Categories: 2020 OffseasonAnalysis

Should Phillies re-sign Phil Gosselin?

The Philadelphia Phillies might be best suited to move on from early-season hero Phil Gosselin as they fill out their roster ahead of the 2021 season.

Phil Gosselin has spent two seasons with the Phillies. (Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire)

Gosselin made a huge impact over the team’s first handful of games after making the opening-day roster out of summer camp. The Bryn Mawr native’s two-homer game in the Phillies’ second game of the year was one of the highlights of a pretty disappointing season.

But outside of the first seven or so games of the season, the Phillies did not get a ton of production from Gosselin in his second season in Philadelphia. Although he only signed a minor-league deal with the team before the season, he ended up becoming a bench bat and platoon player against left-handed pitching that the team relied on regularly as the season went on. And the right-handed hitter only slashed .250/.324/.402/.726 with three home runs in 39 games overall.

Throughout his eight-year career, the 32-year-old Gosselin has posted an OPS of .675. He is better against lefties, but still only has a .738 OPS against them. Although he’s had some memorable moments as a Phillie, the overall body of work suggests that he probably does not hit enough to be an optimal go-to bench bat or DH option moving forward.

Perhaps signing Gosselin to another minor-league deal to serve primarily as bench depth in Triple-A could make sense for the Phillies. The team has done that the last two seasons with Gosselin, and he has provided as much as any organization could expect from a journeyman role player on a minors deal.

But banking on him in any other role is probably not the best choice. “The Goose” has seen some bright moments in Philadelphia, but the Phillies could set him loose this offseason.