MLB free agents: Phillies tea leaves are an ugly, wet mess
By Rick Soisson
The Philadelphia Phillies have torn apart their disappointing bullpen. What does this mean going forward?
The first tea leaves to be read for MLB free agents are now in the bottom of the cup, and they don’t look so good. Since there were an astounding number of moves by MLB’s money-losers (read, all teams) on the last three days of October, you will have to forgive a focus here on the Philadelphia Phillies as a microcosm.
We will pull back the lens to the whole MLB situation here and there.
On Oct. 30, the Phillies finally made some important moves in addition to sending out their team President to make a sunless statement about the coming off-season. And what they did was both good and bad.
The good was that they began to tear apart their historically horrid bullpen from last season. The bad was what they did suggested bad days ahead for both established players now MLB free agents, and frankly, for fans.
Here’s what the Phillies did on that day:
They waived LHP Adam Morgan and RHP Heath Hembree. Both elected free agency, and Phillies fans wished Hembree and his 9.00 ERA in Philly good luck with that.
Morgan, who pitched well in 2019 until the last day he pitched that year, is recovering from surgery. Scott Lauber declared his re-signing with the Phillies was “conceivable” for potential use in six to nine months. Don’t bet on that, or on the Chris Cotillo idea that Hembree could return to the Red Sox because he’ll be cheap now after his 12.91 ERA for the Fightin’s. Cotillo’s evidence is hidden behind a link and is of the touchy-feely variety.
The same day the Phillies also declined options on RHPs David Robertson, Hector Neris, and David Phelps. Robertson and Phelps elected free agency.
Surprisingly, fidgety Blake Parker was also outrighted. Some fans were delighted because Parker’s weird windup annoyed them to no end, but the right-hander had actually pitched decently for the Phillies’ dreadful relief corps, with a 3-0 record, and a 2.81 ERA. Both those numbers might have been even better if it weren’t for one game in which he gave up three runs in an inning.
Before some further comment on Robertson, Neris, Phelps, and Parker, it should also be noted that MLB.com reports the total number of free agents increased by a whopping 22 on Oct. 30, including some very big names indeed. Brad Hand, Charlie Morton, Edwin Encarnacion, Corey Kluber – the whole list would fill another two or three lines.