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Phillies Claim Oscar Mercado

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The Phillies have claimed outfielder Oscar Mercado off waivers from the Guardians, per a team announcement. They opened a spot on the 40-man roster by recalling lefty Damon Jones from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and placing him on the Major League 60-day injured list due to a shoulder impingement.

Mercado, 27, will be the Phillies’ latest attempt to patch their longstanding hole in center field. He was a Rookie of the Year candidate with Cleveland back in 2019 and looked like he might become a foundational piece in the outfield, hitting .269/.318/.443 with 15 home runs, 25 doubles, three triples, 15 steals and strong defensive ratings over the course of his 115-game debut. The notion of Mercado hitting waivers at any point in the near future following that season would’ve seemed outlandish, but in two and a half seasons since that showing, virtually every element of his game has trended in the wrong direction.

During the shortened 2020 season, Mercado fell into a disastrous slump at the plate and was never able to pull himself out of it, finishing the season with 93 plate appearances and a .128/.174/.174 batting line. His strikeout rate nearly doubled from that strong rookie showing, as did his rate of infield pop-ups. The 2021 season was a step back in the right direction, but Mercado was still a well below-average hitter. That’s again been the case so far in 2022, and his overall batting line dating back to Opening Day 2020 checks in at just .198/.254/.331. He’s still posted above-average marks in both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average over that time, but the abrupt disappearance of his offense was too much for the Guardians to overlook and led to a DFA last week.

The Phillies entered the 2021-22 offseason with a glaring hole in center field but instead doubled down on their longstanding defensive woes by signing corner sluggers/designated hitters Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber. The primary solution in center wound up being a low-cost reunion with Odubel Herrera, whom they signed with visions of a platoon alongside Matt Vierling. (The Phils also thinned out their center field depth by trading Adam Haseley to the ChiSox prior to the season.)

While the team’s defensive struggles certainly aren’t the only reason (and arguably not even the main one) for this year’s generally disappointing season, there’s little denying that the club’s woeful defense has again been a substantial detriment. The Phillies, who neglected shortstop and center field upgrades in favor of the aforementioned duo of lumbering sluggers, are tied with the rebuilding Nationals for the worst Defensive Runs Saved mark in the Majors (-30). They’re also 29th in Outs Above Average (-27).

Bringing Mercado into the fold should help by giving them at least one solid defensive player to install into the lineup, but his feeble production at the plate is a questionable fit with what has been a surprisingly middle-of-the pack offense. The Phils are batting .247/.316/.413 as a collective unit — about three percent better than league average after adjusting for park and league (103 wRC+). That production, however, includes Bryce Harper’s absolute powerhouse .318/.385/.599 batting line, and Harper will be absent for the foreseeable future after sustaining a fractured thumb over the weekend.

If Mercado is indeed able to turn things around following a change of scenery, he could be a multi-year option in the Philadelphia outfield. He’s yet to reach arbitration eligibility and still has three seasons of club control remaining beyond the current campaign.

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.

Organizational Notes: Brewers, Dodgers, Padres

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The Brewers added a pair of new coaches to their major league staff, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. The club named Jim Henderson its new bullpen coach and Matt Erickson as its infield and assistant hitting coach. Henderson replaces Steve Karsay, who stepped down last week citing a desire to spend more time with his family, while Erickson assumes a newly created role in manager Craig Counsell’s dugout.

Henderson’s playing career spanned parts of four major league seasons, including three with Milwaukee. He served as the Brewers’ primary closer in 2013, notching 28 saves alongside a 2.70 ERA in 60 innings across 61 appearances. After a rocky start to the 2014 season, the righty underwent shoulder surgery and never quite regained his form. He appeared in 44 games for the Mets in 2016, posting a 4.11 ERA in 45 innings, but never made it back to the bigs thereafter. He’s been a coach in the Milwaukee system since 2018, serving most recently as the pitching coach at Triple-A Nashville. Erickson, who notched one hit in six big-league plate appearances (all with the Brewers in 2004), had been the manager of the Low-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers since 2011.

Other organizational notes from around the game:

  • The Dodgers have hired Damon Jones, previously general counsel for the Washington Football Team, for a multi-titled role that includes vice president, assistant GM, and baseball legal counsel. Prior to joining the Washington Football Team, Jones had worked in the Nationals front office for 13 years following the end of his college baseball career at UC Santa Barbara. The team also announced the promotions of Alex Slater (from director of baseball operations to vice president and assistant GM), Brandon McDaniel (from director of player performance to vice president of player performance), and Thomas Albert (from assistant athletic trainer to head athletic trainer).
  • The Padres announced their 2022 minor league affiliate coaching staffs today. Jared Sandberg, previously the Mariners’ bench coach, will manage the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas; Phillip Wellman, perpetrator of perhaps the most legendary minor league manager temper tantrum ever caught on film, returns as manager of the Double-A San Antonio Missions; Brian Esposito, who’d managed the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians in the Pirates’ organization since 2018, will manage the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps; and Eric Junge, who’d served as the El Paso pitching coach in 2021 before managing the team from mid-August, will manage the L0w-A Lake Elsinore Storm. A full list of the club’s minor league coaches can be found in the team’s official announcement.

Phillies Add 6 Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Phillies have added three left-handers – Kyle Dohy, Bailey Falter and Damon Jones – as well as infielder Nick Maton, righty Francisco Morales and outfielder Simon Muzziotti to their 40-man roster, the team announced. They now have 37 players on their roster.

Going by MLB.com’s rankings, the most promising player in this group is Morales, whom it places fourth overall in the Phillies’ farm system. The hard-throwing 21-year-old has a chance to morph into a workhorse at the major league level, per MLB.com. So far, Morales has topped out at Single-A ball, where he recorded a 3.82 ERA/3.51 FIP and 12.01 K/9 against 4.28 BB/9 in 96 2/3 innings in 2019.

Muzziotti (No. 11), Maton (13), Jones (15) and Dohy (27) are also among the Phillies’ top 30 prospects. All of those players are homegrown products.

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