12:25PM: Rondon will earn $1.5MM if he makes Philadelphia’s Major League roster, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The righty can also earn up to $1MM in additional bonus incentives.
11:25AM: The Phillies announced that right-handers Hector Rondon and David Paulino have been signed to minor league contracts. Both pitchers will receive invites to the team’s big league Spring Training camp.
Rondon hit the open market in October when the Diamondbacks bought out his $4MM 2021 club option for $500K. It wasn’t an unexpected decision considering how Rondon struggled in his only season with Arizona, posting a 7.65 ERA over 20 innings with below-average 23.7% strikeout percentage and 12.4K-BB%. Rondon also allowed six homers over his 20 frames of work. This performance was a stark departure from the solid work Rondon delivered over his previous six seasons with the Cubs and Astros, so Philadelphia is surely hoping it has added some much-needed bullpen help at the lowered cost of a minor league contract.
Rondon posted a 3.06 ERA over 361 1/3 innings from 2014-19 with a 25.3K%, 18.7K-BB%, and 48.8% grounder rate, formerly serving as the Cubs’ closer and contributing to Chicago’s 2016 world championship team. A consistent hard thrower over his career, Rondon’s fastball velocity dipped slightly to a 95.6mph average in 2020, though like all his stats, that could be attributed to the odd nature of the most recent season rather than a potential sign of decline heading into his age-33 season.
Paulino last appeared in the majors in 2018, pitching with the Blue Jays’ Triple-A club in 2019 after posting a 5.48 ERA over 42 2/3 career MLB innings with Houston and Toronto from 2016-18. Once a top-100 prospect, Paulino has battled injuries and was issued an 80-game PED suspension in 2017. Only a few days shy of his 27th birthday, Paulino could still be something of a late bloomer, so there’s no risk for the Phillies in bringing him to camp and seeing if some further potential can be unclocked.
Rondon had a nice stretch for a couple of years before last year.
Hector Rondon can be good, but when he gives up a run in his debut Philly fans gonna boo him out the door
When you’ve had the bullpen struggles the Phillies have had, it’s no wonder they boo. They’re a big market team. Their market expects them to be winning.
No, they are horrible fans in the sense of they never give them a chance. I remember when Jose Bautista signed with them Philly fans gave him an ovation but then he struck out and booed him.
@Luc 2 It’s pretty smart to generalize thousands of people as 1 thing. Nats players aren’t used to getting booed. Or cheered. Or hearing anything in the stands.
My generalization is a sarcastic response to yours. Both equally ridiculous.
The Nats just won the world series, the Phillies can’t even sniff the playoffs despite having one of the highest payrolls in baseball. There’s levels to this.
No one claimed one team was better than another. Luc generalized an entire fanbase. I did the same. It’s ridiculous.
Oh stop. Every fan base boos when perform terribly. Get over your preconceived and unsupported view. Have you even ever been to Philly?
Are u high? I never see Phillies games filled up lol. Only on sunday nights or against big time teams. Nats dont get fully filled on Tuesdays through Thursday. Win a WS and we can talk about fans. Philly fans are horrible Boo Harper, Whine for him to come to Philly then they boo him when he is cold.
@fffbbb nope not when the Nats were 19-31. Also Soto struggled the first few weeks of 2019 did they boo him no. Lets use common sense buddy.
Interestingly sarcastic, yes, but certainly on point.
All we’ve ever heard was how great
St. Louis fans are, but I don’t think they can match the intensity and loyalty Phans have for their team.
Other followers of teams love to hate on the Philly Phan…
All phans want is the players to play hard and to do their best..
They were filled from most of 07 through at least 2011. You know, when they were the team to beat.
@Luc Attendance figures can easily be googled. 2019 the Nats average attendance was 27,898. This is their World Series year, and their highest average annual attendance. In 2019 the Phillies average attendance was 33,671. The Phillies averaged in their high 40s from 2008-2011 during their peak years. Also don’t forget that the Nationals started restricting tickets from visiting fans because their stadium was being filled up by Mets and Phillies fans.
