Phillies part ways with troubled OF Odubel Herrera
By Matthew C
On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Phillies designated longtime outfielder Odubel Herrera for assignment.
The Philadelphia Phillies have cut ties with one of their outfielders, after being suspended without pay in 2019 for the final 85 games of the season. Odubel Herrera was designated for assignment Tuesday evening, and the team has seven days to either trade him, or place him on the irrecoverable outright waivers at which point, should no team claim him, the speculation would be that Herrera would be released. It is also possible that he would be outrighted to Triple-A. The Phillies owe the 28-year old $19.5M.
Fans were certainly happy with the news considering Herrera was arrested for domestic violence in 2019, causing him to be suspended. However, this roster move comes with some consequences for the Phillies.
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Not only will the team owe him millions of dollars, Odubel Herrera still counts towards the Phillies luxury tax hold for this upcoming season (2020) and next season (2021) despite being DFA’d – assuming no team will claim him from the waivers. He counts towards $6.1M AAV on the luxury tax threshold.
Prior to being suspended for violating baseball’s domestic violence policies, Herrera hit .222 in 39 games in the 2019 season. In five years in the big leagues, he has a career batting average of .276. He was an all-star in 2016, just his second season in the big leagues.
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In a corresponding roster move, the Philadelphia Phillies claimed outfielder Nick Martini off the waivers from the Cincinnati Reds. In two seasons in the bigs, Martini has hit .269 in 87 games so far. He spent last season with the Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres, and made his MLB debut with the Athletics.