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Several Veterans On Minor League Deals Have Sunday Opt-Outs

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The latest collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association is rife with contractual intricacies, as one would expect. MLBTR has confirmed that one of the new wrinkles set forth in this latest agreement stipulates that any Article XX(B) free agent — that is, a player with at least six years of service time who finished the prior season on a big league roster or injured list — who signs a minor league contract will have three uniform opt-out dates in his contract, so long as that minor league deal is signed 10 days prior to Opening Day. Those opt-out dates are five days before the start of the regular season, May 1 and June 1.

As the MLBPA announced at the onset of the most recent offseason, there were 188 players who became Article XX(B) free agents. The majority of those players signed Major League contracts. A handful retired, and some have yet to sign a contract at all. There were still more than two dozen players who signed minor league contracts, however, which makes them subject to the new uniform opt-out dates. Several of those players — Marwin Gonzalez, Matt Moore and Wily Peralta, to name a few — have already had their contracts selected to the Major League roster. Others signed their minor league deal after March 28, meaning they’re not covered under the uniform opt-out provision.

By my count, there are a dozen players who qualified as Article XX(B) free agents, signed minor league deals on or before March 28, and remain with those organizations but not on the 40-man roster. Each of the following veterans, then, will have the opportunity to become a free agent Sunday if they’re not called up to the current organization’s big league roster:

  • Tyler Clippard, RHP, Nationals: The 37-year-old Clippard had a strong 2019 season in Cleveland and pitched brilliantly with Minnesota in 2020. His 2021 campaign with the D-backs was solid but truncated by a strained capsule in his right shoulder. He missed nearly four months to begin the year but pitched to a 3.20 ERA in 25 1/3 innings upon activation — albeit with subpar strikeout and walk rates (19.8% and 9.9%, respectively). He’s had a rough go in Triple-A Rochester so far, yielding seven runs on six hits and a whopping 11 walks in 8 1/3 innings. He’s also picked up a dozen strikeouts.
  • Austin Romine, C, Angels: Romine is 2-for-15 with a pair of singles so far in Triple-A Salt Lake. He’s never provided much with the bat, but the longtime Yankees backup is regarded as a quality defender and receiver. He spent the 2021 season with the Cubs but only logged 62 plate appearances thanks to a sprained left wrist that landed him on the 60-day injured list for a significant portion of the season. Romine hit .217/.242/.300 when healthy last year and is a lifetime .238/.277/.358 hitter in 1313 Major League plate appearances.
  • Billy Hamilton, CF, Mariners: At 31 years old, the former top prospect is what he is now: an elite defender and baserunner who’s never been able to get on base consistently enough to capitalize on his 80-grade speed. Hamilton slashed .220/.242/.378 in 135 plate appearances with the White Sox last season and is out to a 7-for-32 start with one walk and 11 strikeouts so far with the Mariners’ top affiliate. Hamilton has four seasons of 55-plus stolen bases under his belt, but he also has a career .293 OBP  that’s gotten even worse (.269) over the past three seasons (524 plaste appearances).
  • Blake Parker, RHP, Cardinals: Parker, 36, has yielded three runs in 7 1/3 Triple-A frames but is brandishing a far more impressive 11-to-1 K/BB ratio. He split the past two seasons between Philadelphia and Cleveland, pitching to a combined 3.02 ERA with a 24.4% strikeout rate against a 9.1% walk rate. Parker has had an up-and-down career since debuting with the Cubs as a 27-year-old rookie in 2012, but the cumulative results are solid. He carries a career 3.47 ERA with 34 saves and 47 holds. When Parker’s splitter is working well, he can be a very effective late-inning option.
  • Derek Holland, LHP, Red Sox: The veteran southpaw has provided innings, but not necessarily at quality since transitioning into a bullpen role in 2019. Last season he appeared in 39 games for the Tigers, tossing 49 2/3 innings with a 5.07 ERA/3.96 FIP. Holland’s time with Triple-A Worcester hasn’t been smooth, as he has a 5.79 ERA and six walks over 9 1/3 innings.
  • Steven Souza Jr., OF, Mariners: Due to an ugly knee injury and some struggles at the plate, Souza hasn’t been a truly productive big leaguer since 2017. Looking to revive his career with the Mariners, Souza has hit .200/.383/.333 over 60 PA with Triple-A Tacoma.
  • Kevin Pillar, OF, Dodgers: This season marks Pillar’s first taste of Triple-A ball since 2014, and the veteran outfielder is overmatching pitchers to the tune of a .313/.415/.627 slash line over 82 plate appearances. One would imagine this performance will earn Pillar a look in Los Angeles or perhaps another team if the Dodgers don’t select his contract. Pillar’s minor league deal guarantees him a $2.5MM salary if he receives a big league call-up, which could be a factor for a Dodgers club that may be trying to stay under the third tier ($270MM) of the luxury tax threshold.
  • Cam Bedrosian, RHP, Phillies: After signing a minor league deal with Philadelphia last July, Bedrosian posted a 4.35 ERA over 10 1/3 innings with the club despite recording almost as many walks (seven) as strikeouts (eight). The righty inked a new minors deal with the Phillies over the winter but has yet to pitch this season due to injury.
  • Shelby Miller, RHP, Yankees: The former All-Star pitched well with the Cubs’ and Pirates’ Triple-A affiliates in 2021, and he has kept up that strong Triple-A performance now working as a full-time reliever.  Over eight innings for Scranton/Wilkes-Barres, Miller has a 2.25 ERA with outstanding strikeout (31.3%) and walk (3.1%) rates. He also hasn’t allowed any homers, a notable stat for a pitcher who has had great trouble containing the long ball over the last few seasons.
  • Matt Carpenter, INF, Rangers: Carpenter got a late start to Spring Training, and upon Opening Day, he expressed a desire to take the necessary time to get himself up to speed. Through 52 plate appearances in Triple-A, Carpenter has slashed an improved .239/.327/.457 with a pair of home runs. While not standout numbers, they are an improvement over the .203/.235/.346 slash line Carpenter posted in 901 PA from 2019-21 with the Cardinals.
  • Carlos Martinez, RHP, Giants: Another former Cardinal looking for a fresh start, Martinez has yet to pitch for Triple-A Sacramento, as he is still rehabbing from the thumb surgery he underwent last July. With injuries and a nasty bout of COVID-19 factoring into matters, Martinez has only a 6.95 ERA over 102 1/3 big league innings since the start of the 2020 season.
  • Keone Kela, RHP, Diamondbacks: Kela has also been ravaged by injuries over the last two seasons, including Tommy John surgery last May. Given the usual TJ recovery timeline, Kela isn’t likely to be a factor for the D’Backs until at least midseason.

