Roman Quinn Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Quinn cleared DFA waivers, and the Phillies announced that Quinn has elected to become a free agent rather accept an outright assignment to Triple-A.
JUNE 1: The Phillies announced a series of roster moves Wednesday, placing second baseman Jean Segura on the 10-day injured list due to a fractured right index finger, recalling lefty Cristopher Sanchez and infielder Nick Maton from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, and designating outfielder Roman Quinn for assignment. The team announced after last night’s game that Segura had fractured his finger.
Quinn, 29, scored the walk-off run from second base on a cringeworthy Dodgers error earlier this season, but his blistering speed hasn’t been enough to offset his general lack of production at the dish. In 40 plate appearances, he’s hitting just .162/.225/.289 with 15 punchouts (37.5%). He’s had similar struggles dating back to the 2019 season, batting a combined .200/.278/.315 through 340 plate appearances with the Phillies, who’ll now have a week to trade the former second-rounder, pass him through outright waivers or release him.
The loss of Segura is a tough one for a Phillies club that is floundering through another disappointing season. The 32-year-old veteran has been solid at the plate, hitting .275/.324/.407 with six home runs and eight stolen bases, and he’s been one of the team’s only average-or-better defenders (by measure of Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average).
In Segura’s absence, the Phils can turn to Maton or utilityman Johan Camargo, with struggling prospect Bryson Stott taking increased reps at shortstop. Maton had a hot start in his MLB debut last year but saw his bat wilt en route to a .256/.323/.385 output over 131 big league plate appearances. He’s hitting .241/.360/.462 so far in Triple-A this year. Camargo similarly had a strong start in 2022 but has faded of late; he’s now hitting .248/.318/.350 on the season.
Injury Notes: Clevinger, Kittredge, Kremer, Gregorius
The Padres announced that right-hander Mike Clevinger has been reinstated from the injured list, with outfielder Brent Rooker being optioned in a corresponding move. After a lengthy absence from the majors while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Clevinger had to return to the IL after just three starts due to a triceps strain. Thankfully, he only required a minimum stay on the shelf and is quickly back on the roster, starting today’s game.
While many teams around the league are dealing with mounting injuries to their pitching staffs, the Padres now have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to their starting rotation. Clevinger joins Yu Darvish, Sean Manaea, Joe Musgrove, MacKenzie Gore and Blake Snell, with Nick Martinez likely getting bumped into a long-relief role. The club is off to a great start, sporting a record of 32-21, just three games back of the Dodgers in the NL West. The strength of their rotation has played a big role in that, as their collective 3.11 ERA is fourth-best in all of baseball, trailing only the Yankees, Dodgers and Astros.
Some other IL reinstatements from around the league…
- The Rays announced that righty Andrew Kittredge has been reinstated from the injured list, with fellow righty Calvin Faucher being optioned to make room for him. Kittredge was slowed by some lower back tightness but is able to return after a minimum stay on the injured list. Last year, he threw 71 2/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 53.5% ground ball rate. That success earned him a key role in the bullpen, as he eventually earned eight saves and seven holds. He wasn’t able to continue that this year, possibly due to this back injury. Over 18 innings, his ERA is an even 3.00, with a 19.7% strikeout rate and 44.2% grounder rate, though he’s limited walks to just 1.5% of batters faced.
- The Orioles reinstated righty Dean Kremer from the injured list today, with fellow righty Denyi Reyes being optioned in a corresponding move. Kremer landed on the injured list back in April due to an oblique strain. He is starting today’s ballgame for the O’s, which will be his season debut. His MLB time has been on the rough side so far, as his career ERA is currently 6.84 through 72 1/3 innings. However, while rehabbing from this injury, he’s thrown nine scoreless innings in the minors with a whopping 18 strikeouts against just two walks.
- The Phillies announced that they have reinstated Didi Gregorius from the IL, with Nick Maton trading places with him, heading to the IL due to a right shoulder sprain. Gregorius returns after about a month on the IL due to a left knee sprain. Prior to that, he was hitting .288/.338/.356 on the season. The resulting 97 wRC+ indicates that his bat has been about 3% worse than league average, though it’s still a big improvement over last year’s wRC+ of 68. Maton was just recalled a few days ago to provide help in the middle infield when Jean Segura landed on the IL, but will now join him on the shelf after just two games. Without those two options, it’s likely that Gregorious, Bryson Stott and Johan Camargo will now share the middle infield duties.
