Jean Segura becomes free agent as Phillies decline option
Following his first exposure to postseason baseball, Jean Segura is set to become a free agent.
The Phillies declined their $17 million team option on the veteran infielder, the club announced Monday night, allowing him to hit the open market when free agency begins on Friday. Segura will receive a $1 million buyout.
The team also announced that it picked up its 2023 option on right-hander Aaron Nola and that right-hander Zach Eflin declined his end of a mutual option for next year.
Segura, 32, had bounced around between four teams after entering majors in 2012 before being traded to Philadelphia ahead of the 2019 season. Since then, he had been a fixture in the Phillies lineup and middle infield.
Previously the longest tenured active major-league player to never appear in the postseason, Segura was the starting second baseman for the Phillies this season as they made the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The right-handed batter hit a go-ahead, game-winning single in the ninth inning of his first career playoff game in the Wild Card Series in St. Louis, kicking off an incredible run to the National League title and a World Series appearance.
Before the Philadelphia’s loss to the Houston Astros in the Fall Classic, Segura expressed his desire to remain with the team in the future.
“I would love to finish my career in Philadelphia, and I don’t really think about that right now,” he said ahead of the World Series. “All my focus is to go into the World Series and get four more wins and hopefully get a champagne [celebration] and bring another ring to the Phillies and to the city.”
But with the Phillies coming up short, now is the time for Segure to focus on what’s next — whether that’s in Philadelphia or another city.
“After the season, we’ll address that,” Segura said. “If we keep moving forward, if we stay here, cool. If not, I’ll have to talk to my agents and see who wants me, what teams want Jean Segura’s services.”
A career .285/.330/.408 hitter with a solid glove at second base, Segura will almost certainly be in line for another starting opportunity in the big leagues somewhere.
MORE FROM PHILLIES NATION
- Phillies 2022 Postseason Walk-Up Songs
- ‘Emotional’ Zach Eflin Reflects On Playoff Run, Uncertain Future With Phillies
- Phillies Sad It’s Over, But Happy To Have ‘Taste’ Of Playoff Run
- Will The Phillies Build On Their World Series Run, Or Was It A One-Off?
- Wheeler, Alvarado And Thomson Revisit Decision That Ended Magical 2022 Season
- Meet ‘Frankie Two Scoops’, The Most Beloved Man At Citizens Bank Park
- Phillies Reportedly Pick Up Aaron Nola’s 2023 Club Option
- ‘He’s Got Ice In His Veins’: Phillies React To Ranger Suárez Becoming A Playoff Hero
- The Bryce Harper To Houston Trade Package That Fell Through Was Finally Revealed
- Jean Segura Hopeful To Stay With Phillies Beyond 2022, But Focused On World Series
