear in Harper’s UCL has left the NL MVP battling elbow discomfort for almost the entire season, and he hasn’t played in the outfield since April 16.

Unfortunately for Harper and the Phillies, it will be even longer until we see Harper back on the grass, as manager Joe Girardi told reporters (including Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia) that Harper has now been shut down from throwing for six weeks.  Doctors initially gave Harper a four-week shutdown, but with this added time, it will now be until late July or early August before Harper is able to play the outfield, between the shutdown period and then a ramp-up period.

The good news is that Harper has been able to stay in the lineup as the designated hitter, and his production hasn’t been slowed whatsoever by his elbow problem.  Harper is batting .305/.361/.634 over 147 plate appearances, leading the NL in slugging percentage and tied for the NL lead with nine home runs.  (He also entered today’s action tied for the Major League lead with 14 doubles.)

Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos have been locked into everyday corner outfield roles with Harper filling the DH spot, making for a less-than-ideal defensive alignment for the Phillies.  Since Castellanos and Schwarber are both hitting well, the Phils can only hope that the offensive production outweighs any defensive shortcomings until Harper is able to return to regular right field duty.

Bryce Harper Has Tear In UCL, Won’t Throw For Four Weeks

By | at

An elbow issue that’s relegated Bryce Harper to DH duties since mid-April has been diagnosed as a ’small tear’ in his UCL, reports Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Enquirer. While the reigning NL MVP remains able to swing the bat, he’ll undergo a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection on Sunday that will keep him out of the Phillies lineup on Sunday, and possibly into early next week.

The team had previously called the issue a mild elbow sprain, but a visit to Dr. Neal ElAttrache confirmed a test from last week that appeared to show a small tear in his ulnar collateral ligament — the same ligament replaced in Tommy John surgeries. Whether or not such a surgery is in Harper’s future remains to be seen, but it appears that the Phils’ present intention is to keep Harper’s bat in the lineup in whatever way possible.

Signed by the Phillies to a 13-year, $330MM deal ahead of the 2019 season, Harper has mostly lived up to his billing, compiling a .280/.396/.553 triple-slash — good for a 145 wRC+ — in the first three-plus seasons of the deal. 2021 marked his best season in Philadelphia, as he led the majors in both slugging percentage and OPS with a .309/.429/.615 batting line (a 170 wRC+, also best in the bigs) en route to his second NL MVP.

Whatever the prognosis, Joe Girardi’s squad can ill afford to have Harper out of the lineup for long. It’s still early, of course, but the Phillies are already seven games off the pace in the NL East. They may have suffered a bit of bad luck already early in the year: despite a run differential of plus-ten, for instance, the Phillies are three games under .500 entering play on Thursday, and neither the offense (with a collective wRC+ of 106) nor the pitching staff (which has an xFIP of .365, ninth in the bigs) has clearly underperformed. Still, with both the red-hot Mets and the defending World Series champion Braves (not to mention the pitching-rich Marlins) in the same division, Girardi will need to right the ship sooner than later if his team wants to keep alive more than faint hopes for a division title.

After signing both Nick Castellanos (to a five-year, $100MM deal) and Kyle Schwarber (four years, $79MM) in the offseason, the Phils were already playing with defensive fire, but the expectation had been that one of the two would serve as the DH the vast majority of the time. While both have provided some punch at the plate (Castellanos much more so, with a 147 wRC+ to Schwarber’s 99), they’re also both liabilities on defense — an effect that’s amplified when they share an outfield. Harper has rated out as roughly average in right (his 9.9 career UZR suggests he’s saved roughly ten runs over his eleven-year career, though defensive advanced stats are far more controversial than offensive), but his replacement with either Castellanos or Schwarber represents a substantial downgrade.

