Dombrowski stays busy
Phillies continue to stay active this offseason
As the winter and MLB offseason keep trudging on, Dave Dombrowski and the Philadelphia Phillies have stayed active.
The club completed a trade with the Detroit Tigers on Saturday in an effort to bolster their bullpen for the 2023 season. As a result, the Phillies parted ways with fan favorites Nick Maton and Matt Vierling. It’s like watching your child grow up and move away to college when players your team drafted get traded away. It’s bittersweet.
However, the Phils acquired two-time All-Star Gregory Soto in return, and most are saying it’s a steal, as it only took a couple of replacement-level players to nab him. He should be a solid addition to the backend of the bullpen.
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Welcome aboard, Gregory Soto
The Phillies have begun to add the final touches to their bullpen for the 2023 season. In a trade on Saturday, they acquired two-time All-Star reliever Gregory Soto and infielder Kody Clemens from the Detroit Tigers.
Soto, who will turn 28 in February, finished his 2022 campaign with a 3.28 ERA, 9.0 K/9, 5.1 BB/9, and registered 30 saves across 60.1 innings of work. Though the left-hander can be a bit unpredictable—ranking in the bottom 2% in the league in BB%—Philadelphia is confident they can induce a turnaround similar to José Alvarado’s last season.
Alvarado struggled with his command and walked batters at a 7.6 rate per-nine-innings in 2021, but following a demotion to the minor leagues and by introducing a cutter into his pitch arsenal, the southpaw brought his BB/9 down to 4.2 in 2022.
Soto will join Alvarado, Seranthony Domínguez, and the recently-signed Craig Kimbrel in the bullpen as the reigning National League champions look to continue their success in 2023.
Phillies’ daycare loses two more
Going to Detroit in the trade for Soto was outfielder Matt Vierling, infielder Nick Maton, and catcher Donny Sands.
Vierling was a fifth-round draft pick by Philadelphia in 2018. He made his debut in June 2021, and concluded his Phillies career with a .260/.309/.374 slash line, eight home runs, 38 RBI, and decent defensive skills in center field.
Maton made his debut with the Phillies in April 2021, having been drafted by them in the seventh round in 2017. He’ll be remembered for his impressive .303 batting average in late & close games, in which he seemed to always come through in the clutch.
Sands was acquired by Philadelphia with Nick Nelson from the New York Yankees in Nov. 2021. He made three major league plate appearances, and produced a breakout minor league campaign in 2022.
It was nice knowing ya, Erik Miller
The Phillies continued to make moves on Monday, announcing that lefty Erik Miller was traded to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for right-hander Yunior Marte.
Marte split time between Triple-A and the majors in 2022, and per The Philadelphia Inqurier’s Alex Coffey, the club views him “as a pitcher who can help the big league club now.” He still has minor league options, and the Phillies “like his velocity and his slider, and have identified some tweaks to his fastball usage that they believe will help him.”
Miller was a top prospect with the Phillies, posting a 3.54 ERA in 48.1 innings across two levels in the minors last season. He also represented the Phils in the 2022 MLB Futures Game along with Logan O’Hoppe, who was traded to the Angels in exchange for Brandon Marsh.
It was the latest move made in a busy offseason by Dave Dombrowski, who has identified weaknesses in Philadelphia’s bullpen depth and consequently upgraded them.
Phillies sign pair of RHPs to minor league deals
Last week, the Phillies signed right-handers Jon Duplantier and Jake Jewell to minor league deals.
Duplantier, 28, hails from the Dodgers organization, where he spent all of 2022 in Triple-A Oklahoma City, pitching to a 4.80 ERA in 34 appearances. For most of his professional career, however, the injury-prone Duplantier was a top prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ system, making his major league debut with them in April 2019.
Jewell is entering his age-30 season, and has been apart of five different MLB organizations. The Phillies will be his sixth, as he hopes to return to the majors after being in Triple-A for all of last season.
These types of moves indicate that Philadelphia sees something within them that they believe they can help to improve—whether it’s their delivery, a certain pitch, etc. The Phillies see something of value they can add to their squad.
What will Kody Clemens bring to Phils?
Kody Clemens, acquired by the Phillies in the Soto trade on Jan. 7, is the son of former MLB great Roger Clemens. While he isn’t a pitcher like his dad, Philadelphia is still high on the 26-year-old infielder.
Clemens was drafted in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Tigers and made his debut with the club this past season, batting just .145 alongside 33 strikeouts in 127 plate appearances.
Dombrowski said in a Zoom call that the Phillies “like him a lot” for his versatility, and believe him to have some pop in his bat too. “Kevin Long had a chance to take a look at him. He likes his swing,” he continued.
With Triple-A Toledo in 2022, Clemens slashed .274/.327/.535 with 13 home runs and 43 RBI, so the potential is certainly there. Perhaps Long can work his magic and Clemens can be a productive addition to the Phillies’ bench in 2023.