Phillies Cesar Hernandez played with a broken foot last year
One of the Phillies best players played through a significant injury
Phillies general manager Matt Klentak revealed that second baseman Cesar Hernandez played most of the second half of last season with a broken foot.
Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic first reported the injury and reported that Klentak confirmed Hernandez didn’t need surgery to repair the injury.
Klentak says the injury happened when Hernandez fouled a ball off his foot, but an exact game wasn’t mentioned.
The injury provides some explanation Hernandez’s splits last year after he hit .270 with 22 extra-base hits in the first half and just .228 with 11 extra-base hits in the second half.
Despite the injury, Hernandez played all but one game the entire season, a Sunday day-game in September.
A lot of fans are ready to trade Hernandez to allow Scott Kingery to get playing time at his natural position, the one where he ranked atop fellow prospects entering last season.
News of Hernandez’s injury might stall an already sluggish trade market for second basemen with more available than needed. In addition, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com says the team is not inclined to trade Hernandez.
With several intriguing options in free agency such as D.J. LeMahieu, Josh Harrison, and Neil Walker and trade candidates like Hernandez and Scooter Gennett, the supply is greater than the demand.
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If Hernandez is healthy going into 2019 he will be the starting second baseman and Kingery will resume his role as a “super-utility” man for the time being. This front office is confident in Kingery, evident by the long-term contract inked before Kingery played a major league game.