The Phillies announced a series of roster moves today, adding infielder Rodolfo Castro and right-hander Michael Lorenzen to the roster, both of whom were acquired in trades yesterday. To open one roster spot, Josh Harrison was designated for assignment, as reported yesterday. He has now been released. The other spot was opened by left-hander Andrew Vasquez being designated for assignment.
Vasquez, 29, came to the Phillies in the offseason when they claimed him off waivers from the Giants. He is out of options but has managed to stick on the active roster for the entire season up until now. He’s tossed 39 2/3 innings over 30 appearances with a 2.27 ERA.
On the surface, that makes it somewhat surprising that he’s now lost his roster spot, but the numbers under the hood aren’t quite as impressive. His 8.2% walk rate and 43% ground ball rate are pretty close to league average, but his 20% strikeout rate is a few ticks below. He’s benefitted from a .274 batting average on balls in play and 86.8% strand rate, both of which are on the lucky side, leading to a 4.31 FIP and 4.29 SIERA.
The Phillies were apparently expecting some regression and have bumped him off the roster. Since he’s out of options and the trade deadline has passed, that left them little choice but to designate him for assignment and try to pass him through waivers. In the event he clears, he will have the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright. Despite his out-of-options status, he could garner interest from a club with more ability to keep him on the active roster. He has a career 3.60 ERA in 52 appearances and comes with five seasons of control beyond the current campaign.
As for Harrison, he’s making a $2MM salary this year and has played poorly, hitting just .204/.263/.291. He wasn’t going to be claimed off waivers and has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while retaining all of his salary. That means his return to the open market was inevitable and the Phils have simply skipped the formalities. He’ll be free to sign with the other 29 clubs for the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Phillies pay.
Maybe we can get Dallas Keuchel and Josh Harrison back? Just when it seemed like all hope was lost!
Billy! Billy! Billy!
Oh, it’s definitely Billy Hamilton time!!
Covey and Marte are invincible for some reason.
I don’t f****** understand this team anymore
I never did. My entire life.
How Dylan Covey still has a roster spot is a bit mind boggling. Vazquez has actually been pretty good for the Phils with a 2.27 ERA. Covey has a 5.25 ERA but he stays ahead of Vazquez. Doesn’t make a lot of sense
Why was Vasquez DA’d when his ERA is in the low 2s? His numbers must be very misleading if they decided to just flat out get rid of him
The walk off he gave up to Palacios in Pittsburgh apparently was unforgivable.
They will regret releasing Josh in favor of Castro
The latter is a defensive liability who rarely walks because he swings at every pitch thrown in his general direction while rarely making contact with his bat
While he’s more effective against lefties he’s downright horrible against righties
I doubt it. Castro at least hits lefties. Harrison has forgotten how to hit all together.
Ok, but Harrison can’t hit lefties or righties anymore, and he’s not the defensive infielder we once watched during his days in Pittsburgh.
I wonder why Vazquez and not Covey.
Covey over Vasquez?
Imagine having a bullpen that is so good you can DFA a guy with a 2.27 ERA. What am I missing, phillies fans?
Maybe they pay more attention to stats like FIP instead of ERA. 4.31 vs 2.27 in this case.
Classy of the Phillies to keep Harrison long enough that he reached ten years of MLB service time and qualified for the full pension.
Unless he has regressed greatly in the past couple years, dropping Harrison in favor of Castro is a move the Phillies are soon going to regret
You guys clearly haven’t watched Harrison this year. Dude is lost up there.
He’s been absolutely dreadful this year.
“Unless he has regressed greatly the last couple of years”…
He has regressed greatly the last few years. Since the Washington Nationals traded him to the Oakland A’s at the 2021 trade deadline, Harrison is batting .248/.303/.350 with a .289 wOBA, and 86 wRC+ in 738 plate appearances. Among other position players with 700+ PAs in that time, Harrison has the second lowest walk rate, 16th lowest slugging percentage, and is one of 55 players with an OBP under .305 in this time. He also has the 23rd worst wRC+. His defense has also slipped from about average to below average at both second base and third base, as well as the outfield.
I guess they’ll only regret it if they’d rather have a guy who might hit .240-.250 with only a few strikeouts, but also no walks and no power over a guy who might hit .230 with some power and some walks.
Harrison has been terrible and Castro hits lefties.
Thanks, everyone. I clearly am remembering the Harrison of a few years back. You could play him anywhere and he’d go full throttle. Sorry to read all this
As for Castro, maybe he’ll wake up and smell the napalm. A very frustrating guy to watch at bat, from whichever side, and in the field
Harrison looked as lost as Rhys does in one of his 0-20 stints on the season. Harrison will land on his feet somewhere and hit 350 down the stretch
Except that he won’t hit .350 even if you added his BA in Philly with the BA he’ll have with his new club.
Harrison couldn’t hit .350 in class A ball. He has been finished for 3 years now. He was just as bad in the field, as he was at the plate. He should have been unconditionally released on June 1st.
Knew Vasquez when I was a small town reporter when he pitched at UCSB along with Shane Bieber and Dillon Tate. That didn’t work out for him so he went to a small liberal arts college, got drafted in the 32nd round and he’s hung on in the bigs for five seasons so far. He’s tenacious. I think he’ll come back somewhere.
Vasquez has a better ERA, butt looking below the hood and at his stuff shows it won’t last. Covey aint great, but be can take down multiple innings and he’s just keeping Alvarado’s seat warm.
Correct
Keeping Covey really paid off last night
If you think Covey was why they lost then I’m not sure what to tell you.
I never said that but he sure didn’t help. The Phillies just needed one pitcher in the last 4 innings to show up, maybe Vasquez could have been that pitcher.
Covey has to have pictures of somebody doing something bad or info on someone in the organization……There is no other way that he’s still on this roster?