Phillies Fire Joe Girardi
Joe Girardi is out as the Phillies manager, as the team announced today that he’s been “relieved of his duties.” Coaching assistant Bobby Meacham has also been dismissed. Bench coach Rob Thomson has been named interim manager and will hold that post for the remainder of the season, according to the team. To fill Thomson’s role, the Phillies have promoted Mike Calitri from quality assurance coach to bench coach.
“It has been a frustrating season for us up until this point, as we feel that our club has not played up to its capabilities,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski in a statement within today’s press release. “While all of us share the responsibility for the shortcomings, I felt that a change was needed and that a new voice in the clubhouse would give us the best chance to turn things around. I believe we have a talented group that can get back on track, and I am confident that Rob, with his experience and familiarity with our club, is the right man to lead us going forward.”
Hired in advance of the 2020 season, the now-57-year-old Girardi came to the Phillies as an experienced dugout leader whom owner John Middleton hoped could pull the club out of what has now been more than a decade-long playoff drought. That hasn’t happened yet, and even on the heels of an aggressive offseason of spending to bolster the lineup, the Phils have fallen into a dismal swoon that has seen them plummet to seven games under .500 (22-29) and 12 games out of first place in the National League East.
Of course, the personnel acquired via that offseason spending falls on the front office and ownership — not Girardi. The Phils have routinely been one of the worst defensive teams in baseball over the past decade, but their offseason strategy was not to remedy that longstanding shortcoming but to instead double down by giving weighty long-term contracts to defensively challenged sluggers Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber. Philadelphia, predictably, ranks as one of the game’s worst defensive teams (and the worst defensive team, by measure of Outs Above Average).
More concerning, however, has been the team’s ineffectiveness in other areas. The Phillies rank tenth in the Majors with 230 runs scored and are tied for ninth with 58 home runs — both solid showings but not exactly the juggernaut offense the team and pundits (myself included) had expected. Philadelphia hitters have posted a combined .245/.310/.403 batting line, and the resulting 99 wRC+ ranks 18th in MLB and effectively amounts to league-average offensive output on the whole.
The Phillies’ bullpen woes may not date back quite as far as their defensive ineptitude, but faulty relief pitching has nevertheless been an unfortunate hallmark of Phillies baseball for at least the past few seasons. They relief corps is improved to an extent in 2022, ranking 21st in the game with a 4.15 ERA — an improvement over bottom-of-the-barrel showings in recent seasons. However, no team’s relievers have walked hitters at a higher clip than the Phillies’ 11.7% mark so far in 2022, and the bullpen is a top-heavy unit that has had to rely on inexperienced bargain pickups. The trio of Nick Nelson, Andrew Bellatti and James Norwood, for instance, have accounted for nearly a third of the Phillies’ total innings of relief work.
Some of that, of course, falls on the manager’s usage of the relievers at his disposal. Bullpen management is a generally thankless job when executed well and also perhaps the most frequently cited flaw of any skipper when things are going poorly. Girardi faced plenty of criticism for his usage of the team’s bullpen at times, including some recent handling of closer Corey Knebel. Time will tell whether a managerial change will bring about better results from the relief corps, but it seems unlikely Thomson will be able to bring about significant change with the same group of personnel in the ‘pen.
Just as it was expected that the Phils would struggle on defense, it was expected that their rotation would nonetheless be a strength — and that’s generally been true. Each of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Kyle Gibson are sporting ERAs comfortably south of 4.00, while Ranger Suarez and Zach Eflin have been at least serviceable in the mid-4.00s. Overall, the Phillies’ rotation ranks 14th with a 4.02 ERA, although their sixth-ranked 3.49 FIP (fielding-independent pitching) naturally suggests that the defense has let Philadelphia starters down.