Of course, players remain free to negotiate additional out clauses into their minor league contracts. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports, for instance, that lefty Adam Morgan has an opt-out provision in his contract with the Astros today. Morgan doesn’t have enough service time to qualify as an Article XX(B) free agent, but he’ll nevertheless have the opportunity to become a free agent Sunday if he doesn’t like his chances of eventually being added to Houston’s roster.

Ronald Torreyes Granted Release By Phillies

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Veteran infielder Ronald Torreyes has requested and been granted his release by the Phillies, tweets Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Torreyes had been with the Phils on a minor league pact but is now a free agent who is free to explore opportunities with other clubs.

Torreyes, 29, has gotten out to a slow start in Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season, hitting just .171/.237/.200 while seeing time at second base, shortstop and third base. The Phillies’ recent move to option top prospect Bryson Stott to Lehigh Valley surely stood to impact the playing time available to Torreyes — which may have been a contributing factor in his decision to request his release.

Last season, Torreyes appeared in 111 games with the Phils and took 344 turns at the plate, posting a .242/.286/.346 slash that rated well below the league average (32% worse, by measure of wRC+). He provided some value with the glove, appearing at third base, shortstop, second base and center field — with particularly strong marks for his defensive work at the hot corner (2 Defensive Runs Saved, 2.9 Ultimate Zone Rating, 4 Outs Above Average in 354 innings).

