The Phillies sent outfielder/first baseman Darin Ruf to AAA the other day, since they were not willing to use him and since their putrid team needed Phillippe Aumont more than they needed a power hitting right-handed outfielder/first baseman. Now, Ruf is hurt and cannot help the major league Phillies, or even their farm team to the north.
Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly writes:
Ruf suffered a sprained left wrist and sustained a cut on his right knee that will require stitches when he slid into the wall in foul territory in the first inning of Tuesday night’s game at Lehigh Valley. Ruf was playing left field at the time. A witness to the play said Ruf hit the wall hard.
“It was nasty,” the witness said.
It was not immediately known how much time Ruf would miss, but it is likely he will end up on the disabled list.
Despite the fact that Domonic Brown has embarassed himself and the Phillies with lazy play and embarassing offensive numbers, the Phillies felt that they had no room for Ruf on the major league roster and instead sent him to AAA.
Domonic Brown, who has not run into any walls, or exerted even remotely as much effort, remains in left field for the Phillies. Even worse, the Phillies are short a bench player and have no options at AAA on the 40-man roster who could help the team. Tyson Gillies, the almost-as-worthless-as-Aumont outfielder that is occupying at 40-man roster spot still, is of no use to the Phillies on the major league roster.
Kelly Dugan, Aaron Altherr, and Zach Collier are the other options on the Phillies 40-man roster, and are likely non-options for the Phillies this season. Gillies, Dugan, and Collier are all left-handed in the midst of an abundance of left-handed options. Altherr hit just .191 in Reading this season and has been demoted to class A Clearwater.