Ultimately, it’ll have to come down to the Phillies’ lineup if they’re to turn things around. Schwarber is hitting for power and drawing walks but not doing much else, evidenced by his .192/.314/.429 batting line. Nick Castellanos, Alec Bohm and Rhys Hoskins have faded after hot starts, with Castellanos now rating as only a slightly above-average hitter and the others sitting south of league-average. J.T. Realmuto is still hitting better than the majority of big league catchers, but he’s well below his career rates and sitting close to league-average overall, himself. Second baseman Jean Segura, having a solid season at the plate, was recently lost for 10-12 weeks when he broke his finger attempting to bunt for a hit.
Bryce Harper continues to be a powerhouse presence in the middle of the lineup, carrying the batting order with a .303/.359/.534 output. But even he’s not operating neat 100%, as he’s dealing with a torn ligament in his elbow that has relegated him to designated hitter duties because he’s not able to throw from the outfield.
A team with Harper, Castellanos, Schwarber and Hoskins constituting the heart of the lineup is liable to go on an offensive tear at any moment, and as we saw with Schwarber during last year’s historic June power surge, hitters of that caliber can carry a team for lengthy stretches. There’s enough talent in the lineup and in the rotation for the Phillies to get hot and return to the fringes of the newly expanded 12-team playoff picture, but ownership seemingly no longer felt Girardi to be the best option to guide them there. The Phils will be a team worth monitoring closely over the next six weeks, because if Thomson’s unable to right the ship, the focus will turn to the possibility of trading some notable veterans in advance of this year’s Aug. 2 deadline.
Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia first reported that the Phillies were set to make a change at manager, and Jayson Stark of The Athletic first reported that Thomson would take over for Girardi.
Twins Acquire John Andreoli From Phillies
The Twins acquired outfielder John Andreoli from the Phillies earlier this week, as reflected on his transactions log at MLB.com. The right-handed hitter has reported to Minnesota’s top affiliate in St. Paul, where he made his organizational debut yesterday. Andreoli had been playing on a minor league contract with the Phillies, and he won’t occupy a spot on Minnesota’s 40-man roster.
A 2011 draftee by the Cubs, Andreoli has spent more than a decade in the minor leagues. He didn’t reach the majors with his original club, but he got to the bigs in 2018 after signing with the Mariners as a minor league free agent. The UCONN product split that year between the M’s and Orioles, appearing in 26 MLB games. After kicking around Triple-A for the next couple seasons, Andreoli made a brief return to the majors with the Padres last year. He suited up in seven games before being outrighted off the 40-man roster, then signed a minors deal with the Phils in Spring Training.
Assigned to their top affiliate in Lehigh Valley, Andreoli showed an extremely ball-in-play averse style of play over his 36 games. He walked in an exceptional 21.3% of his 136 plate appearances, but his passive plate approach also contributed to a sky-high 36% strikeout percentage. Well fewer than half his his trips to the dish culminated in an actual batted ball, and he posted an unconventional .154/.336/.260 slash line.
Andreoli has a more straightforward career track record at the minors highest level. He’s appeared in parts of seven seasons at Triple-A, hitting .253/.371/.406 with a 15.1% walk rate and a 26.5% strikeout percentage. He’s capable of playing all three outfield spots and adds an experienced depth option to the upper levels of the system. He’s also a familiar face for the front office, having played in 43 Triple-A contests as a member of the Minnesota franchise back in 2019.
Jean Segura To Undergo Finger Surgery, Expected To Miss 10-12 Weeks
Phillies second baseman Jean Segura will need to undergo surgery after fracturing his finger during last night’s loss to the Giants, manager Joe Girardi announced to reporters (including Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer). The team expects him to be sidelined for 10-12 weeks.
The Phils just placed Segura on the 10-day injured list this afternoon, but it’s a virtual inevitability he’ll head to the 60-day version whenever the club needs a 40-man roster spot. It’s a brutal blow for the Phils, who are off to a disappointing 21-29 start. Philadelphia had another big offseason in an attempt to snap a decade-long playoff drought, but they’re already facing an uphill battle in the standings and will now have to play without a key regular for most of the year.
Segura has started 43 of the Phils’ 50 games this season. The contact-hitting second baseman had been having a solid year, carrying a .275/.324/.407 line through 179 trips to the plate. He has popped six home runs and swiped eight bases, making him one of the team’s more productive all-around position players. He’s in the final guaranteed year of his deal, and the club holds a $17MM option on his services for 2023 with a $1MM buyout.