Torreyes is a favorite of Phillies skipper Joe Girardi, dating back to the pair’s time together with the Yankees, but it seems there’s no opportunity for him at the MLB level presently. As such, he’ll head into free agency in search of a new opportunity — ideally with a club that is thin in terms of its infield options at the moment. In 983 plate appearances in the Majors, Torreyes is a .265/.299/.361 hitter who has fanned at just a 12.6% clip.

Phillies Select Roman Quinn, Option Bryson Stott

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The Phillies announced this evening they’ve selected outfielder Roman Quinn onto the big league club. Infielder Bryson Stott was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to open active roster space. In order to clear a 40-man roster spot, left-hander Ryan Sherriff was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Quinn returns to the Phils’ active roster for a sixth season. A former second-round pick, he was among the better prospects in the Philadelphia farm system for some time. His athleticism, speed and solid minor league production made him a potential regular center fielder, but the switch-hitting outfielder hasn’t managed to cement himself as an everyday player. That’s in large part due to injury, as Quinn missed notable time every season between 2013-19 and again in 2021. His latest malady was a ruptured left Achilles tendon that ended his 2021 season in May.

Primarily because of his health history, Quinn has just 512 MLB plate appearances under his belt despite pushing 29 years old and having first reached the majors six years ago. He’s a .228/.306/.355 hitter in that time, but he’s stolen 39 bases and garnered solid defensive ratings. He’ll offer the Phils some extra cover in center field, where Matt Vierling has gotten out to a poor start. The Phils recently activated Odúbel Herrera from the injured list, and he’ll probably get the lion’s share of playing time in center. Herrera is coming off a fine but unspectacular .260/.310/.416 showing and spent the first few weeks of the season on the shelf because of an oblique strain.

The Phils outrighted Quinn off the 40-man roster at the end of last season. He qualified for minor league free agency, then inked a non-roster pact with the division-rival Marlins. After failing to crack the Opening Day roster in Miami, he triggered an opt-out clause and went back to the open market. Quinn returned to Philadelphia on a minor league deal a few weeks ago, and he quickly made it back to the big leagues after reaching base in 13 of his 25 plate appearances in Triple-A. Quinn is out of minor league options, so now that he’s back in the majors, the Phils have to either keep him on the active roster or designate him for assignment.

Stott, one of the Phils’ top prospects, broke camp with the club and was the Opening Day third baseman. The 24-year-old appeared in nine games during his first major league run but started his MLB career just 4-30 with a walk and ten strikeouts. Stott’s chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone was a bit elevated, and he hasn’t gotten the start in any of the team’s last six games.

Alec Bohm has gotten off to a strong start at the plate and has been playing third base, while the Phils have turned to switch-hitting utilityman Johan Camargo (himself on a nice run to open the year) at shortstop over the last week. Didi Gregorius hasn’t played since Tuesday because of a bruised left hand, but the team hasn’t placed him on the injured list and figures to work him in at shortstop frequently once he’s again ready to go.

With the more experienced infield options outplaying Stott early on, the Phils elected him to send him back to the minors for regular reps. The former first-round pick only played in ten games with Lehigh Valley late last season, as he spent the bulk of the year with Double-A Reading. Stott posted an impressive .301/.368/.481 line there, but he’ll now get a bit more run at the minors’ top level. The Phillies figure to bring Stott back to the majors before too long if he replicates his Double-A production for the IronPigs.

Sherriff, claimed off waivers from the Rays last offseason, opened the season on the injured list due to a shoulder strain. There’s no timetable for his return, but he won’t be back until at least the first week of June. He’s out for sixty-plus days from Opening Day, meaning he can’t return until June 6 at the earliest.

Phillies Notes: Harper, Bohm

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An MRI on Bryce Harper’s injured right elbow came back clean, but it will still be a few days before he can take the field again, per The Athletic’s Matt Gelb. In fact, if it weren’t for the designated hitter now being a part of the National League, Harper would have been placed on the injured list, Gelb notes. He will stay on the roster and in the lineup as the designateted hitter.

