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Phillies Activate Rhys Hoskins, Option Alec Bohm

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The Phillies announced they’ve activated first baseman Rhys Hoskins from the 10-day injured list. Somewhat surprisingly, Philadelphia optioned struggling corner infielder Alec Bohm to Triple-A Lehigh Valley in a corresponding move.

Hoskins is back after a two-week absence due to a left groin strain. He’s starting at first base and hitting fifth in this afternoon’s game against the Padres. Hoskins has hit at his typically productive level this year, slashing .244/.332/.509 with 24 home runs over 434 plate appearances. That kind of offensive production will be welcome for the suddenly slumping Phils, who have gone just 5-8 since he last played on August 5. Coupled with the Braves’ recent tear, the Phillies have fallen five games back in the National League East.

Bohm has been in the majors since Philadelphia selected him to make his debut last August. The former #3 overall pick and top prospect began his career with a flourish, hitting .338/.400/.481 over his first 180 trips to the plate. That earned him a runner-up finish in NL Rookie of the Year award voting.

That strong showing locked Bohm in as the season-opening third baseman in 2021. The Phils no doubt expected more of the same offensive impact from the right-handed hitter, but he’s struggled mightily in his sophomore campaign. Through 407 plate appearances, Bohm is hitting .245/.302/.342 with seven home runs. After adjusting for Philadelphia’s hitter-friendly home park, that production checks in 24 percentage points worse than the league average.

Bohm’s strikeout rate has jumped from 20% last season to a subpar 26.5% in 2021, while his walk rate has dipped slightly. While that’s a discouraging development, the bigger issue is that Bohm’s results on batted balls have nosedived. Bohm was never likely to sustain last season’s .410 batting average on balls in play, so it’s unsurprising his BABIP has dropped to .323 this year. That’s still higher than the .293 league average — reflective of Bohm’s ability to spray hard contact to all fields — but it reinforces that Bohm needs to do more damage from a power standpoint if he’s to be an impactful offensive player.

To this point, he’s shown surprisingly little extra-base thump. It’s not for a lack of strength; Bohm’s 92.4 MPH average exit velocity and 50.2% hard hit rate both check in among the top ten percent of qualified hitters. He’s been unable to hit the ball in the air with consistency, though, negating much of the value that comes with making authoritative contact. Bohm’s 52.8% ground-ball rate is eighth-highest among 119 hitters with 400+ plate appearances. That’s not a good place for a potential power hitter, and he’s the only player in the top ten in ground-ball rate who’s also striking out at a higher than average clip.

If Bohm isn’t hitting well, he’s not providing much in the way of value. Prospect rankers long raised questions about his defensive ability at third base, and the advanced metrics suggest he’s been a below-average defender this season. Ronald Torreyes is a superior gloveman at the hot corner, while utilityman Brad Miller could factor into the third base mix as well while Bohm’s in the minors.

Down 2021 notwithstanding, the Phillies are likely still counting on Bohm to make an impact in the not-too-distant future. It wouldn’t be surprising if he’s brought back to the majors in short order, with active rosters set to expand to 28 on September 1. A brief demotion could serve to get Bohm a mental reset without dealing with the pressure of a pennant race.

Today’s option won’t have any effect on Bohm’s path to free agency, but it could impact when he reaches arbitration. He didn’t debut in the majors until too late in the 2020 season to reach a full year of MLB service last year, so he entered 2021 with 128 days of service time. He has banked enough time to reach his first full year of service this season, so he’ll remain on track for free agency after the 2026 campaign. Bohm could plausibly qualify for arbitration after next season as a Super Two player (assuming the Super Two system even survives the new round of collective bargaining negotiations), but a lengthy optional assignment could keep him from reaching arbitration until the 2023-24 offseason.

Injury Notes: Hoskins, Galvis, Boyd, LeBlanc, Kim

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Rhys Hoskins isn’t expected to come off the injured list when first eligible, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. The minimum 10-day stint will have elapsed by Tuesday, but Hoskins still hasn’t tested his injured groin by running. The first baseman just received a cortisone injection to try and aid his recovery and is still aiming to be activated at some point this week. Every game is crucial for the Phillies as they are in the thick of a three-team race for the AL East crown. They are currently tied with Atlanta for the top spot, with the Mets just 1 1/2 games behind. Hoskins is having another fine season at the plate, slashing .244/.332/.509, which is 23% better than league average by wRC+.

