Phillies should be wary of betting on Roman Quinn
By John Town
Throughout his career, Roman Quinn has shown he cannot stay healthy for long periods. The Phillies should not expect things to change.
The Phillies will have to make a critical decision for their bench soon. Roman Quinn started a rehab assignment Thursday night, playing all nine innings of a game in Clearwater. Manager Gabe Kapler said Quinn could be back for next week’s Nationals series.
Quinn is out of minor-league options, and all indications suggest he will be placed on the active roster. His skill set fits a role the team otherwise doesn’t have.
Quinn’s greatest asset is his speed. His sprint speed of 30.2 feet per second (20.6 miles per hour) was tied for second-fastest among all players tracked by MLB Statcast last year. That speed helps him play great defense in center field, and he possesses the ability to play all three outfield positions.
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If Quinn possesses such a skill set, why am I suggesting the team should be wary of counting on him? Because his injury history makes him too unreliable.
Quinn’s oblique injury he is currently rehabbing is one of many injuries he has dealt with during his professional career. He has never played a full, healthy season at any level, dealing with everything from a torn Achilles to a ruptured quad. Just last year he missed significant time with an elbow strain.
For Quinn to come back to the major-league roster, one of Aaron Altherr and Nick Williams must be taken off. Williams still has options left and can be sent down to the minors, but that would take away the team’s best bat off the bench. If he gets sent back down, the club doesn’t have any threatening hitters off their bench.
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Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the most likely option is the team designating Altherr for assignment. Altherr, like Quinn, doesn’t have any options left and would have to go through waivers before heading back down. It’s likely at least one team will take Altherr, so designating him for assignment means losing him one way or another.
Altherr could wind up being traded, but either way, it looks like his time as a Phillie will soon come to an end. Without him, Quinn is the only other capable backup center fielder on the 40-man roster, which would put the team in a hard spot in the likely event he gets injured again.
Andrew McCutchen hasn’t played center field since 2017 and graded out horribly by advanced metrics in his last few years there. Bryce Harper said during spring training he hopes not to play center again. Williams was terrible defensively in right field last year; he wouldn’t be any better in center. Dylan Cozens has a strong arm but is not fast enough for center field.
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In a vacuum, Quinn would be an excellent fourth outfielder for this team. However, his injury history gives plenty of cause for concern as the team doesn’t have any other backup center field option.