With Segura out, second base seems likely to fall to a combination of rookie Bryson Stott and utilityman Johan Camargo for the time being. The former is one of the top young players in the Phillies’ system, but he’s struggled to a .123/.179/.151 line through his first 78 MLB plate appearances. Stott has hit very well in the minors and the Phils no doubt anticipate better results at the big league level, but he also only has 19 games of Triple-A experience under his belt.
Camargo has a much larger body of work in the majors. He’s a versatile infield defender with decent contact skills from both sides of the plate, but he’s not offered much in the way of offensive production since a strong 2018 season with the division-rival Braves. Camargo hit .212/.260/.361 in just shy of 400 trips to the plate between 2019-21, and the Braves cut him loose at the end of last season. He signed a one-year deal with Philly over the winter and has a .248/.318/.350 mark in 40 games.
The Phillies also have 25-year-old Nick Maton on the 40-man roster. The left-handed hitter posted a .256/.323/.385 line through his first 131 big league plate appearances last season. He’s yet to play in the majors this year, though he was recalled today from Triple-A Lehigh Valley after starting the season with a .241/.360/.462 line there. Prospect Luis Garcia, who has yet to reach Double-A, is the only other primary infielder on the 40-man roster aside from the presumptive starting group of Rhys Hoskins, Alec Bohm and Didi Gregorius.
With Segura facing an extended absence, it’s not of the question the Phils look to the trade market for some additional help. It’s rare to see trades of consequence this early in June, but president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and his staff could look externally for a more proven solution.
Teams like the Nationals and Reds have virtually no chance of reaching the playoffs this season, and they’ve each got second basemen who are headed for free agency at the end of the year (old friend César Hernández and Brandon Drury, respectively). Seattle’s Adam Frazier could also find himself on the move as an impending free agent, but the M’s aren’t likely to make that kind of deal unless they’re still far out of contention closer to the trade deadline.
Jean Segura Fractures Finger
Phillies infielder Jean Segura fractured his right index finger during tonight’s game, manager Joe Girardi informed reporters (including Todd Zolecki of MLB.com and Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer). A more specific timetable will be known after Segura goes for a CT scan tomorrow, but it’s likely he’s at least headed to the injured list.
Segura has started 43 of the Phils’ 50 games this season. The contact-hitting second baseman is having a solid season, carrying a .275/.324/.407 line through 179 trips to the plate. Segura has popped six home runs and swiped eight bases, making him one of the team’s more productive all-around position players.
It’s been a rough start for the Phils, who dropped a 7-4 contest in extra innings against the Giants tonight. That took them to 21-29, percentage points above the Marlins for third place in the NL East. Philadelphia entered the season firmly with a win-now mentality after another aggressive winter, but they’ve already dug themselves a 12 1/2 game hole relative to the Mets in the division.
Their efforts to climb back into contention would be hampered further by an extended absence for Segura, and the club will no doubt hope he’s able to return relatively quickly. Primary shortstop Didi Gregorius has been on the injured list for three weeks due to a left knee sprain, leaving that position to rookie Bryson Stott and veteran utilityman Johan Camargo.
Gregorius started a rehab assignment with Triple-A Lehigh Valley this evening. Ideally, the 32-year-old would have a few days in a lower-pressure environment to get back into game shape, but Zolecki suggests the Phils could reinstate him from the IL sooner in response to Segura’s injury. Even if Gregorius steps back into the big league lineup, it’d seem Camargo and Stott would have to split second base duties while Segura is out.
Camargo has been off to an alright start after signing a one-year deal over the winter. The former Brave is hitting .248/.318/.350 through 130 plate appearances while offering some defensive flexibility throughout the infield. Stott, meanwhile, has yet to find his stride through his first 24 MLB games. The former first-round pick and top prospect is hitting just .123/.179/.151 against big league arms, although he did tee off on Triple-A pitching for nine games before being recalled once Gregorius went on the IL.
J.A. Happ Retires
Veteran lefty J.A. Happ has retired after spending parts of 15 seasons in the Major Leagues. The 39-year-old discussed his career, his journey to pro ball and his decision to step away from the game in an appearance on the Heart Strong Podcast with Jessica Lindberg.