So while my generalization is certainly meant as a ridiculous sarcastic jab to your ridiculous comment, the fact that the Phillies don’t sell out and the Nationals do is very far from the truth.
That’s interesting you say that since during the golden age of Phillies baseball (2008-2011) & even a few years after that our fans routinely took over the Nationals ballpark. In fact, we did this so much that it felt like additional home games and the Nationals actually complained about it in the media.
As for our fans, some criticism of Philly fans is warranted. But honestly we’re no worse or different than fans from Boston down to DC or Chicago or LA. It’s all media BS painting one city as the scapegoat when most are honestly the same.
You may not believe me for this, but D.C. is filled with many people from different states because thats where lots of jobs are. For example, the Harper debut. Look Philly fans are loyal to their team not players IMO. I just hate how they boo the players after a small thing. I could understand with their bullpen but for example the Jose Bautista at bat was horrible.
DC fans? What have we done lol explain. We dont boo our players after a strikeout
@bucketbrew35 and @VonPurpleHays I dont think it is fair to say the Phillies had more fan from 2007-2010. This was a few years after they moved to D.C. and were so bad. Most importantly everyone cheered for Baltimore lol so the Nats still needed to build a fan base. In 2012 they finally started up a fan base and had players to help build a fan base (Bryce Harper and Strasburg). They also attracted FA like Werth. During 2011 I understand but you cant say from 2005-2010.
i guess you’ve only been watching baseball a few years?
Me? Yeah Nats baseball. What does that have to do with this lol.
Check yourself..
Bruh chill tf out. This is why most Philly fans are bad. Not all but you guys are Fd up. You have no respect for people. Is your living situation good?
@Luc I’m not comparing the Phillies 2007-2011 to the Nationals of the same year. I compared 2019, which was the Nationals at their peak to the Phillies in 2019. Phillies still out sold Nats even though 2019 was nowhere near the Phillies peak of selling out every game for 4 years straight.
And again, these arguments are ridiculous. I do not think the Phillies fanbase is better or worse than any other. A herd of people is a herd of people. I don’t care which franchise they root for.
Yes these arguments are ridiculous. I never meant that Phillies were worst fan base. I just always thoughts the fans were sometimes asses for booing a player for one mistake. That’s all I meant. Of course as rivals were going to think hate each others fan base.
That’s just it..I don’t hate phans from another team..There are teams I want the Phillies to beat in the worst way..I absolutely can’t stand the Chop/Chant..
The Phillies for some strange reason can’t beat the Guppies..that makes me crazy..I don’t hate the Guppie fans at all neither one of them (sic)..
Sixers go easy cuz. That’s some next level stuff.
Lol @ Luc for creating burner accounts with stereotypical Philly things to attack himself with. That’s too funny.
Just bring up Santa Clause already and move on.
If you think Philly fans are bad, ask Will Middlebrooks how loyal Red Sox fans are lol. At least we don’t boo our postseason heroes lol.
Wtf lol. Dpn’t boo Harper after you guys moaned for him after booing him like a monster. Why would I create a burner account lol I have things to do unlike u
A Nats fan talking about not booing Harper. Sorry bruh. Credibility gone.
We had the right to and remember im talking about your own team. You guys booed him in 2019 during his struggles. You boo your own team. I don’t remember the last time the Nats booed a player. It seems like it happens every other day in Philly.
Why are you harping on this?
For one thing, you have to understand the language of booing. With Bautista, that was a sarcastic thing. Get all excited, loudly cheer for him, and when the AB fizzled give him a light boo. It’s like a letdown moan.
For another, there are very few people who even remember that Jose Bautista was a Phillie for a few minutes. It was an mostly forgettable thing.
Remember Billy Wagner getting all bent when they sarcastically booed him for “only” hitting 99MPH his first time out? Some people are just soft.