With Harper at least temporarily entrenched as the DH, the Phillies’ defense will take a hit with Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos in the outfield corners and Rhys Hoskins at first base. All three players would probably DH in a best-case scenario.

Harper’s injury, though hopefully short-term, highlights a larger roster issue for the Phillies. The outfield trio of Harper, Schwarber, and Castellanos aren’t going anywhere, but the Phillies could look to shake up the roster down the line by moving Hoskins or Alec Bohm. The younger Bohm has struggled defensively at the hot corner, and they could move him to first if they decide to move on from Hoskins, who has one more season of arbitration before free agency.

The club has also considered trading Bohm, however, notes The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. In just 12 games this season, Bohm’s value has already experienced wild swings in both directions. A three-error game at third saw him pushed to the bench for a few games, but in the last couple of days, Bohm’s bat has taken off. Such variance for a young player like Bohm is exactly why finding a trade partner is such a difficult task.

Injury Notes: Gray, Treinen, Urias, Herrera

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The Rangers are placing starter Jon Gray back on the 10-day injured list, tweets Levi Weaver of the Athletic. The right-hander just returned after a minimal IL stint due to a blister on Tuesday, but he’s now suffered an MCL sprain in his left knee. General manager Chris Young didn’t sound concerned, suggesting this next stint might also be a minimal absence and could cost Gray just one start. Texas announced that righty Glenn Otto is being recalled from Triple-A Round Rock to make his first MLB start of the season this evening. Gray, signed to a four-year deal over the offseason, has made two starts in Arlington thus far, allowing seven runs in nine innings.

The latest on some other injury situations around the game:

  • The Dodgers announced this afternoon that reliever Blake Treinen has been placed on the 10-day IL due to right shoulder discomfort. Treinen hasn’t pitched in eight days after experiencing some soreness in his arm. The team didn’t announce a timetable for his return, though that they elected against placing him on the IL for over a week indicates they were initially of the belief he wouldn’t miss more than a few days. Treinen is among the top arms in the L.A. bullpen, coming off a stellar 2021 campaign in which he posted a 1.99 ERA with a 29.7% strikeout rate and a 52.6% grounder percentage. He has made three appearances this season, serving up a game-winning homer to the Rockies’ Connor Joe on April 9 but otherwise not allowing a baserunner and punching out five.
  • Brewers third baseman Luis Urías began the season on the injured list due to a left quad issue. He’s moving closer to a return, as Adam McCalvy of MLB.com tweets that the 24-year-old is set to begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Biloxi over the weekend. Urías is coming off a solid 2021 season, hitting .249/.345/.445 with 23 homers and a strong 11.1% walk rate across 570 plate appearances. The righty-hitting infielder posted excellent minor league numbers during his days as one of the sport’s most promising prospects, so the Brewers can reasonably expect him to build off last year’s showing when he’s healthy. In the meantime, Milwaukee has relied on a Jace Peterson – Mike Brosseau platoon at the hot corner. That duo has combined to hit just .108/.233/.108 in 43 trips to the plate.
  • The Phillies announced they’ve reinstated center fielder Odúbel Herrera from the injured list. Fellow outfielder Simón Muzziotti was optioned to Double-A Reading in a corresponding move. Herrera, re-signed to a modest one-year deal after the club declined a pricer option, entered Spring Training as the presumptive favorite for the center field job. He suffered a right oblique strain in late March that wound up costing him a month, though. After also losing Mickey Moniak to injury before the start of the season, the Phils have turned to Matt Vierling and Muzziotti through the season’s first two weeks. That hasn’t gone well, as Phils’ center fielders are hitting .118/.205/.147 through 40 plate appearances.

Brewers Trade Dustin Peterson To Phillies

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The Phillies announced this morning that they’ve acquired outfielder Dustin Peterson from the Brewers in exchange for cash and assigned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Peterson, 27, was the No. 50 overall draft pick by the Padres back in 2013 and was well-regarded enough a year later to be one of four players San Diego traded to Atlanta in exchange for then-star outfielder Justin Upton. Peterson, however, never put together a particularly lengthy run of success in the upper minors. He made a brief big league appearance with the Braves in 2018, going hitless in two plate appearances, before the rebuilding Tigers plucked him off waivers that September.

