Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Phillies have begun to undergo some “Fall cleaning” on their 40-man roster as reliever B.J. Rosenberg has cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple A.
Rosenberg has been a member of the Phillies organization since 2008 when the team selected him in the 13th round of the first year player draft. He made his major league debut in 2012 and appeared in 57 games over the next three seasons.
The righthander has had brief flashes of success, but has mostly been undone by an inability to consistently throw strikes. Early in the 2014, manager Ryne Sandberg was actually using him in key spots, but he soon proved unable to handle such a role and wound up back in the minor leagues.
Rosenberg can now either accept the minor league assignment or opt to become a free agent. The team would likely prefer to keep him as he has at least shown an ability to strike batters out during his brief major league career. But seeing how the Phillies bullpen looks somewhat crowded for 2014, it’s possible that Rosenberg would prefer to head elsewhere.
With the move, the Phillies now have two open spots on their 40-man roster, with a few more likely to open once their free agency-eligible players declare. The team will then have some decisions to make about which young players will be added in their place. Players not on the 40-man roster who have been with the organization for more than four years will then be eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft.
Unfortunately, the Phillies are now left without a player who might be (but actually isn’t) Jewish. In order to fill that void can the team find a way to trade for Diamondbacks slugger Paul Goldschmidt in order to fill that void? We shall see.
Note: It would be really awesome if the Phillies could find a way to trade for Goldschmidt. That guy is really good. In fact, I tried to find a Rosenberg highight video, but (unsurprisingly) couldn’t locate any. So let’s just watch this video of Goldschmidt instead: