Phillies Inform Pat Venditte, Cesar Ramos They Won’t Make Team
By John Town
The Phillies informed Cesar Ramos, Pat Venditte, Pedro Florimon, Colton Murray, and Hoby Milner that they won’t make the team.
The Phillies Opening Day roster started to come into focus Tuesday when the team released several players and traded away Alec Asher. There are still some moves to be made, but some of the battles are starting to clear up.
Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reported that pitchers Cesar Ramos, Pat Venditte, Colton Murray, and Hoby Milner and infielder Pedro Florimon were told by the team that they won’t make the Opening Day roster. However, all will remain in the major-league camp until Friday.
Cesar Ramos, Hoby Milner, Colton Murray, Pat Venditte and Pedro Florimon told they won't make team, but will remain in camp through Friday.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) March 28, 2017
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All five of the players were non-roster invitees, but only Ramos and Venditte had any real shot of making the major-league roster. Both were in pursuit in one of the open bullpen spots, but getting one was tough because they would have to be added to the 40-man roster. Considering the team will likely add one or two non-roster invitees to the bench, there were few spots to go around for Ramos or Venditte.
The Phils traded minor-league outfielder Joey Curletta to the Mariners for the switch-pitching Venditte earlier during spring training. Venditte did his best to make the team, tossing 3.1 no-hit, scoreless innings with Philadelphia. He struck out four batters and walked two. However, his switch-pitching wasn’t enough to overcome his lackluster arsenal and make the team.
Ramos was also pushing for a spot in the bullpen but he struggled during the spring. In 10.2 innings, he gave up seven earned runs on 11 hits and three walks. Ramos did rack up six strikeouts.
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Philadelphia just got back Milner from the Indians after they selected him in the Rule 5 draft. They originally assigned him to Triple-A but brought him back up to the major-league level Sunday to get a look at him. In the lone game he pitched with the Phils in spring, Milner gave up three runs in 3.1 innings along with walking three batters and striking out two.
Murray actually had a rather impressive spring. Prior to Tuesday, he had 10.1 scoreless innings, as pointed out by Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly. That must have jinxed Murray as he gave up his first runs of the spring during Tuesday’s game.
Way to be the kiss of death, @JSalisburyCSN! Murray just served up a two-run homer. #jinx https://t.co/iTXof0sV3P
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) March 29, 2017
Despite his effectiveness, Murray wasn’t on the roster and the team already had enough righties in the bullpen, so making the team was a stretch.
Florimon didn’t have much of a chance to make the major-league roster in a loaded infield. His performance didn’t help as he managed a .229 batting average and .631 OPS in 21 spring games.
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Most, if not all, of these players who didn’t make the team will likely play in Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season.