COVID IL Notes: Wheeler, Arauz, Sosa, Wainwright

By and | at

Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, who’d been on the COVID IL since Sunday, has been cleared to rejoin the team and will start tonight’s game against the Dodgers, reports Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Enquirer. To make room for Wheeler on the active roster, the Phillies optioned left-hander Bailey Falter to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. It’s a timely return for the Phillies, who’ll avoid a crunch in rotation following a pair of rainouts and a Sunday doubleheader against the Mets last weekend. Even with Wheeler’s return, the rotation is still down a man with Zach Eflin still on the COVID list. However, the club has an off-day on Monday, meaning they can survive with four starters for a couple of turns through the rotation. After five starts this year, Wheeler’s ERA is sitting at 4.10, with a 22.5% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate.

Rounding up the latest virus-related transactions…

  • The Red Sox announced that they have reinstated Jonathan Arauz from the COVID-related IL. To make room on the 40-man roster, left-hander Josh Taylor has been transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. Taylor has somewhat quietly become an important part of the Red Sox bullpen. Over the previous three seasons, he’s thrown 102 1/3 innings with a 3.69 ERA, 29.4% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. He’s gradually earned himself some higher-leverage outings, notching 15 holds and a save last year. However, he began this year on the injured list due to back soreness. He began a rehab assignment last month, though that was paused after the issue lingered. The Red Sox evidently don’t think he’s close to a return, based on today’s transaction. Taylor will be eligible to return 60 days from his original placement on the IL, meaning he could be back in early June, though the club hasn’t provided any timetable for his next steps.
  • The Cardinals announced that Edmundo Sosa was activated from the COVID IL today. Kramer Robertson was optioned in a corresponding move. With the recent demotion of Paul DeJong, there’s an opening for Sosa to take over as the everyday shortstop in St. Louis. Last year, he broke out with a .271/.346/.389 showing for a 104 wRC+. However, he got off to a slow start this year, hitting just .160/.250/.160 in a small ten-game sample before landing on the injured list. He’ll be jockeying with Brendan Donovan, who is off to a hot start to his MLB career. Over his first 12 games in the big leagues, Donovan is hitting .278/.381/.556, 169 wRC+. Another path the team could eventually take would be to slide Tommy Edman over to shortstop and call up second base prospect Nolan Gorman, who is hitting .287/.350/.658 in Triple-A this year for a wRC+ of 157.
  • There’s one Cardinal that is still on the COVID IL, right-hander Adam Wainwright. It seems that he is back with the club and could be taking the ball for Sunday’s game, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Packy Naughton recently made a spot start to cover for Wainwright and would likely be bumped to the bullpen or optioned to the minors if Waino can indeed return this weekend. The 40-man roster currently has a vacancy, meaning a corresponding move won’t be necessary in that regard. Through six starts this year, Wainwright has a 3.18 ERA, 20% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 57.6% ground ball rate.

Phillies Acquire Corey Oswalt From Giants

By | at

The Phillies have acquired right-hander Corey Oswalt in a trade with the Giants, as noted by Oswalt’s MLB.com profile page on May 8 (hat tip to The Morning Call’s Tom Housenick).  Oswalt has been assigned to the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley.

San Francisco inked Oswalt to a minor league deal back in January, after the righty opted for free agency when the Mets outrighted him off their 40-man roster following the season.  Though he has a respectable 28.3% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate with Triple-A Sacramento this season, Oswalt has an ungainly 7.11 thanks in large part to six home runs over 12 2/3 innings.

This work with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate represents Oswalt’s first pro action outside of the Mets organization.  A seventh-round pick for New York back in 2012, Oswalt has appeared in each of the last four Major League seasons, though only 30 of his 94 2/3 career innings have come since the end of the 2018 campaign.  He has a 5.89 ERA as a big leaguer, with a 17.2K% and 7.3BB%, getting work as a starter and (more recently) as a multi-inning reliever or swingman.

The Phillies got a good look at Oswalt during his time with the Mets, and now they’ll see what he can do as an extra arm on the depth chart.  Considering that both Zack Wheeler and Zach Eflin are both on the COVID-related injury list, the Phils might turn to Oswalt for a spot start (or maybe in a piggyback or bulk pitcher role) as they try to figure out their rotation mix for the near future.

