Phillies news and rumors 8/5: Tigers claim Andrew Vasquez off waivers from Phillies

Andrew Vasquez was designated for assignment by the Phillies on Wednesday. (Don Otto)

When Andrew Vasquez walked off the mound after surrendering a walk-off two-run homer to birthday boy Josh Palacios on Sunday in Pittsburgh, the vibes around the Phillies were quite bad and he probably wasn’t in the best of moods.

But he almost definitely didn’t imagine that within a week, his present team would be 13 games under .500.

Vasquez was claimed off waivers from the Phillies by the Detroit Tigers on Friday. The move follows Vasquez’s designation for assignment on Wednesday, a decision the Phillies used to make room for trade deadline acquisition Michael Lorenzen on the roster.

On the surface, the DFA seemed like a questionable decision by the Phillies: Vasquez posted a solid 2.27 ERA in 30 games for the team this season. But it’d been somewhat of a struggle for the slider-heavy lefty since mid-June; he surrendered 15 hits and eight runs (six earned) for a 4.91 ERA while walking six in his past 11 innings of work.

That lack of usage — just 11 innings and 10 appearances during the span of 45 team games — also helps explain the move, as does Dylan Covey’s recent performance since his Phillies tenure got off to a rough start. Three of Covey’s first five appearances with the Phillies were quite bad, but since then, he’s posted a 1.70 ERA out of the bullpen. Covey also remains the club’s only long man, something that might come in handy with the Phillies employing a six-man rotation and thus shortening the bullpen.

Though Covey might be the right call, it’s not as if Vasquez pitched his way off the roster, which makes the DFA a tough break for the 29-year-old.

He’ll join an unusually long list of players to be members of Dave Dombrowski’s current employer (the Phillies) and his old one (the Tigers) this year. The clubs made a notable swap in January, when Detroit sent Gregory Soto and Kody Clemens to Philadelphia for Nick Maton, Matt Vierling and Donny Sands. And, recently, the clubs linked together on the aforementioned deadline-day deal that sent Lorenzen to the Phillies for prospect Hao-Yu Lee.

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