Salisbury also notes that Freddy Galvis has started taking batting practice and is progressing towards a rehab stint. The infielder was on the injured list with a quad strain when the Orioles traded him to the Phillies before the deadline. Before getting hurt, he was slashing .249/.306/.414. That amounts to a wRC+ of 97, which is below league average but a career high for Galvis. Despite never being a huge offensive threat, he’s long been a valuable contributor because of his excellent glovework.

Other notes from around the league…

  • Matthew Boyd is rehabbing and hoping to return before the end of August, reports Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. The lefty was placed on the IL in mid-June with a triceps issue but now potentially a few weeks away from returning. Boyd has a year of team control remaining before reaching free agency and figures to be an important part of the Tigers’ 2022 rotation as they look to move from rebuilding to contending. If he stays on track with his rehab, he could get more than a month’s worth of work in before the offseason. Prior to the injury, Boyd had an ERA of 3.44 on the year through 70 2/3 innings.
  • Neither Wade LeBlanc nor Kwang Hyun Kim are expected to come off the IL as soon as they are eligible, according to Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, per Jeff Jones of MLB.com. Kim, who has a 3.36 ERA in 91 innings this season, has been out since August 9th with elbow inflammation. LeBlanc, who also is dealing with an elbow issue, has an ERA of 3.61 in 42 1/3 innings for St. Louis this year. However, the rotation just welcomed Jack Flaherty back into the fold and could soon see a return of Miles Mikolas, who is currently on a rehab assignment. The club is currently 4 1/2 games behind a slumping Padres club for the final NL playoff spot, but with three teams in between them.

Phillies Place Rhys Hoskins On Injured List

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The Phillies announced they’ve placed first baseman Rhys Hoskins on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 7, with a left groin strain. Outfielder Mickey Moniak has been recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take his active roster spot.

Hoskins hasn’t played since Friday as he’s battled groin discomfort. There’s no indication the Phils expect he’ll require a particularly lengthy IL stay, but he’s clearly not progressed as quickly as had been hoped. He’ll miss at least another week, as he’s first eligible to return next Tuesday against the Diamondbacks.

The Phils have been surging of late, completing sweeps over the Nationals and Mets as part of an active eight-game win streak. That run has pushed them to the top of the National League East, but the Braves and Mets each remain within 2.5 games. It figures to be a tightly contested race between the three clubs, and the Phils will have to navigate a pair of difficult upcoming series — against the Dodgers and Reds — without their starting first baseman.

Hoskins is having another strong season at the dish. The right-handed slugger has been an above-average offensive player in every year of his career. He’s continued the trend with a .240/.332/.509 line (123 wRC+) with 24 home runs over 434 plate appearances in 2021. That’s not too dissimilar from the .239/.366/.495 career mark he carried into the year.

Quick Hits: Pujols, T. Rosenthal, Gardner, Hoskins

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Deirdre Pujols, wife of Angels first baseman Albert Pujols, suggested on Instagram on Monday that this will be the final season of the 41-year-old’s storied career. However, she quickly amended her post and made it clear that he won’t necessarily retire after 2021. Indeed, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report that Pujols hasn’t made a decision on his future beyond this year. But as someone who has struggled immensely over the past few seasons, it doesn’t seem likely that the future Hall of Famer will land another guaranteed contract even if he wants to play in 2022. Regardless, he’ll earn $30MM this season on the 10-year, $254MM deal he signed with the Angels entering the 2012 campaign.

  • The Brewers were among the teams that tried to sign reliever Trevor Rosenthal before he inked a one-year, $11MM guarantee with the Athletics, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. The Braves were also known to be in the mix, and they made the right-hander a back-loaded offer for two years, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Trevor Rosenthal ultimately chose the A’s back-loaded proposal (they’ll pay him through 2023).
  • Outfielder Brett Gardner re-signed with the Yankees for a $5.15MM guarantee, but at least a few other teams considered prying him out of New York. The Braves, Angels and Blue Jays all showed interest in Gardner during his long stay in free agency, per Heyman. However, Gardner’s goal was to remain a member of the Yankees. A 2005 third-round pick who made his big league debut in 2008, Gardner is easily the Yankees’ longest-tenured player.
  • Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who underwent Tommy John surgery last October, said that he has been “medically cleared” for all spring training activities, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays. It’s not certain whether Hoskins will be in the Phillies’ lineup on Opening Day – that will depend on how many reps he gets this spring – but it’s not “out of the picture,” he stated. After a somewhat disappointing 2019, the 27-year-old slugger enjoyed a major rebound last season, when he slashed .245/.384/.503 (140 wRC+) with 10 home runs in 185 plate appearances.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 1/15/21

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The deadline to exchange arbitration figures is today at 1pm ET. As of this morning, there were 125 arbitration-eligible players who’d yet to agree to terms on their contract for the upcoming 2021 season. Arbitration is muddier than ever before thanks to the shortened 2020 schedule, which most believe will lead to record number of arb hearings this winter. Be that as it may, it’s still reasonable to expect dozens of contractual agreements to filter in over the next couple of hours.

