The Philadelphia Phillies made several moves this morning in the minor leagues and MLB to reflect the additions of a couple of players on the Opening Day roster. Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweeted this morning that Rule 5 pick Ender Inciarte, veteran backstop Humberto Quintero, and reliever Phillipe Aumont all made the Opening Day Roster. Aumnot made it to the bullpen ahead of Michael Stutes, who was promptly optioned to Triple-A.
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Stutes finished Spring Training with an ERA near 7.50, and the right-hander’s demotion comes as no surprise. Meanwhile, the Phillies also sent a trio of players to minor league camp in veteran right-hander Zach Miner, backstop Steven Lerud (Quintero beat him), and talented infielder Pete Orr. Of those three players, Orr is the one who holds the most value to the organization and is expected to be sent to Triple-A to start the season.
The Phillies will need to keep the Rule 5 Inciarte on the 25-man roster, otherwise he will be sent back to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The backup outfielder showed up pretty well this spring, and it will be interesting to see if they do keep him on the 25-man the entire year.
Quintero, on the other hand, was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training and thus can only be placed on the 40-man roster. However, Quintero’s place on the team is pretty important with Carlos Ruiz out with a hand injury, as Quintero will the the primary backup to Ruiz with Erik Kratz starting in the interim. Quintero had a meager .257 OBP with an OPS a couple of points under .600 in 43 games last season. He was expected to make the Phillies roster after being signed by the team in late November with Ruiz’s injury in mind, and Quintero did what was expected of him.