Detroit gave Peterson a bit more of a run in 2019, but he still received what could charitably be described as a cup of coffee in the Majors. Peterson logged 17 games and 47 plate appearances as a Tiger in 2019, hitting .227/.277/.318 with four doubles, a stolen base and a 14-to-2 K/BB ratio.

The 2021 season was perhaps Peterson’s most productive in Triple-A, as he spent the year with the Brewers’ top affiliate and posted a solid .271/.347/.416 batting line with nine home runs and 15 doubles in 329 trips to the plate. Encouragingly, the righty-swinging Peterson walked at a 9.1% clip that ranked as the best mark of his minor league career and struck out in just 13.4% of his plate appearances — far and away the lowest rate of his career. He’s only had 11 plate appearances in Triple-A so far this season but has continued those trends in that microscopic sample, walking four times against just one strikeout. In parts of five Triple-A campaigns, Peterson is a .268/.327/.394 hitter.

Originally drafted as a third baseman, Peterson moved to the outfield after just two minor league seasons and has been primarily a left fielder to this point in his professional career. His 3826 innings there are more than he has at every other position combined, though it’s worth pointing out that in addition to his third base experience back in 2013-14, Peterson has logged more than 1000 innings at first base and more than 400 in right field.

The addition of Peterson is likely more about minor league depth than it is near-term help for the MLB roster. The Phils lost both Odubel Herrera and Mickey Moniak to early injuries, and they also traded Adam Haseley to the White Sox late in Spring Training. That’s prompted them to bring Simon Muzziotti up to the big leagues and lean on Matt Vierling in center field. Peterson will join Roman Quinn, Justin Williams, John Andreoli and Jorge Bonifacio in the outfield mix with Lehigh Valley for the time being, though it’s possible that with a big showing in Triple-A, he could work his way up to the Majors at some point.

This marks the second time in as many weeks that Milwaukee has traded away a fairly productive depth option in exchange for cash. The Brewers traded infielder/outfielder Jamie Westbrook to Detroit in exchange for cash on April 13.

Jake Arrieta Announces Retirement

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A former Cy Young winner is stepping away from the game. In an appearance on Barstool’s Pardon My Take podcast, Jake Arrieta announced he is set to retire (interview around 56:00 mark). “I haven’t signed the papers, man, but I’m done,” Arrieta said.”It’s time for me to step away from the game. At some point, the uniform goes to somebody else. It’s just my time, really. … Yeah, man, I’m done.”

Arrieta, now 36 years old, retires after a 12-season MLB career. A fifth-round pick of the Orioles out of TCU in 2007, he made it to the majors midway through the 2010 campaign. He spent three-plus seasons in Baltimore, never really clicking despite getting a few opportunities to crack the starting rotation. Arrieta made 69 appearances in black and orange, pitching to a cumulative 5.46 ERA/4.72 FIP. His strikeout and walk numbers improved later in his time with the O’s, but the results never lined up and Baltimore traded him to the Cubs in early July 2013.

That deal — which saw Arrieta and reliever Pedro Strop head to the North Siders for starter Scott Feldman and backup catcher Steve Clevenger — proved one of the most consequential trades in recent MLB history. Arrieta had decent results down the stretch with the Cubs, but his peripherals didn’t suggest he was on the verge of a breakout.

Jake Arrieta

That’s exactly what transpired, though. By 2014, Arrieta had emerged as a top-of-the-rotation starter. He tossed 156 2/3 innings of 2.53 ERA ball, earning a ninth-place finish in NL Cy Young balloting. That was an unexpected age-28 breakout, but rather than showing any signs of regression, Arrieta took his game to another height the next season. In 2015, the right-hander tossed a personal-high 229 innings with an incredible 1.77 ERA. He led MLB with four complete games and three shutouts, allowing a league-low 5.9 hits per nine frames.