Happ acknowledges that he went “back and forth for pretty much the whole winter” trying to determine whether he wanted to return for another season, going through his usual training regimen to be ready in case he felt a pull to return to the mound.
“It got to the point where it was Opening Day, and I turned the first game on, and I talked to my wife, Morgan, and I said ‘What are you feeling?’ She just kind of looked at me and said, ‘A little anxiety.’ I wanted to turn it on to see what I felt, too, and I didn’t maybe feel what I needed to feel in order to think I wanted to keep doing this. I felt like that was a sign, like ‘OK, it’s time to go.’ Even though I had put the work in to be ready if the right situation came, I felt like it was time to move on and be a dad and dive into the kids. … It was emotional — something I didn’t expect. I called my agent that day, right after we turned that game on, and said, ‘I think this is it.’ I told the people I feel like I needed to tell. I think I’m still processing it, but I do wake up feeling good about it, and I’m happy to start the process of being a full-time dad, for the time being, at the very least.”
Originally a third-round pick by the Phillies back in 2004, Happ made his MLB debut with Philadelphia in 2007, appearing in just one game. He pitched in eight games the following year, earning enough trust to make the team’s NLCS roster and turn in three sharp innings of relief. By the 2009 season, Happ not only established himself as a member of the Phillies’ rotation but took home a second-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting after logging a 2.93 ERA in 166 innings of work. He began that year in the bullpen but moved into the rotation in late May, going on to hurl shutouts against the Blue Jays and Rockies in just the seventh and fourteenth starts of his big league career.
Strong as Happ’s early work was, the Phillies couldn’t resist the temptation to include him as part of the return for right-hander Roy Oswalt — a three-time All-Star and regular Cy Young contender at that point in his career. That 2010 swap proved to be the first of several notable trades in which Happ was involved over the course of his career. The Astros included him in a massive 11-player swap with the Jays that saw Happ land in Toronto and a then fresh-faced prospect named Joe Musgrove among the most notable names sent to Houston. Happ was also swapped straight up for outfielder Michael Saunders in 2014, and after returning to the Blue Jays on a three-year, $36MM deal as a free agent, he was flipped to the Yankees for Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney in the final season of that pact.
Happ was never a flamethrower or a perennial All-Star, but he carved out a lengthy career as a mid-rotation starter in the perennially dangerous American League East, spending six of his 15 years with the Jays and another three with the Yankees. From Happ’s peak in 2014-20, he notched 1058 2/3 innings of 3.81 ERA ball — a strong run that included an All-Star nod in 2018 and a sixth-place finish in 2016 American League Cy Young voting. His consistency netted him a trio of sizable free-agent contracts: his aforementioned $36MM deal with the Blue Jays, a two-year Yankees deal worth $34MM, and a one-year deal with the Twins that promised him $8MM just last season.
All in all, Happ steps away from the game with a lifetime 133-100 record, a 4.13 ERA, 1661 strikeouts, four complete games and three shutouts compiled while suiting up for eight teams: the Blue Jays, Phillies, Yankees, Astros, Twins, Mariners, Pirates and Cardinals. He reached the postseason six times, winning a World Series ring with the 2008 Phillies and pitching well in four of those six playoff runs. (He made one start with the Yankees both in 2018 and 2020, neither of which went particularly well.) Between the three previously referenced free-agent deals and his arbitration seasons, Happ earned more than $97MM in a career pegged at 21.5 wins above replacement by Baseball-Reference and 21.8 WAR by FanGraphs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images/Imagn.
Phillies Activate Mickey Moniak, Option Bailey Falter
8:04PM: “I’m going to play [Moniak] a lot” in center field, Phillies manager Joe Girardi told MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki and other reporters, adding that Herrera could get some corner-outfield duty.
1:28PM: The Phillies have activated outfielder Mickey Moniak from the 10-day IL, the team announced today. The move follows an announcement that left-hander Bailey Falter was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley following last night’s game against the Mets.
