The Phillies announced today that right-hander Henderson Alvarez, left-hander Kevin Siegrist and infielder/outfielder Ty Kelly have cleared outright waivers and intend to elect free agency. Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer first reported that Kelly would elect free agency after clearing waivers.
It’s not terribly surprising to see the trio return to the open market after helping to round out the roster for a rebuilding Phillies organization in 2017. All three could have been kept — the former two via arbitration — but the Phils decided to keep the 40-man roster spots (and funds) open for other opportunities.
Though Alvarez made only three appearances in the majors, they were his first since early in 2015. He held opposing hitters to seven earned runs in 14 2/3 frames, but allowed 11 walks while recording just six strikeouts. Alvarez also worked only in the 91 to 92 mph range with his fastball, well off his peak, though he’s sure to get a look with some organization in Spring Training. Once a productive starter with the Marlins, Alvarez is still just 27 years of age.
Siegrist, 28, was claimed by the Phillies after being cut loose by the Cardinals and seemingly was a candidate to be tendered a contract. Upon landing in Philadelphia, he threw five frames, recording seven strikeouts against two walks while allowing two earned runs. Siegrist likely would not have commanded much more than his $1.6MM salary from 2017, and would have come with another year of arbitration control, but evidently he didn’t show enough to convince the Phillies’ front office.
As for Kelly, he still hasn’t shown much indication that he’ll do enough damage offensively to be more than a utility player in the majors. The 29-year-old now carries a .211/.297/.340 slash through 176 MLB plate appearances. He has been fairly productive over six seasons at Triple-A, earning a .382 on-base percentage by walking nearly as often as he strikes out (233 of the former and 237 of the latter through 1,612 plate appearances), though his power has lagged (.385 slugging percentage) at the highest level of the minors.
Why doesn’t anybody want Siegrist? I dont understand… he’s good….
Phillies don’t want to have to pay him 3M next year when Adam Morgan has turned a page, and Hoby Milner has showed some promise.
Relying on Adam Morgan is a terrible idea. He could very quickly revert back to being garbage. And Milner throws 89 mph, doesn’t strike anyone out and walks too many people. He wasn’t good whatsoever this year. $3 mil for Siegrist is nothing in today’s MLB. Mike Dunn, who’s worse than Siegrist, got $19 mil last offseason…. theres zero reason for a big market rebuilding team like the Phillies to not carry a $3mil bounce back candidate in their pen.
I’m not saying I’m agreeing, I just think thats the line of thinking.
However, I will say this… I don’t think Morgan is gonna revert back to an ERA of 6+ guy again. He had TJ, it took some time to get back to being good (he is a former top prospect). He threw like 4-5 mph faster this year than in the past, plus had a drastically different slider this year than the past.
Milner’s peripherals were bad because Pete Mackanin kept using him against RHP, like really, go check his splits. Hes a viable option against LHH.
Milner vs LHH: .159/.274/.190, 0 HR
Milner vs RHP: .377/.459/.585, 2 HR
Maybe the Phillies plan to get a reliever they think is better than Siegrist
In my opinion, it is pretty clear as to why these moves were made now. The Phillies want to free up those 40 man roster spots, so they can make sure and protect more of their players that could get poached via the Rule 5 Draft.
The Phillies could turn back around and end up signing Siegrist later on down the road, but whichever team that ultimately signs him, I think they’ll be getting a pretty solid guy for their pen.
Also, Alvarez will definitely be an interesting guy to watch, although he will most likely have to settle for a MiL contract, with an invite to Spring Training. Given some more time, more work put in, and with some minor adjustments, I think Alvarez could still be a successful #5 on a ML team. It might take an injury or two, but eventually he will get his chance. Idk, I wouldn’t count Alvarez out and done just yet, he very well could end up suprising some people…
The rule 5 draft is months away… What’s the rush?
Teams need to set their 40-man rosters by a date in mid-November for the Rule 5 draft. That date was November 18 last year. Teams don’t have to make moves until that date, but if they know a player isn’t part of their 2018 plans, why wait? You don’t have the pretense of telling the player you’re excited to have him back next year or have him asking about working out at your facility. And it gives him a little extra time to call around and latch on to a team.
i AGREE WITH THAT.