Arrieta had a very strong first half that year, posting a 2.66 ERA in 121 2/3 innings. Yet it’s the second half of that 2015 season for which he might best be remembered, as he orchestrated one of the most overpowering runs by any pitcher in MLB history. After that year’s All-Star break, Arrieta threw 107 1/3 frames and allowed just nine earned runs (0.75 ERA). Opposing hitters posted a laughable .148/.204/.205 line in just shy of 400 plate appearances during that stretch, as the Cubs won 97 games and earned a postseason berth.

During that year’s Wild Card game, Arrieta continued his run of absolute dominance, tossing an 11-strikeout shutout in that season’s Wild Card game against the Pirates. He wasn’t as excellent during starts in the NLDS or NLCS, but he had launched himself into the upper echelon of starting pitchers. Arrieta won that season’s Cy Young award, and he’d pick up a third consecutive top ten finish the following season.

In 2016, Arrieta worked to a 3.10 ERA in 197 1/3 frames. He again allowed a league-low 6.3 hits per nine, picking up his first All-Star selection in the process. Alongside Jon Lester and a career-best season from Kyle Hendricks, Arrieta played a key role in the Cubs team that snapped their 108-year title drought. Chicago won both of his starts during the seven-game triumph over the Indians, during which he tossed 11 1/3 innings of three-run ball.

Arrieta remained in Chicago for one more season. He never recaptured his otherworldly 2014-15 form, but he still offered mid-rotation production with a 3.53 ERA in 168 1/3 innings. That offseason, he signed a three-year, $75MM guarantee with the Phillies. Arrieta’s first season in Philadelphia was solid, as he allowed just fewer than four earned runs per nine in 31 starts.

The past three seasons proved a struggle, as Arrieta’s velocity had begun trending downwards from its mid-90s peak by 2017. He posted a 4.64 ERA or higher in each of his final trio of campaigns, including a 7.39 mark in 24 starts between the Cubs and Padres last season. Arrieta returned to the place where he’d had the most success last winter, but the Cubs released him in August. He struggled in four starts with the Friars, and San Diego let him go shortly before the regular season wrapped up.

Obviously, Arrieta’s career didn’t end the way he would’ve liked. Yet there’s no question he reached a height few players in the game’s recent history have hit. From 2014-16, only future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw bested Arrieta’s 2.42 ERA among qualified starters. He played a pivotal role on the most successful teams in the past century of Cubs baseball and leaves the game with a Cy Young and a World Series title. Over his 12-year run, he won 115 games, and struck out upwards of 1400 batters in 1612 1/3 innings.

Arrieta retires with a career 3.98 ERA, although that mark is inflated by the struggles he experienced at each end. For a three-to-four year period, he was among the top few pitchers on the planet. MLBTR congratulates him on his excellent run and wishes him the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Phillies Notes: Herrera, Girardi, Schwarber

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Odubel Herrera is on his way to a rehab assignment with Lehigh Valley, which could mean a return to the active roster by next Friday when the club returns home, per Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). Without Herrera, 25-year-old Matt Vierling has been starting most games in center, but he’s struggled to the tune of a 14 wRC+ (though the sample size is a mere 24 plate appearances).

23-year-old Simon Muzziotti was called up, but Muzziotti has yet to garner regular playing time. Herrera figures to step in as the regular starter when he returns, while Vierling will shift mostly to a short-side platoon. It would not be surprising to see Muzziotti optioned back to Triple-A at that time so that he can get more regular playing time.  The Phils have largely been functioning with a four-man bench.

On the whole, the Phillies haven’t gotten off to the kind of start that they expected after a winter that included a couple big-name additions. It’s incredibly early, of course, but today’s loss dropped Philly to 4-6 in their first ten. After noticing some trends he doesn’t like, manager Joe Girardi has started tinkering with his lineups to find better balance, writes The Athletic’s Matt Gelb. Namely, Kyle Schwarber has been bumped from the leadoff spot down to fifth. J.T. Realmuto will move from the two hole down to one. Girardi didn’t like how easy it was for teams to bring in a southpaw to face both Schwarber and Bryce Harper with only Realmuto in between, so Girardi will now use both Nick Castellanos and Rhys Hoskins to separate his lefties.

