TODAY: Kingery is still part of the Phillies organization despite the declined option, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Scott Lauber. Kingery is still under team control on the initial minor league contract that he signed after he was first drafted, though it remains to be seen whether or not the Phillies might release him.
NOVEMBER 3: The Phillies announced they’ve declined their option on second baseman Scott Kingery. He’ll collect a $1MM buyout in lieu of a $13MM salary.
This was the most straightforward option call for any team this fall. Kingery spent the entire 2023 season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley after being outrighted from the 40-man roster in June 2022. He has played in only 16 MLB games since the start of the ’21 season.
A former second-round draftee, Kingery developed into a highly-regarded prospect. He signed a $24MM guarantee in Spring Training of 2018, shortly before making his MLB debut. The deal didn’t work at all for Philadelphia, as Kingery hasn’t consistently hit at the highest level. He owns a .229/.280/.387 line over 325 big league contests.
The Arizona product hit .244/.325/.400 in 466 plate appearances with Lehigh Valley this past season. He stole 24 bases and hit 13 home runs while striking out at a lofty 29% clip. He’s a free agent for the first time in his career. It’s possible he finds a minor league deal elsewhere. Kingery turns 30 in April.
UNBELIEVABLE! HOW COULD DOMBROWSKI DO THIS???
I really hope that is sarcasm. One can never tell around here unless the little /s is at the end.
The Kingery contract was one huge swing and a miss for Philadelphia, but I understand why they did it and they’ll probably try to do it again with their next “can’t miss” prospect.
No one complains when it works. These contracts are a gamble for sure without a body of work.
Exactly. And it sucks have to waste funds like that, but any real team should be able to stomach a 4 million dollar per year hit. It was a calculated gamble that at the end of the day didn’t prevent them from being competitive at all.
Not many gamble on extensions prior to an mlb game. This was a huge mistake. He had many years of arbitration and control that didn’t require this sort of gamble. AA makes educated gambles early but the guy atleast let’s them see a big league pitch or batter before that.
Agree with this. You gamble perhaps on a top tier prospect. Kingery was not that type of prospect.
At the beginning of the contract, Kingery looked like he was going to be a staple of the Phillies for years to come, then he just cratered hard.
But that was mostly projections based on MILB production. It’s one thing to extend after a young player has excelled at the MLB for 1-2 years (ala AA in ATL), but giving a stud AAA prospect a Kingery or a Singleton type deal before they produce in a large sample size seems illogical.
People drop $24M on RP and worse players all the time. This was an upside play that didn’t work. Bet you don’t feel the same way about the original Longo deal or The deals the Braves made to sign up their young core. It’s a gamble and this one didn’t pay off…but I bet they’d be willing to make the same gamble again.
Agree. Kingery did not have the type of prospect profile to justify a historic contract. The 6-yr deal covered the 6 seasons when Kingery was already under team control. The deal also came with three option years aligning with Kingery’s first three years of free agency. But those options were in the 15mm per year range. Kingery would have had to blossom into an all-star to make that contract look good. There was little upside for the Phillies from the start.
R.I.P. Scotty Jetpax, the jersey I was going to buy but alas Gabe Kapler and analytics stepped in.
The Klentak regime and Kapler’s managing ruined his career. There is a reason the vast majority of Phillies prospects during that time became busts. They pushed him up the defensive ladder forcing him to be SS when it was clear he couldn’t. Then, when he struggled hitting they refused to put him in a safe position on the field like 2nd and he never got the chance for early success. I’m so happy Klentak and Kepler were fired before they could do the same to Bohm.
I’m so happy Klentak and Kepler were fired before they could do the same to Bohm.
===========================
Bohm has a career bWAR of 0.9, and is all the way up to 0.5 in his 3rd full year.
Probably not a great comp for the development angle. More interesting is that both Kingery and Bohm have identical bWAR/650 PAs at 0.3.
This is what I love about those who all they do is quote WAR as the only thing that matters. Bohm played great defense in the playoffs both this year and last. For a lot of the first half it was players like him and Stott who were helping carry the offense while Harper was hurt and players like Turner, Realmuto, and Schwarber weren’t hitting. Bohm had issues with routine plays at 3rd when Kapler was managing. Now he makes some real highlight plays. The sport of baseball is a beautiful game. I suggest putting down the spreadsheet once in a while and actually watching these guys play.
I really thought this guy was going to be a pretty good MLB caliber player. Maybe with a change of scenery he can still carve out a career as a utility guy. Clock is ticking, though.
Did the Phillies screwup Kingery or was he just not good? A mystery we will debate, but never solve.
Kind of reminds me of Ryan Theriot when Lou Pinella was managing the Cubs. I am a firm believer Lou messed him up because he tried to make him into a more power hitter which he clearly was not.
