Infielder Buddy Kennedy is sticking with the Phillies after being designated for assignment last week. The Phils announced that he went unclaimed on waivers. Kennedy elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment but promptly re-signed with Philadelphia on a minor league contract. He’ll head to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Kennedy landed in Philadelphia last June in a DFA trade with the Tigers. He appeared eight times in the big leagues, going 2-11 with a couple walks. Kennedy played very well with the IronPigs, hitting .294/.400/.500 with 10 homers and nearly as many walks as strikeouts across 67 games. He held his 40-man roster spot all winter but entered a crucial Spring Training. Kennedy is out of options, so he needed to break camp or go on waivers.
The 26-year-old’s spring numbers weren’t good. Kennedy hit .150 over 22 exhibition games. He connected on three homers with a solid 10:12 walk-to-strikeout ratio, but he only managed six hits in 40 at-bats. The Phils opted for Edmundo Sosa and Kody Clemens, each of whom was also out of options, as their backup infielders.
No other team was willing to carry Kennedy on the major league roster. This is his second career outright, which gave him the ability to elect free agency. He chose that path but only to rework his deal with the Phils. It’s relatively common for players to do that, as it’s possible the new contract contains a different minor league salary or opt-out chances that he would not have gotten had he simply accepted the outright assignment. The former fifth-round pick returns to Triple-A, where he has a .281/.392/.435 slash in 300 career games.
Looks like the Phillies did regret cutting him and brought him back.
mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/buddy-kennedy-will-not-…
This move positions Kennedy as a hidden trade chip for July.
Who’s looking to pick up Buddy Kennedy? Nobody wanted him the first time….
@choof
Are you saying teams don’t like OBP? What do teams want? Clearly, Philly took him back instead of just letting him play in Indy league, as they saw some value in keeping him.
That’s fine if they like him but multiple teams have opted not to carry him on their rosters for an extended period. Hence why I doubt he’ll all of a sudden become a valuable trade chip. OBP only goes so far
I kind of thought Dombrowski was BSing when he said he had trade offers for Kennedy. Buddy is a classic Quad-A player, he’ll be good again for the Iron Pigs and can get called up in a pinch to play three infield positions.
2nd best player to come out of Millville Nj
Thank God they didn’t lose Buddy!!