B. Duensing – (1-1) 2.74 ERA / 62.1 IP / 58 H / 18 BB / 61 K’s
J. McGee – (0-2, 3 sv) / 3.61 ERA / 57.1 IP / 47 H / 16 BB/ 58 K’s
T. Watson – (7-4, 10 sv) / 3.38 ERA / 66.2 IP /72 H / 20 BB / 53 K’s
F. Abad – (2-1, 1 sv) / 3.30 ERA / 43.2 IP / 40 H / 14 BB / 37 K’s
or Trade for Brad Hand or other Lefties out there
4.81 ERA is not good
ERA. LOL. Look at his peripherals and track record. He’s good.
Plus, his strand rate was abnormally low and his BABIP was abnormally high. Expect those to revert back to normal next year which will significantly lower his ERA
He’s been hurt all year though.
Good! Alvarez is doing us a favor. siegrist is a let down however
Buy low guy for Pittsburgh.
Phillies had 47 players on the roster so this gets them to 40 (as Nava, Kim, Buchholz, and Blanco are all free agents and are subtracted automatically). There’s three locks to be added so they are protected from the Rule Five draft, LHP Ranger Suarez, RHP Seranthony Dominguez, and RHP Franklyn Kilome. I’d bet that OF Cameron Perkins, IF/OF Pedro Florimon, and RHP Jesen Therrien (Tommy John surgery costs him) lose their spots on the 40-man for those three aforementioned prospects.
Only one tough decision IMO and that involves whether they want to keep Carlos Tocci or not. Making that decision harder is that he is not just Rule Five eligible but he can become a minor league free agent if they don’t put him on the 40 man. He looks like an elite defender and the bat came along nicely this year but you’d have to cut one of the arms to free up a spot for him (Appel?). Given the strong performances of Odubel, Nick Williams, and Aaron Altherr this season, plus Roman Quinn already being an elite defender/speed guy, they might choose to risk losing Tocci rather than risk losing one of the pitchers. Should be interesting!
The Phillies have a ton of tough rule 5 decisions coming.
As you said, Domingez, Kilome and Suarez have to be protected, plus Tocci, Pullin, Jose Gomez, the guy we got for Nicasio, Leibrandt, and Jose Taveras
The guy we got for Nicasio is already on the 40. I don’t think any of those other guys you mentioned need protecting. Pullin was baaaad in AAA and projects as a 4th/5th OF, I wouldn’t protect him. Gomez is wayyy too far away, he barely saw high A, no way he gets taken. Liebrandt and Taveras are whatever, not worth protecting over guys anyone already on the roster.
I mean, most rule 5 guys are taken out of the lower minors. The Padres took 3 guys, the highest way in A ball
The Padres this year were an extreme exception. Historically, most guys that stick are from AA. Even if we do lose him, I wouldn’t be upset. His ceiling is basically Cesar Hernandez, he likely won’t be better than Kingery or Crawford, and Valentin and Alvarez are ahead of him on the org depth chart as similar players that can slot in as utility guys.
Right, but still the Padres now have some teams really thinking twice on who they are and are not going to protect…They aren’t likely to repeat their actions last year, but they have certainly planted that seed of doubt into the minds of ALL their fellow GM’s out there…and it could cause a team to make a mistake…
The Rule 5 Draft is a very interesting part of the off-season, and a team can score some talent if they play their cards correctly…At the same time though, a team can also lose a good player or two, if they don’t play their hand well…
Like you said though, most guys that stick are from AA, which makes sense..I mean, every so often, teams will call up their own guys straight from AA, but typically those are their higher ranked prospects.
Even so, it’s still entirely possible that a lesser-ranked prospect, with limited experience in AA, could stick on a ML roster throughout the course of a full season. Especially if we are talking about a talented bullpen arm, or a player that can be used primarily as a late-inning defensive replacement or a pinch-runner.
Generally, the types of guys that get picked and are typically successful are athletic, versatile infielders with good hit tools. Then, you have the fast, strong-armed, and rangy outfielders, that can make it off their defense alone, but they usually will also carry either some speed or a little power…
Overall though, for the most part, the guys getting picked that can have success are the very talented, young arms with explosive stuff, yet they have control problems…If those guys can harness their control, then they can succeed in a limited bullpen role as either a mop-up guy, or especially as a lefty specialist in some low-stakes situations for that first full season..
Occassionally, you’ll have the high-power, high strikeout outfielder or corners guy, that gets picked and has some level of success, but typically they’ve had more experience than those A+ to AA guys..
Either way, like I said before, the Rule 5 Draft is fun to follow…It is inevitable though every year, at least one team will find a diamond in the rough, and also at least one team will let that diamond escape them…It’ll be fun to see which teams come out winners and which come out as losers…
The Rule 5 Draft isn’t as big a deal as it’s made out to be. Only 15-20 players are picked and half are usually returned before the season starts. Few of the players pan out.The bigger fear is a player uses his options up before he’s 100% ready for the Majors or you need his roster spot.
