Phillies release 2 veterans

The Philadelphia Phillies began making some tough decisions about their roster Thursday.

The club announced this afternoon that veteran right-handed pitchers Iván Nova and Héctor Rondón have asked for their release and that request has been granted.

Nova, 34, was a non-roster invitee to spring training, reuniting him briefly with Joe Girardi, his former manager in New York. Once an effective innings eater, Nova struggled mightily in four starts for the Detroit Tigers in 2020, and his results didn’t improve this spring. Nova allowed 10 earned runs in 12 1/3 innings of work, so his release wasn’t especially surprising.

Meanwhile, Rondón won’t be part of the Phillies efforts to repair a historically-bad bullpen from a year ago. Rondón, a member of the 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs, was also a non-roster invitee. The 33-year-old has struggled in each of the last two seasons, and that trend continued this spring, as he surrendered six earned runs in seven innings of work.

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