Moniak has yet to make his season debut after suffering a fracture in his right hand in the Phillies’ final game of the spring. The top overall pick in the 2016 amateur draft has struggled to match the expectations placed on a 1-1, logging a relatively pedestrian triple-slash of .255/.303/.406 in parts of six minor league seasons and a meager .128/.241/.192 across 55 plate appearances in the bigs, but he was the front-runner to take over the everyday center field job prior to the injury.
That job, covered thus far by a rotating cast that includes Odubel Herrera, Roman Quinn, Matt Vierling, and Simon Muzziotti, could still be his for the taking, though a recent hot streak from Herrera has pushed his season line (.270/.298/.494) much further into playable territory. Still, even with that recent boost, Phillies center fielders boast a combined wRC+ of only 73 — sixth-worst in the majors — and a combined batting line of only .218/.272/.346.
Even with Herrera proving capable cover in center of late, the injury woes of right fielder-turned-DH Bryce Harper have placed manager Joe Girardi in something of a bind. Due to a tear in his UCL that precludes him from throwing but not swinging a bat, the 2015 and 2021 NL MVP has been relegated to DH duties, forcing both of the Phillies’ defensively limited offseason outfield acquisitions — Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber — to play the field, a major contributing factor to the Phils’ worst-in-the-majors rankings in both outs above average (-20) and runs above average (-16).
Both Castellanos and Schwarber have contributed with the bat in Philadelphia, though neither has set the world on fire. Schwarber, who’s .181/.301/.398 batting line showcases an abysmal batting average offset by strong power and on-base skills, could be a candidate to take an occasional seat should Moniak prove himself capable at the plate. Moniak could also be used a defensive replacement in late-inning situations. Whether he’s deployed in this fashion or given a real chance to dislodge Herrera will likely go a long way toward showing the extent to which Phillies brass still view him as a serious prospect.
Falter, who’s posted a 4.20 ERA in 15 innings across six games (two starts), will likely be given the chance to stretch out as a starter in the minors. While he’s had mixed results in the bigs, the 25-year-old has been lights out in parts of two seasons in Triple-A, logging a 1.32 ERA while striking out 39.6% of the batters he’s faced across 41 innings.
Phillies, Zach Eflin Avoid Arbitration
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
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
- RF Nick Castellanos: five years, $100MM
- LF Kyle Schwarber: four years, $79MM
- RHP Corey Knebel: One year, $10MM
- RHP Jeurys Familia: One year, $6MM
- LHP Brad Hand: One year, $6MM
- CF Odúbel Herrera: One year, $1.75MM
- 3B Johan Camargo: One year, $1.4MM
2022 spending: $64.15MM
Total spending: $204.15MM
Option Decisions
- Team declined $15MM option on LF Andrew McCutchen in favor of $3MM buyout
- Team declined $11.5MM option on CF Odúbel Herrera in favor of $2.5MM buyout (later re-signed to cheaper deal)
Trades and Claims
- Claimed LHP Ryan Sherriff off waivers from Rays
- Claimed LHP Kent Emanuel off waivers from Astros
- Acquired RHP Nick Nelson and C Donny Sands from Yankees for minor league 1B T.J. Rumfield and minor league LHP Joel Valdez
- Acquired C Garrett Stubbs from Astros for minor league OF Logan Cerny
- Claimed LHP Scott Moss off waivers from Guardians (later outrighted to Triple-A)
- Traded IF Luke Williams to Giants for minor league IF Will Toffey
- Traded CF Adam Haseley to White Sox for minor league RHP McKinley Moore
- Acquired RHP James Norwood from Padres for minor league IF Kervin Pichardo and cash
Notable Minor League Signees
- John Andreoli, Aaron Barrett, Cam Bedrosian, Andrew Bellatti (later selected to 40-man roster), Kyle Dohy, Drew Maggi, Dillon Maples, Michael Mariot, James Marvel, Yairo Muñoz, Jake Newberry, Roman Quinn (later selected to 40-man roster), Ricardo Sánchez, Justin Williams, Austin Wynns
Notable Losses
- Haseley, McCutchen, Freddy Galvis, Ronald Torreyes, Brad Miller, Hector Néris, Travis Jankowski, Archie Bradley, Ian Kennedy, Matt Moore, Chase Anderson, Brandon Kintzler, Andrew Knapp, Adonis Medina
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.