@Luc, things to do? You’ve posted 20 comments in 7 hours on an article about Phillies minor league deals, how busy can you really be?
LMAO yur right im 14 so I have time
Battery sales in the greater Philly area are skyrocketing.
Philly does have one ace and a great catcher as part of its battery! The only lights-out energizer I see is Aaron Nola and J.T. Realmuto.
Santa Claus has gone into hiding.
Can’t blame him! He joined the groundhog today after seeing his shadow. Six more weeks of winter starting with more snow and an arctic blast in the coming days. It will be colder in much of the US than the North Pole this weekend!
People need to find some new material, the Santa thing is getting pretty old
That happened fifty-three years ago. Get over it.
53 years ago, to be exact.
Apologies, momentary lexdysia…
Yeah, I mean who holds Washingtonians responsible for being the only fan base to lose two baseball franchises in twelve years? Talk about impressive.
Have a sense of humor. I know Yankees fans are no better.
You’re right, Joe. I feel much better after your soothing words.
That whole Santa thing was utter BS. He was a sad Santa, pulled out of the seats. The only person who cared about it at all was Howard Cosell, who cried about it on a wrapup show that weekend.
Heck, the guy that was Santa has for years admitted that he thought it was funny.
Lucy,
Lazy generalization. Were you a lazy student, always taking shortcuts? Are you lazy in your career, if you have one? See, stereotypes and generalizations are real timesavers. Keep up the great work.
Classic sh!tposting, Lucy.
For a minor league contract, good get for Philly whether it works out or not.
Agreed. It’s depth option for the Phillies. Paulino is only 24, so he has age on his side.
Paulino was dropped quick by the Jays. Thought he could be a bullpen arm deserving of a shot. They didn’t give him one. It was strange considering some of the crap the Jays trotted out in 2019.
*27 in 3 days
he might have aged 3 years in this last year like the rest of us.
Thank you for the correction.
Hector will always be my favorite rule 5 draft pick for the Cubs.
a darn nice get for sure. one of Theo’s best steals.
Rondon is some nice depth to have on a minor league deal. Especially with the volatility of relievers. He could be a very effective member of their bullpen.
Rondon I get but Paulino makes no sense when there are up and coming pitchers in the minors who would better utilize the time in ST than a PED-oft injured 27 year old pitcher… Bring in Abel or Miller..
abel just got drafted out of high school and didnt pitch competitively last year- having him in MLB spring training would make no sense.
I think the plan might be to get players for Reading and Lehigh Valley..Both those clubs are very short on arms too..
why on Earth do ww need to wish those two when they could be very good starters for us down the line?
Paulino got called out in ST a few years ago in a big way by Ken Giles for dogging it during drills. Also heard about other times his work ethic was questioned.
Minor league deals. No roster spots. No downside.
Hector Rondon has an abundance of postseason experience including World Series appearances with the Cubs and Astros, not that any of this would be applicable with the Phillies in 2021.
I don’t know what the money involved for the services of Hector Rondon is (it can’t be much on a minor league deal) but I like this move by the Phillies. As long as this isn’t a misprint and the Phils in actuality signed former Tiger Bruce Rondon. If truth be told, in darker moments I would get Bruce Rondon confused with Joel Zumaya. The signing of David Paulino doesn’t move the needle much but it’s a low risk/medium reward deal. Just hope we’re not confusing him with former Married: With Children star David Faustino.
good pickups for cheap
I sometimes get confused him with Rodon from the White Sox.
Philadelphia fans love for their TEAM is NOT the same as love of individual players.
WE do boo players for individual mistakes, slumps, mental errors more quickly and with more fervor than other fan bases. (cardinals et al) That is a obvious to me.
I have been to MLB games all over the country rooting for the Phils when they were GREAT & BAD (like for the last 10 years –OUCH). I have experienced good & bad in every fan base.
Batteries/ coins etc are NOT just thrown in Philly