We’ll highlight some of the more high-profile cases in separate posts with more in-depth breakdowns, but the majority of today’s dealings will be smaller-scale increases that don’t radically alter a team’s payroll or a player’s trade candidacy. As such, we’ll just run through most of today’s agreements in this post.

I’ve embedded MLBTR’s 2021 Arbitration Tracker in the post (those in the mobile app or viewing on mobile web will want to turn their phones sideways). Our tracker can be sorted by team, by service time and/or by Super Two status, allowing users to check the status on whichever groups of players they like. You can also check out Matt Swartz’s projected arbitration salaries for this year’s class, and we’ll do a quick sentence on each player’s agreement at the bottom of this post as well, with the most recent agreements sitting atop the list.

Today’s Agreements (chronologically, newest to oldest)

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Phillies Notes: MacPhail, Front Office, Payroll

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As Andrew McCutchen celebrates his 34th birthday today, let’s check out some Phillies-related items…

  • Though owner John Middleton recently gave a strong public endorsement to team president Andy MacPhail, multiple sources tell the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Scott Lauber that Middleton would prefer MacPhail either retires from his post a year early, or at least steps away from baseball operations duties.  Such a move would allow for a smoother transition for a front office that is searching for a new GM after Matt Klentak stepped down from the post, as a new president of baseball operations and GM could both be hired in tandem, as opposed to hiring a general manager now and then a new president next offseason.  Staying with the combo of MacPhail as president and interim GM Ned Rice through 2021 “would seem anathema to Middleton” considering that he clearly feels changes are needed for the Phils.
  • Of the 20 Phillies players who are free agents, arbitration-eligible, or controlled by club options for 2021, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb figures only three (arb-eligibles Rhys Hoskins, Zach Eflin, and Andrew Knapp) “are locks to return” next season.  Any of the other 17 could conceivably be non-tendered or let walk depending on what kind of budgetary cuts are coming to the Philadelphia payroll, or how the Phils might need to reallocate funds to pursue other needed roster upgrades.  J.T. Realmuto and Didi Gregorius are among that group of 17 players, so others could be let go to free up the funds necessary to re-sign at least one of that duo.

Rhys Hoskins Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The Phillies announced that first baseman Rhys Hoskins underwent a successful Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL in his left elbow last week. He’s expected to be sidelined for four to six months.

It’s an unfortunate development for the 27-year-old. Recovery from this procedure isn’t as severe for a position player as it would be for a pitcher, but both player and team were surely hoping he wouldn’t need to go under the knife.

Before going down with the forearm injury that ended his season, Hoskins had a strong year at the plate. He hit .245/.384/.503 over 185 plate appearances, a marked improvement in the on-base and power departments over his 2019 campaign. He’s also in line for a substantial raise, as he’ll go through the arbitration process for the first time this winter. As a middle-of-the-order fixture, Hoskins should remain quite a bargain from a contractual standpoint.

The four-to-six month timetable opens up the possibility Hoskins won’t be available out of the gate next season. It’d take his coming in at the early end of that recovery timetable to have an uninterrupted spring training. As far as recent precedents go, Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks underwent the same procedure last October and would not have been ready to return until June. Notably, however, Hicks’ procedure was on his throwing arm (Hoskins’ is not) and initially called for a more significant eight-to-ten month recovery timeline.

Rhys Hoskins Unlikely To Return Before End Of Regular Season

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The Phillies are fighting for their playoff lives, but they’ll have to do so without one of their best hitters, as manager Joe Girardi said Wednesday that first baseman Rhys Hoskins is a long shot to return before the regular season draws to a close (Twitter link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). Hoskins, out with a UCL injury in his non-throwing arm, took some dry swings today but isn’t yet ready to face live pitching.