Phillies Place Zach Eflin, Zack Wheeler On Covid List

By | at

10:00am: Phillies manager Joe Girardi has told reporters, including Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, that Zack Wheeler is also going on the Covid list. The club will now be doubly challenged to get through their next stretch of games with their rotation down two key members. Todd Zolecki of MLB.com adds that Connor Brogdon will be taking Wheeler’s spot on the roster.

9:00 am: The Phillies have announced that right-hander Zach Eflin has been placed on the Covid-related injured list. Fellow righty Francisco Morales has been recalled to take his place on the roster. Additionally, with the club playing a doubleheader today, left-hander Cristopher Sanchez will be up with the club as the team’s 27th man.

Players can be placed on the Covid list if they test positive, are exhibiting symptoms or due to contact tracing measures. The club hasn’t provided further information about which of these applies to Eflin. Under the league’s 2022 health-and-safety protocols, players who test positive are subject to a 10-day absence from the club, though it’s possible to be reinstated in less time if the player has gone 24 or more hours without a fever, received a pair of negative PCR tests, and been given approval from a team physician and the MLB/MLBPA joint committee (a panel of one league-appointed and one union-appointed physician). Players who are experiencing symptoms but do not test positive can return in shorter order if their symptoms abate.

The Phillies were rained out both yesterday and Friday, meaning their pitching staff should be fairly rested, but also that they are playing a doubleheader today. They will then be traveling out west to play three games against the Mariners and four against the Dodgers, before their next off-day on May 16th. As long as Eflin is out of action, the rotation will be down to the foursome of Aaron Nola, Kyle Gibson, Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler. Sanchez and Morales both have started in the minors but have been working out of their bullpen so far this year.

Gibson should be able to handle one game today, as he last started April 30. Eflin would have been in line to start the other game but will need to be replaced. Suarez last pitched on May 3, meaning he could theoretically slot in and take another game on regular rest, although the club hasn’t yet another their plans for today. In that scenario, both Gibson and Suarez would be lined up to pitch again on regular rest on Friday. Wheeler and Nola can then take the ball on Monday and Tuesday, but then the club would need a plan for both Wednesday and Thursday. Another option would be to have a bullpen day in the second game of the doubleheader today, saving Suarez for Monday and bumping Wheeler and Nola down the line. Regardless of how it plays out, the club will need to strategically maneuver through the week, unless Eflin is able to return quickly.

Phillies Place Didi Gregorius On 10-Day IL, Promote Bryson Stott

By | at

The Phillies announced that shortstop Didi Gregorius has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 5.  Gregorius is dealing with a left knee sprain.  He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Bryson Stott, who has been called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

While Gregorius’ .288/.338/.356 slash line over 65 plate appearances isn’t anything overwhelming, it does count as above-average production (102 wRC+, 105 OPS+) within an offensively-challenged 2022 season.  At the very least, it does represent a step up from Gregorius’ disappointing numbers over his first season in Philadelphia, and that lack of performance left Gregorius’ starting status very much in question heading into this year.

Stott even broke camp with the Phillies out of Spring Training, a sign that the club was ready and willing to let the former first-rounder usurp Gregorius’ starting shortstop job entirely.  However, Stott hit only .133/.161/.167 over his first 31 PA in the majors, and he was sent back to Triple-A for some more seasoning.

The top prospect seems to have gotten on track in the minors, as Stott has a .986 OPS over his 40 PA at the Triple-A level.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that Stott will just slide right into regular duty with Gregorius out, as utilityman Johan Camargo is on hand for at least a timeshare and perhaps even the bulk of starting assignments at shortstop.

Latest On Bryce Harper

By | at

  • Bryce Harper has been bothered by a mild right elbow strain for several weeks now, though MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki tweets that “nothing really has changed” following Harper’s latest visit with a team doctor.  It isn’t known when Harper will try throwing again, so the reigning NL MVP will continue to serve as the Phillies’ designated hitter.  Harper hasn’t played right field since April 16, but has still been productive (.288/.307/.542 with three home runs) over 62 plate appearances as a DH-only player.

