Photo: Philliedelphia/Kevin Durso
The Domonic Brown saga continues. The outfielder who opened the season on the big league club's disabled list was recovering from Achilles tendinitis in a 20-day rehab assignment in the minor leagues. Tomorrow would be the day that the Phillies had to activate Brown. After 53 at bats, Brown is hitting .189 as a minor leaguer. Instead of bringing Brown to St. Louis to join the Phillies, the team decided to option Brown to AAA Lehigh Valley instead.
Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports:
Domonic Brown did not report today to Lehigh Valley. He has 72 hours to join team after being optioned.
— Matt Breen (@matt_breen) April 28, 2015
Where was Brown when he learned of the demotion? Lehigh Valley.
Brown may have struck a nerve with the Phillies front office when he declared to media that he would rejoin the Phillies in St. Louis on Wednesday. Publicly, Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg's stance was "not so fast", and the Phillies ultimately went with sending Brown to the minors. The move really puts Brown's future in question with the Phillies into question; has the team lost faith in Brown?
We will see if Brown is in the Phillies plans in the future. However, he must "report" to the minor leagues first. Brown himself expected to play for Lehigh Valley tonight. It appears that he has chosen on his own to hold out, taking advantage of a 72-hour loophole that he technically has to report, mainly reserved for travel and putting one's life in a position to make the change. However, defiance is not going to give the Phillies any encouragement to bring him to the major leagues.
