News of Phormer Phillies, 2024

[andyb]

Hector taught Seranthony his splitter. Maybe we should go get Seranthony again if the Orioles are sellers.

Orioles reliever Seranthony Domínguez might have the best splitter in baseball

[HopeSpringsEternal]

Atlanta Braves have DFA-ed Jose Ruiz

[andyb]

Not too surprised this eventually happened. Michael Schwimmer is probably in the right legally here without knowing all the details. Morally is another question. I just assumed the son of a major leaguer would have entered this agreement with expert representation. This could get ugly though. Maybe they just assume Big League Advance would settle pretty quickly since they have their whole business model at stake.

Fernando Tatis Jr. sues Big League Advance Fund for exploitative business...

[jimbomill]

without knowing all the details.

Same here, not knowing the details, but it seems to me to be legitimate and legal. Perhaps it can be a cautionary tale for some stud in the future, but I am sure there's plenty of others, heck, most of them, that don't succeed and are the winners in the deal with Big League Advance Fund.

[zambonir]

It seems to me it could very much violate some law or another (predatory lending, dodgy investment schemes) but does that actually apply if the deals were made in the player's home country? The other question, as Andy said is does Tatis just want his money (or some of it) via settlement or does he want reform?

Either way I could see the California AG or legislature looking into it due to the publicity, especially if MLB owners or agents have it in for Schwimer and lobby for it.

[dcsman]

Whit Merrifield retires.

Whit Merrifield Announces Retirement

I always liked him as a player in KC and liked the Phils signing at the time but his career definitely collapsed rather quickly.

[zambonir]

I would imagine he could have scraped through another season if not two, he was better with the Braves and still had a positive WAR with both teams. But pretty cool he had a kid and decided it was time. Short career because he got to MLB pretty late.

[phillychuck]

Short career because he got to MLB pretty late.

Don’t think he is in danger of economic hardship... "Whit Merrifield has made career earnings of $33,038,473 in his thirteen years of MLB career as of 2024 as per Spotrac."

[zambonir]

I mean, no, he's not hard up but he truly could have made another $20 million if he'd broken into the bigs a couple of years earlier. He never really cashed in on either free agency or the peak arb years. Phillies paid him almost as much (or possibly actually the most) as he ever made in a single year. His first time ever as a UFA when he was already in decline.

Going into 2019, the Royals and Merrifield agreed to an extension. The deal guaranteed him $16.25MM over four years with a club option for a fifth year. That total looks fairly modest to compared to some more recent deals but it was a product of his late-bloomer status. Since he didn’t debut until his age-27 season, he wasn’t going to qualify for arbitration until after he turned 30 and wasn’t slated for free agency until after his age-33 season. That deal may have sacrificed a bit of future upside but it allowed him to guarantee himself some life-changing money ahead of schedule.

Whit Merrifield Announces Retirement

[RolenRules]

I always thought he was a poor man's Ben Zobrist.

[jimbomill]

I always liked him as a player in KC and liked the Phils signing at the time but his career definitely collapsed rather quickly.

Well put.
I like him even more thanks to that Philly comment!

[andyb]

Merrifield is an example of why age-based free agency (in all types of leagues) is a good thing. If free agency were based on service time or age - say 6 years OR age 29/30 - then it reduces the incentive to keep players in the minors too long and also lets the late developers like Merrifield get paid while still in their prime.

The NBA is the best example of how this would help. Make free agency completely age-based (26?) and all but the top 5 18-year-olds probably just stay in college for the NIL money. The NHL already does something like that.

[phillychuck]

Regarding Merrifield’s comment that he liked Philly better than we liked him, I think players get confused about how fans think of them. I think all of us actually LIKE Whit Merrifield, the person. I’d love to have lunch with him and chat, he seems like a cool dude. Our disapproval is confined to the play, not the person (at least for most fans).

[zambonir]

Well, you probably don't give that too much thought when you're hearing boos, or reading social media (if you're foolish enough to do that).

I wish I wanted to have lunch with more of people I like as players!

[phillychuck]

z, those guys would probably pick up the check, too. That could be a point in their favor.

[andyb]

I think all of us actually LIKE Whit Merrifield, the person. I’d love to have lunch with him and chat, he seems like a cool dude. Our disapproval is confined to the play, not the person (at least for most fans).

We also loved the idea of the 30 year old Merrifield and not the reality of the 35 year old.

[zambonir]

They also loved the idea of Scott Kingery being Whit Merrifield (or indeed, Ben Zobrist at the time).

[dcsman]

Wouldn’t an aged-based free agency system just continue help the “rich getting richer?” Maybe it works well in the NHL and NBA but both of those leagues have a salary cap.

[zambonir]

Angels Designate Hector Neris For Assignment

He signed with the Angels on a minor league pact in mid-April but didn’t find his way to Anaheim until May 6. Since then, the veteran has made 21 appearances for the Angels despite pitching only 14 innings. He’s surrendered nine runs (eight earned) in that time, leaving him with a lackluster 5.14 ERA, but his 31.7% strikeout rate and 3.30 FIP with Anaheim are both potentially encouraging signs in the underlying numbers. Enticing as that high strikeout rate is, however, the fact that Neris never found himself into a high leverage role with the Angels suggests that the club had little confidence in the veteran to continue putting up those impressive numbers.

[andyb]

Missed this over the weekend. Has not played in the majors since 2021 and has been in Japan and Mexico and various other leagues since then. Assume he reached a point where the defense was no longer plus and the offense was not enough. He made a good career for himself at least.

Freddy Galvis Announces Retirement