Counting down the final days of the 2015 regular season gives you very little time to say goodbye to a handful of Phillies that will not be donning the red & white pinstripes next season. As the rebuilding continues, many changes are expected, and at the top of our list are the following:
Cody Asche – His move back third-base over the last few days is a tell-tale sign the left field experiment is over. Asche will never hit enough to be a major-league caliber corner outfielder. I expect him to come to spring training to “compete” for a bench job, but with options remaining, will be sent to Triple-A Leigh Valley or moved in a deal to another rebuilding club who will give him a second chance at third base. That position in Philadelphia belongs to Maikel Franco for a very long time to come.
Justin De Fratus – Once thought to be a big part of the back end of the bullpen, DeFratus has gone from setup man to mop-up man, only pitching when the game is out of reach. The 27-year old has a 5.80 ERA and horrific 1.61 WHIP in over 70 innings. Still young enough to be given another opportunity, but it won’t be in Philadelphia, as a change of scenery is certainly needed.
David Buchanan – One of the few given coming into the 2015 was that David Buchanan had one of the five rotation spots locked. His 20 starts last season were solid (3.75 ERA & 1.29 WHIP), not spectacular, but enough to show a positive step forward and hopefully more to come. What came was an 0-5 April and a trip back to the minor leagues. Following the two and a half month demotion, Buchanan returned for more of the same. He finally secured his first win on July 20 and was only able to win one more time before his second demotion of the season, following an Aug 11 start to Arizona where he allowed 11 earned runs in one and two-third innings of work. With all of the young arms acquired this year, Buchanan would be a long shot to see Philadelphia next April.
Domonic Brown – This has been a long-time coming for the Philadelphia faithful, the player that will probably define the career of GM Ruben Amaro. He had ample opportunity to trade the under achieving outfielder on numerous occasions. The Blue Jays were willing to include Jose Bautista in the Roy Halladay deal if Amaro added Brown. The Phillies general manager balked. The Indians would have accepted him over Carlos Carrasco when they first acquired Cliff Lee. The Astros asked about Brown in the Hunter Pence deal. If included the Phils could still have Domingo Santana, who, now with Milwaukee, is showing tremendous power in his audition for the Brewers CF opening in 2016.
Brown's fifth full-season has been his worst yet, hitting .228, with five home runs, and 25 runs batted in in 63 games. Brown’s defense has gotten no-better with his return to RF. He suffered a concussion attempting to field a ball down the line in a recent game at Citi Field and isn’t expected this season. The power of 2013 has failed to return and with a plethora of promising outfielders in the organization, Odubel Herrera, Aaron Altherr, Darnell Sweeney, Nick Williams, Roman Quinn, to name but a few, Brown no longer has a place in Philadelphia.
Carlos Ruiz – One of the most popular players in recent memory has taken a back seat thanks to the emergence of Cameron Rupp. The man who has caught more memorable games since Bob Boone has spent the majority of the second half of this season on the bench and the system, once catching starved, has two excellent prospects (Andrew Knapp and Jorge Alfaro) poised to see Philadelphia in the next year. Veteran catchers are still a commodity, just not at $8 million per year. With only one year left on his contract, if the Phils dig deep and pay half of his 2016 salary, I believe they could find a taker for Carlos.
Ryan Howard – They did everything they could to deal Howard to an AL club that would just allow him to swing the bat vs. right-handed pitching. No matter how much of his remaining $25 million per year in 2015 and 2016, along with a $12 million buyout, they offered to pay, no one was biting. Howard does lead the team in home runs and RBI’s, but that is far from $25 million of production. He is now a bystander vs. all left-handed starters. The Phillies want to do right by Howard and releasing him this off-season would give him the time to pick his destination, since a trade is not an option. The Phillies could add first-base to the list of jobs for new super utility man Darnell Sweeney and along with Darin Ruf, who has hit .373, with an 1.082 OPS vs. lefties this season, the team will get by just fine next year.
