Good morning! Today is the final day of spring training. Rejoice!
The news:
RUPP RELEASED: This deserves a bigger post, but for now, here’s the news of Cameron Rupp’s release.
Rupp hit .234/.298/.407 over 1,127 plate appearances in parts of five seasons with the Phillies. He, like Freddy Galvis, is symbolic of the transitional era we’ve just witnessed, one with Phillies teams that routinely lost 90 or more games.
Rupp’s performance was mediocre but acceptable for the moment. He did have some power, and in 2016 put up a pretty decent offensive season for a starting catcher. But his defense and framing wasn’t considered very good, and it became hard justifying keeping him on the roster with Andrew Knapp surfacing as an equal or better offensive option with solid defense.
PHILLIES WIN: Meanwhile the Phils beat the Tigers 6-3 on Monday. After signing his big contract, Scott Kingery homered and went 3-for-4. Vince Velasquez struck out three in four innings.
ROSTER TALK: With Kingery up, the Phillies sent Roman Quinn and Jesmuel Valentin to the minors. Also sent down: Zac Curtis and Zach Eflin.
Then we found out Tommy Hunter is hurt and has to hit the disabled list. Cool.
That means the roster is set. Here we go:
- C: Jorge Alfaro, Andrew Knapp
- IF: Carlos Santana, Cesar Hernandez, Maikel Franco, J.P. Crawford, Scott Kingery
- OF: Rhys Hoskins, Odubel Herrera, Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr, Pedro Florimon
- SP: Aaron Nola, Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez, Ben Lively
- RP: Hector Neris, Luis Garcia, Pat Neshek, Edubray Ramos, Adam Morgan, Hoby Milner, Victor Arano, Jake Thompson, Drew Hutchison
Jake Arrieta will join the roster April 8 for his first start; one of those relievers is bound to head down to the minors.
Meanwhile, I do wish the Phils kept Roman Quinn with the big club over a veteran like Pedro Florimon. Hopefully Florimon proves me wrong, but either way, I’d imagine Quinn gets his shot sooner than later, long as he – you know – stays healthy.
TODAY’S GAME: The Phils finish off spring training by hosting the Pirates. Game time is 1 p.m.
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