It’s been a rough go of it on the injury front for the Phillies. Star catcher J.T. Realmuto was recently sidelined for more than a week due to hip trouble, and Bryce Harper has dealt with back discomfort in recent weeks. Both Harper and Realmuto are in tonight’s lineup and playing at less than 100 percent, per Girardi, which will likely be the case through season’s end. Harper is serving as the DH. Realmuto is at first base.

Hoskins, 27, has bounced back from a last year’s down season (by his standards). Through 185 plate appearances in 2020, he’s batted .245/.384/.503 with 10 homers, nine doubles and a hefty 15.7 percent walk rate. His output at the plate has been 39 percent better than that of a league-average hitter by measure of wRC+.

The Phillies aren’t dead in the water yet, but a four-game losing streak — capped by another bullpen meltdown and a walk-off loss against the Nats last night — hasn’t helped their chances. But at 27-29, the Phils are only a game back in the loss column to the three teams ahead of them in playoff standings (Cincinnati, Milwaukee and San Francisco. FanGraphs still gives them a one in three chance of making the postseason, but they’ll need to right the ship in a hurry — and likely see some of those previously mentioned competitors stumble — to secure their spot.

Injury Notes: JV, McCullers, Hoskins, Moronta, Chafin

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Justin Verlander has continued to progress in his late-season comeback effort, as Jake Kaplan of The Athletic writes. The veteran hurler isn’t yet ready to return to the Astros rotation, of course, but he has now faced live hitters in a two-inning sim game. It’s still unclear how things will progress from here. The club would surely like to get JV a regular-season appearance before the season concludes, but it’s also possible he’d make his first start in the postseason. Meanwhile, the ’Stros have now welcomed back fellow right-hander Lance McCullers from his own stay on the injured list, as Mark Berman of FOX 26 was among those to tweet. It turned out to be a brief stay for McCullers, who had a procedure to relieve neck nerve irritation. He’ll look to improve upon a 5.79 ERA through his first eight outings.

Here are some more injury notes from around the league …

  • Phillies first bagger Rhys Hoskins is still in limbo as he deals with an elbow/foream issue. As Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports on Twitter, the burly slugger is holding out hope of a return even while the threat of a season-ending surgery hangs over his head. When and how this situation will be resolved isn’t yet clear. Losing Hoskins would represent a big dent to the Phils’ lineup. He has to this point of the season turned in a productive .245/.384/.503 slash line with ten long balls.
  • It seems the Giants could yet get a bullpen boost from right-hander Reyes Moronta. He’s ready for competitive mound action at the team’s alternate training site, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area notes on Twitter. Moronta has been building up after undergoing shoulder surgery, so the club won’t want to push him too hard. But it’s enticing to imagine adding another postseason weapon, particularly since Moronta is said to be showing typically strong velocity. Jeff Samardzija is also nearing readiness, with a five-inning set scheduled. It’s unclear what role may await for the veteran once he’s deemed a full go. He coughed up 15 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings over his first three starts on the year.
  • The Cubs haven’t yet received a contribution from recently acquired southpaw Andrew Chafin, but that may soon change. The 30-year-old reliever, who was nursing a finger sprain when he was dealt at the trade deadline, is close enough that he could be activated over the next few days, skipper David Ross indicated to reporters including Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). Chafin had struggled to open the year in Arizona, but he’d represent a notable addition to a bullpen that has had its share of issues, especially from the left side.

Phillies To Place Rhys Hoskins On 10-Day IL

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The Phillies will place first baseman Rhys Hoskins on the 10-day injured list with a left UCL injury, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports. In better news for the club, catcher J.T. Realmuto (hip flexor) will avoid the IL, while right-hander Zack Wheeler (finger) should return to the mound this week.

The Hoskins news continues a rough few days for the Phillies, who have dropped three in a row – including a 6-2 defeat to the Marlins on Monday. The 27-year-old Hoskins hasn’t played since Saturday, when he suffered a forearm injury, and it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to take the field again this season. Time’s running out in 2020 for him and the Phillies, who are an even 23-23 but are still in possession of a playoff spot in the National League.

If Philly does break its eight-year playoff drought this season, it’ll have Hoskins to thank to some extent. Although Hoskins is stuck in an 0-for-10 slump, he has slashed a rather effective .245/.384/.503 (138 wRC+) with 10 home runs in 185 plate appearances. That’ll be tough production for the Phillies to replace in the season’s final couple weeks, especially considering Hoskins has played almost every game at first for the team this base. Otherwise, only the now-gone Neil Walker and the historically light-hitting Phil Gosselin have lined up there for the Phillies.

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