With the disclaimer that some players will fail no matter what, I think the Phillies screwed him up.
He had a 58/13 K/W his first year in AAA. No one should get promoted unless you are like 2/1 or better in AAA. So he goes to the Phillies. So a 58/13 in AAA becomes a 126/24 in the pros. That’s about what should be expected, and that won’t work in the pros.
I thought he had all-star second baseman written all over him when he first came up. When Larry Bowa saw him carting around five different gloves during Scott Kingery’s first big league spring training, Bowa said, “There going to ruin that kid.” Bowa wasn’t wrong.
To borrow from Winston Churchill, Kingery will always be, “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”.
Agree the kid was ruined by the biggest jackass in baseball Gabe Kapler. How any organization lets this moron around it’s player is crazy. Kingery had skills but once again their player development failed. He was a second baseman and should have been left there.
Kapler did fine with LAs players. I’m not defending Kap here but that’s not really a solid argument to attack him with.
DanUgglasRing – I agree with you. Kapler is a high class and first class idiot, but he is not what caused Kingrey to fail at all. Klentak though deserves some part of the blame. Hence, I say Klentak is fair game, but Kapler was and is a yes man.
He was ok for a while but never got back on track after he got Covid
That’s a good point, and another significant issue. He had a very hard time recovering from covid. He also had some eyesight issues. Some of his decline is simply health related.
The Klentak regime bears some real responsibility, as many have noted. I really thought that Scotty was going to be a very good, core 2B but the Klentak player development myopia got in the way.
And yes – health contributed to the rest. Not just Covid, but also the shoulder injury. It was apparently worse than many thought.
We have no way to tell for sure if he would have finished his development without these things, but it all made the path harder for him. I wish him well, and would love to see him land somewhere and find a role in the majors for a few years.
The last note about the Phils still retaining his rights was unknown to me…I wonder how they will handle this.
Probably a mix of both.
He’ll land with the A’s.
Agreed
I wasted a good white MLB pearl on his crappy autograph. I usually don’t miss on top prospects. Shame on me
But imagine what 12 million could get you in Lehigh Valley. Not what Rusney Castillo got out of Pawtucket but…
I totally forgot about Castillo. Atleast the Phillies only ate 24 mil…not 72!
Good thing he signed that extension. Sheesh
Twenty eight million in baseball money isn’t very much. I don’t recall there being a lot of first guessers who complained about the signing when it happened.
I still don’t mind the signing even though it was a huge bust. If he panned out, this would have been a bargain. I don’t mind FO gambles like this. This one failed, but the Phils could afford it.
Scott Kingery – another Jim Bowden can’t miss prospect.
Yeah I’d say we can make a lot of money just betting against Bowden’s predictions.
My intuition tells me SEA will offer him a minors invite to ST. Beyond that the crystal ball is a solid fog bank.
Phillies screwed up royally with this guy.Gave him way too much money at way too young of an age then changed his hitting dynamics to try to make him hit like Rogers Hornsby.
Best thing he can do is go somewhere else.
The Phillies didn’t change his swing mechanics. It was Teacherman Schenk that screwed him up with his ridiculous swing theory.
Wouldn’t mind bringing him on as AAA depth behind Orlando Arcia
He will go to baseball heaven in St. Louis and there he will excel at all facets of the game.
You’re confusing STL with Tampa
Scott Kingery was on his way to becoming one of the top utility men in baseball until he acquired COVID-19. He suffered a prolonged illness and was never the same again. When he returned to action, he appeared very weak and his bat speed was greatly diminished. Everything from there on out was downhill. He never regained the form that he had when the Phils extended him and, when he appeared to be regaining some semblance of major league form, he couldn’t catch a break. For too brief a period of time, Scott Kingery shined with the Phillies. One can only imagine how good he might have become.
The King is gone but he’s not forgotten.
This is the story of Scotty rotten..
The Phillies ruined this kid. He was lights out hitting and once he was brought up he was used once or twice a week and playing all over the place. They needed a 2B. Should of just played him every day at 2B. Instead minimal playing time ruined his confidence and ability to play. And the demotion killed anything that was left. So management had themselves to blame. So dead against him they could of eaten money and traded him. Either way it cost them.
Give some guys too much money early and maybe they lose their desire? Other guys react positively to it, like Albies for ex. That’s why numbers don’t always tell the whole story.
The Phillies just need to release him. Sure he got his money, but he’s not even organizational depth at this point. There were about a half dozen times since spring training they could have promoted him.
Let the kid walk and be given a chance somewhere else.
In the end doesn’t matter if it was Kapler, his swing adjustment, multiple position movement, covid, playing hurt, eye issues…..
Understand it’s a business and he’s gotten paid, but he’s got no spot of the MLB squad. Time for him to move on. And hopefully carve out a career.