Phillies Outright Jeff Singer

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April 15: Singer has been assigned outright to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after clearing waivers, the Phillies announced.

April 13: The Phillies announced Wednesday morning that they’ve reinstated right-hander Corey Knebel from the Covid-related injured list and designated left-hander Jeff Singer for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Singer, 28, was just selected to the big league roster yesterday when Knebel landed on the Covid list. Placement on the Covid-related IL is not necessarily indicative of a positive test, as players can also be placed on the list if they are deemed a close contact to a confirmed positive case or if they exhibit symptoms and undergo testing. Knebel was dealing with flu-like symptoms earlier in the week, though it would appear any such concerns have subsided.

For those wondering why Singer was not eligible to be “returned” to the Triple-A roster without needing to pass through waivers — as we saw with Covid replacement players on several occasions in 2021 — MLBTR has confirmed that the 2022 health-and-safety protocols stipulate that waiver-exempt replacement/substitute players can be utilized only if a team “experiences a significant number of Covid-19 IL placements … such that it implicates a club’s ability to field a competitive team.” That threshold is subject to commissioner Rob Manfred’s discretion, but Knebel was a one-off case with the Phillies and thus could not be replaced by a “substitute” player.

Thus, it’ll be a brief one-day call-up to the Majors for Singer, who did not appear in last night’s game. That’s a harsh reality that now comes with the possibility of him changing hands via a small trade or a claim from another club on outright waivers. On the flip side, he just logged his first day of Major League service time and the subsequent prorated pay that comes with it. He’ll continue to accrue Major League service and pay as long as he’s in DFA limbo for anywhere from the next two to seven days.

The 28-year-old Singer has tossed four shutout innings so far for the IronPigs in 2022, though he’s also yielded four walks against just a pair of strikeouts. The Philadelphia native spent the 2021 season in Triple-A as well, pitching to a 4.75 ERA with a 28.2% strikeout rate against a 10.9% walk rate. He’s kept his strikeout rate in the 27-29% range over the past several minor league seasons, albeit without particularly strong walk rates. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he’d return to Lehigh Valley and remain with the organization, though he’d no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster.

Phillies Announce Five Roster Moves

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The Phillies announced five roster moves in advance of today’s game with the Marlins.  The Phils have selected the contract of right-hander Andrew Bellatti from Triple-A and also reinstated James Norwood from the bereavement list.  Righty Connor Brogdon and left-hander Damon Jones were optioned to Triple-A, while Sam Coonrod was moved to the 60-day injured list to create 40-man roster space for Bellatti.

Coonrod has been dealing with a shoulder strain that initially shut him down at the end of March.  The right-hander tossed only 1 2/3 innings of Spring Training action, so between the injury rehab and then making up for his lost preseason work, it was already expected to be a while before Coonrod made his 2022 debut.

The 60-day IL placement means that Coonrod won’t make it back until mid-June at the earliest, which represents another injury setback for the 29-year-old.  Coonrod missed over two months last season due to forearm tendinitis, and over three weeks of the shortened 2020 season due a lat strain.  That same season also saw Coonrod hit the IL late in the year with another shoulder strain.

Between Coonrod’s injury absence and Brogdon’s demotion, the Phillies find themselves without two of their better relievers from last season.  However, since Brogdon has pitched in three of Philadelphia’s last four games, the move is probably just a way to get a fresher arm into the bullpen than indicative of a long-term stint in Triple-A for the right-hander.  Brogdon had a rough outing last night, allowing two earned runs and two more inherited runners to score over two-thirds of an inning in a 9-6 loss to the Mets.

Bellatti signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in December after being outrighted off the Marlins’ 40-man roster at the end of last season.  After tossing 23 1/3 innings for the Rays in his 2015 rookie season, Bellatti bounced around the minors before finally returning to the majors last year, pitching 3 1/3 innings of relief work out of Miami’s bullpen.  Bellatti has a 3.77 ERA and 24.03% strikeout rate over his 547 career frames in the minor leagues.

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