2020 Phillies Spring Training News, Notes & Discussion

LoneStarPhan 2020-06-29 02:06:06 UTC #442

53 gives them some room for adjustments as they prepare for the season.

MLBTR points out that:

> Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit. However, players removed from a team’s 60-man (for reasons unrelated to injury, suspension, etc.) must be exposed to other organizations via trade or waivers.

They may pick up someone from another organization or perhaps just add someone from the organization in a couple weeks if they still have several spaces open.

No Herrera on this initial list and no Bethancourt. Herrera doesn't surprise me but I also though Bethancourt, who I thought was looking pretty good in early March, would be on the list. I can't recall what his contract status is, so I don't know if he will become a free agent or just another minor leaguer not playing and not getting paid.

zambonir 2020-06-29 02:14:36 UTC #443

Maybe Bethancourt took his opt-out (or didn't promise that he wouldn't use it). He definitely would be a free agent. He probably could have expected to be first-call-up from AAA so Grullon could get the regular playing time. But now they'd probably rather keep Grullon on the travel squad which would just make Bethancourt a BP catcher essentially. Marchan they can add any time.

That's still a lot of AAAA guys. Wonder if some of them to still have their opt-outs, and/or if retention bonuses have already been paid.

Not impossible they scare up another arm or bat over the next few weeks.

Squire 2020-06-29 02:15:48 UTC #444

With only 3 catchers (and 31 pitchers) the fact that he wasn't added has me a touch concerned that Marchan is one of the unnamed who had a positive COVID-19 test.

LoneStarPhan 2020-06-29 02:31:06 UTC #445

Hunter was rumored to have been a positive test and he is on the pool list. Maybe he has already gotten the two required clear tests and cleared to return. Or perhaps they just anticipate he will be back in the next week or so.

So much we don't know. Makes it fun again as we eagerly soak up information.

Squire 2020-06-29 02:46:38 UTC #446

Did we lose Austin Davis and JD Hammer? No Swarzak either. I would have taken Luke Williams over Gosselin.

zambonir 2020-06-29 03:43:51 UTC #447

Davis is still on the 40 (as is Gamboa) so he's just Philles property. It may indicate their days are numbered though, since literally more than a dozen people on the list have to be added to the 40 if and when they're going to actually play for the Phillies, and certainly 4 or 5 people will before Opening Day.

I assume that Hammer and Williams are also still Phillies property (Hammer already cleared waivers and was assigned to the minors and Williams hasn't ever been added to the 40). Swarzak had an early opt-out and a retention bonus, plus his major league salary was going to be $1.5 million (I bet Storen was in that ballpark too, and Liriano still is). Cleavenger, Stock and Guerra are all on the 40 and will make a lot less.

I assume we will get more info on the contractual status of some of the minor league invite guys soon. Gosselin probably was an easy/cheap move (his opt-out actually isn't until July 1 but we know he doesn't want to be anywhere else). Some of the other guys may have agreed to give up their opt-outs or renegotiated their base major league salaries.

julio 2020-06-29 04:12:47 UTC #448

Well, there will probably be changes to the 40-man by Opening Day, but I don't know about "4 or 5."

As of now, there are 39 players on the 40-man roster. 35 of those players are in the 60-man Player Pool (four were excluded from the Pool, and are Optioned). The only obvious needed addition is a backup infielder (assuming Segura at 3B, Gregorius at SS, Kingery at 2B, Hoskins at 1B). They could add that one player without removing anybody from the 40-man, and assemble a 30-man Opening Day Active Roster, plus a 3-man taxi squad, from the 36 players then on the 40-man roster

It remains to be seen if any of the 18 Pool players who are not on the 40-man roster have opt-outs that haven't been satisfied. My guess is that there are none - that these issues were addressed before the Pool was finalized. But we'll see.

zambonir 2020-06-29 04:24:59 UTC #449

I am assuming some injuries. But even without that possibility, you've got the following players trying to make the Opening Day roster (including the three-man squad) who aren't on the 40:

Walker/Forsythe/Harrison (probably just one of them)

Torreyes, Gosselin (former can play SS, latter can play CF, neither is an actual need, but it's not out of the question, managers love having that glove-first guy even though our 3B and 2B can both play SS too)

Liriano (he seems to have already "won" the minor league free agent reliever derby but we need to know if he has an opt-out or not)

Kelley, Parker, McClain

And then Bohm and Howard, whether it's on Opening Day or at the end of July.

I'm assuming Williams, Garlick and Gamboa's spot on the 40-man is shaky (unless Garlick makes the 30-man or Bruce gets hurt). Ditto Austin Davis. Seranthony will go on the 45-man. Lots of other fungible relievers still on the roster but the plan there is probably to see what they have (or use them up) before changing things.

Sanchez another guy on the 40 who's not on the 60. Also, we may need to replace Wheeler for a while though we still don't know how the "COVID IL," or taking a leave of absence for Covid-related reasons, affects the rosters.

julio 2020-06-29 04:56:59 UTC #450

Seranthony Dominguez was placed on the 60-day IL today (Sunday) - per mlb.com's transactions page. I believe that's actually a 45-day IL this season, but I'm just reporting what they posted. This is why the roster stands at 39 players, not 40.

Players who go on the "COVID-19 Related Injured List" will not count against the 40-man roster limit. This is from Section 6.1.8 of the 2020 MLB Operations Manual (the special rules!) - which I found here. I'll see about posting a copy of this document in Baseball Links, probably tomorrow.

zambonir 2020-06-29 05:57:57 UTC #451

What about players who simply decide not to play this year? Some kind of longer-term inactive list? That would also presumably apply to Wheeler if he misses time due to his wife's pregnancy.