NL Notes: Eflin, Lauer, DeJong

By | at

Due to the lockout putting MLB business on ice for over three months, there are many players who don’t yet have a finalized salary for the 2022 campaign. Any arbitration-eligible players that couldn’t come to an agreement with their team will soon participate in a hearing as the season is in progress. The Phillies have one such player, right-hander Zach Eflin, who is hoping for a $6.9MM figure while the club will be arguing for the lower figure of $5.15MM. (MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected $6MM, a number pretty close to the midpoint between the two parties.)

Eflin recently spoke about the situation to Matt Gelb of the Athletic. “I know what I bring to this club every fifth day,” Eflin said. “And I see my true value more than what their offer was. So that’s really all I have to say. I’m curious to see what they have to say in a courtroom. So, it’ll be interesting, but I’m looking forward to it.”

If the pitcher is particularly motivated for this fight, it’s possible that he’s still holding a grudge from an incident in 2019. The Phillies optioned Eflin, despite the fact that he was pitching well, in order to get an extra bench player on the roster. They had a double-header coming up that week, which lined up with Eflin’s upcoming start. Since teams are allowed to bring up an extra player for double-headers, they were able to option Eflin, call him up as the extra man for the double-header and then call him up for real for the start after that. Because of these roster shenanigans, Eflin ended up missing out on nine days of MLB salary, costing him about $20K. (According to this Gelb piece from the time of the incident.) “Players don’t forget that,” Eflin said in today’s article. “I’m looking forward to the hearing and seeing what they have to say about me. I feel like I’m going to learn a lot about the business side of the game.” The 28-year-old is heading into free agency at the end of this season.

Some other notes from the Senior Circuit…

  • After a disappointing 2020 season, Eric Lauer began 2021 at the Brewers’ alternate training site. “I wasn’t super happy about it,” Lauer told Will Sammon of The Athletic. However, the lefty used the opportunity to do some experimenting, taking some time in a bullpen session to mimic the mechanics of other pitchers, such as Aroldis Chapman and Tim Lincecum. To his surprise and delight, his velocity starting ticking up. That extra gas helped propel Lauer to an excellent bounceback campaign, as he ended up throwing 118 2/3 innings of 3.19 ERA ball last year, with a 23.9% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate. The results are even better in Lauer’s four starts so far this year. Small sample caveats apply, but he has a 1.93 ERA with an incredible 36.6% strikeout rate and 5.4% walk rate. Brewers fans, or any baseball fan interested in the art of pitching, will want to check out the full piece for more details on Lauer’s tremendous turnaround.
  • Cardinals’ infield prospect Nolan Gorman is off to a tremendous start to his season. The 21-year-old (22 next week) already has 11 home runs through 20 Triple-A games and is hitting .321/.372/.769 overall. That has led to a chorus of voices among fans in St. Louis for him to be called up, especially with a few of the big leaguers struggling. Shortstop Paul DeJong has been under the spotlight for his shortcomings at the plate for a few years now. His overall offensive production has declined in each season of his career, according to wRC+. After a 123 in his rookie year in 2017, he’s put up a 103, 101, 87, 86 and a 55 in 2022 so far. Prior to the 2018 campaign, the club signed DeJong to an extension that runs through 2023. Despite that, he doesn’t have unlimited rope with the organization. “We’re still trying to figure out what we have here with (DeJong), so we’re trying to give him every opportunity possible,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak tells Katie Woo of The Athletic. “If things don’t change trajectory or direction, then ultimately we’re probably going to have to do something different. Nolan would get more of a maj0r-league opportunity at that point. I think we have to remind ourselves that we’re a month into the season; we’ve had an odd first couple of weeks with weather and obviously a truncated spring training. You’re seeing a lot of offensive stats down in general in this league, so we want to remain patient.” The plan to merely switch Gorman in for DeJong is complicated, however, by the fact that the Cardinals are an organization that values defense so highly. As noted in the piece, Gorman only recently switched from being a primary third baseman to playing second base, as he’s blocked at third by Nolan Arenado. Bringing Gorman up to man the keystone would involve sliding Tommy Edman over to shortstop, a position where he only has 17 games of MLB experience. For the time being, it seems Cardinals’ fans yearning for Gorman’s promotion will have to keep waiting.
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top