The Phillies didn’t protect Jose Pujols, Carlos Tocci, Andrew Pullin, Hoby Milner, and Cam Perkins last year. They lost only Milner and he was returned. They didn’t call up Pullin, Pujols, and Tocci. So they didn’t use any options for any of them.
On the other hand, they did protect marginal players like Mark Appel, Alberto Tirado, and Jesmuel Valentin. They didn’t distinguish themselves and now they are candidates to be waived if the Phillies need 40 man spots. So they may lose them anyway.
A wise front office would survey the rosters of teams hard-pressed to retain top prospects at risk (eg. Yankees) and make trade offers before the November 20 deadline for setting rosters. Offer lesser prospects who are not Rule 5 eligible. The acquiring team gets Rule 5 quality players with the flexibility to assign them while the shedding team gets greater value than the $100,000 which is MLB compensation for a Rule 5 loss. This is so obvious, I don’t see why big league execs don’t do it to any extent.
To me so much of Rule 5 selection is evidence of front offices not doing their due diligence.
Henderson Alvarez pitched much better than his ERA shows…the defense and poor relief added to his ERA.
Huh? The Phillies bullpen was among the best in baseball in the second half and the defense over the final month with Crawford in and Hoskins at 1B was also very good. His FIP and xFIP were actually a good two runs higher due to his 6.75 BB/9 walk rate. I’m not sure where all this love for him among Phils fans is coming from. Thompson, Lively, and Pivetta all outpitched him over the same stretch.
Idk, but he did have one quality start against the Braves…Although, you know, take that for whatever it may be worth to you…lol..
For me, it wouldn’t be too much, but also, I think Alvarez may still have some good years left in him. Like I said before, he needs to have a good off-season, he needs to continue on a strict throwing regiment, make some adjustments to accommodate his loss in velocity, and finally he needs to come to spring training in excellent shape, and with something to prove.
If his body and arm allow him to get in the necessary work, make the necessary adjustments, and if he heads into spring training in excellent shape, then I really think he will ultimately suprise some people come 2018…Although, those are quite a few ifs…So, I guess we will see..
11 walks in 14 innings…
I hope the Phillies re-sign Alvarez to a minor league deal. I was hype when we brought him in. He looked really, really good. I think that it’s a distinct possibility that he’s on someones’s 40-man roster come opening day.
Welcome back Kevin Siegrist
Alvarez, three appearances, seven runs in fourteen innings? Why say he “held” opponents, making it appear the stats were reasonably good?
He was considerably better than the results showed. His velocity was great and his groundball rate was just as high as we had anticipated.
By the way, a 4.50 ERA as a starter, while not great is at the very least serviceable. Especially considering he hadn’t faced major league competition in over two years.
He walked wayyyyy too many batters. Maybe he fixes that as he knocks off the rust but he needs to go to camp somewhere as a minor league free agent and earn it. He didn’t dominate independent ball and wasn’t good enough to be guaranteed a roster spot.
He had 3 starts. He has a 2.8 BB/9 in 3 starts at LHV. We really haven’t seen enough to make assumptions. Obviously hes isn’t Schilling, but we can hardly say he walks too many guys off a 3 start sample.
He’ll end up with a MiLB deal and a shot to make a team out of camp. It’s not like the Phillies were going to hand him their 3rd rotation spot
Take a look at his independent league numbers. More walks than strikeouts in that league too. Seems to be a problem
“It’s not like the Phillies were going to hand him their 3rd rotation spot”
Klentak will probably bring Hellickson back on a $20MI one year deal. Buchholz will tell Klentak his shoulder feels good after the surgery and Klentak will give him a $15mil one year deal.
And so on.
I can see the O’s going for Alvarez as a buy low bounce back candidate. He would be a steal if he could pitch like he had with the Marlins.
Big if. Not interested in any guys who can’t throw strikes. We have plenty of those.
The Long Island Ducks told Alvarez they don’t want him.
They’re going to want proven guys. They’ve been cheap for too many years and it’s probably their last chance at contention for a few years
I’m not completely opposed to Alvarez as long as we sign 2 proven options. If Alvarez is going to compete for the 5th starter slot with ynoa, Castro, etc. that’s fine with me. Bring in all the competition you can I just don’t expect much out of him.