Is the 3-man travelling squad in effect while the roster is at 28 or 30, or does it only kick in once they go down to 26? That could have an impact on the 40 too.

LoneStarPhan 2020-06-29 08:20:30 UTC #452

From Phillies.com transaction section:

> 02/12/20 Philadelphia Phillies placed RHP David Robertson on the 60-day injured list. Tommy John surgery

Robertson was on the 60 day DL since February 12th.

andyb 2020-06-29 11:40:42 UTC #453

That has to mean he is likely gone when they need the spot. That means he was passed by other arms in training camp like Clevinger. Reggie McLain and Robert Stock probably have somewhat shaky spots on the 40-man roster if they don't make the initial 30-man roster. At that point they might have to be sacrificed for the 40-man spots to get to 30.

andyb 2020-06-29 11:43:12 UTC #454

The 3-man traveling squad is in effect all year. They don't need to be on the 40 until they are on the active roster though. Since it is there for COVID test emergencies, they could add one of those players with a 41st spot on the 40 if they needed to.

zambonir 2020-06-29 16:40:29 UTC #455

But it doesn't have to explicitly be for COVID emergencies right? mean, Grullon is on the 40 anyway. And it would just make sense if you are travelling with a spare reliever and emergency starting pitcher that they also be guys on the 40 so you could use them for any reason without a second roster move. Once you're at 26, that is. It just seems like when rosters are at 30 they are unlikely to need those extra three guys (and if there's an actual positive test outbreak they'll need more than three).

I agree about Sanchez and McLain and Stock, as I said there are probably still 4-5 people who need to be added to the 40, especially while the active roster is at 30, and that's without including Howard and Bohm (Bohm should probably be on the Opening Day roster but I doubt he will be given the current economic/labor context).

andyb 2020-06-29 16:55:36 UTC #456

I do think players 27-30 will mostly come from 40-man roster players. Any player certain to make the final 26 is worth making a 40-man roster move for. Are the Phillies going to do an extra 40-man move for 2 weeks though when it is really a choice between mediocre relievers? So we probably don't need quite 4 or 5 roster moves. It probably means guys like McClain and Stock have a decent chance of being on the roster the first few weeks though they could also be vulnerable later.

I am assuming that Bohm and Howard probably start in the minors if the service time rules are clarified. They will get the extra year of control, but of course those moves might require extra 40-man moves in weeks 2 or 3.

The spots they need are likely at least 1 pitcher (Liriano) and 2 infielders (Forsythe, Harrison). Not sure they add a 3rd infielder like Walker initially. Bohm would be a 4th spot of course, but I think they wait for him. Instead of Walker they just go with a 16th pitcher early on and a 40-man OF on the bench like Garlick.

zambonir 2020-06-29 17:31:23 UTC #457

I would think there are money issues as well. As it is, it was going to be hard for the Phillies to carry more than two $1-1.5 million players (i.e. Liriano and one of the IFs). If players 27-30 also count against the luxury tax threshold you probably want major league minimum guys. Which is easy enough to do: Grullon, Garlick, and one or two of those fringe relievers (or someone like Irvin as emergency starter). Torreyes would probably be cheap too if Girardi really wants that back-up SS type (though he'd still have to go on the 40).

I suppose it's possible some of the minor league FAs have already agreed to reduced major league salaries. Some of them might also be happy to just make the AAA money in the pool. Being a late spring training free agent or going on the waiver wire is a lot less appealing this year.

zambonir 2020-06-29 17:39:39 UTC #458

When I clicked on this I thought there might be some actual news, but no. Just what seems to be some misguided, if not necessarily incorrect, speculation from Salisbury. His theory being that if any teams were interested in Herrera the Phillies would have added him to the pool as the prelude to the trade. But they can still do that later if necessary.

Lawman 2020-06-29 17:58:31 UTC #459

I still think he's one of the best 40 players on the roster, and not including him and allowing him to compete is a mistake.

bkeich 2020-06-29 18:05:51 UTC #460

Thereis little doubt he is one of the best 40/60 players, and he has said the right things in public, but we don't know what actually happened or what he is saying directly. Clearly the Phils have lost interest in him and it may be very hard to find anyone who will help us out of this mess. Release and move on

zambonir 2020-06-29 18:15:37 UTC #461

While it's hard to imagine they wouldn't be letting him compete for a job if he didn't have the baggage (never mind that they aren't supposed to be punishing him for that) I also think the Phillies actually don't believe he's one of the best 40 players on the roster (I mean, he might be better than Garlick or Williams but they have youth and potential).

I suspect the Phillies' internal scouting says that Herrera is closer to the guy he's been for the past 162 games than not, with the baggage (not just the arrest but his history of poor physical condition and shaky focus) on top of that. And it seems most other teams agree, if it's really true that the Phillies would pick up most of his salary.

Basically, he's no different than Maikel Franco, he was on his way to playing himself out of the organization last year regardless. Releasing him would actually put it to the test: would another team take him? But then you lose any chance of a trade if some team gets desperate, or next off-season. With the prorate, and the fact that the Phillies probably won't want to sniff the luxury threshold next year anyway, he has little impact on the team either way now.

With no fans this would be the easy time to sneak him back on the team but if the Phillies do consider him unwelcome I have no problem with that, and at least half the fan base also feels that way (check out Alex Carr from The Good Phight's Twitter, for instance).