Phillies will soon have to revisit Odubel Herrera question

With the offseason arriving shortly, the Phillies will soon have to decide how to proceed with currently suspended outfielder Odubel Herrera.

It has been a long season for the Phillies with many twists and turns along the way. There have been plenty of issues on the field, but the biggest off-the-field issue was the arrest and subsequent suspension of Odubel Herrera.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Herrera was arrested on domestic violence charges in Atlantic City and the league swiftly placed him on administrative leave. Charges were later dropped as his girlfriend did not want to proceed with the case, but the league suspended him July 5 for the rest of the season, 85 games total.

Since then, Herrera has largely been out of everyone’s minds as they focused on the rest of the season. However, with the last game of the season less than two weeks away, the focus is shifting to the questions the team will have to answer during the offseason. One of the biggest questions to answer will be Herrera’s future with the team.

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Herrera’s future was already murky before the suspension as the struggles that plagued him through the second half of 2018 followed him into this season. In 39 games, he had a .222/.288/.341 line, 64 wRC+, and -0.4 wins above replacement. Herrera was already losing playing time in center field to Scott Kingery before the arrest and subsequent suspension.

Since then, several options have emerged to potentially take over in center field, leaving Herrera expendable. Adam Haseley has been a pleasant surprise, starting off slowly but eventually emerging as an option to be an everyday major-leaguer. Corey Dickerson made a strong case to return to the team next year with eight home runs and a 121 OPS+ in 34 games as a Phillie. Andrew McCutchen played center field in Herrera’s absence and should be ready to go at the start of next season.

The Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse policy limits what exactly the team could do with Herrera. If they outright release him, the player’s association could argue that the release was further punishment for the arrest and thus a violation of the policy. The team would have to justify the release was based on poor performance.

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One way to skirt around this would be to essentially buy out the remainder of Herrera’s contract. The Rockies did something similar with Jose Reyes in 2016, paying him up-front the $39 million remaining on his contract. Herrera is guaranteed $21.2 million for the remainder of his contract, so that is likely what the Phillies would have to pay him to avoid a battle with the player’s union.

Another avenue would be to trade Herrera, which of course would involve another team actually wanting to take him on. That would not be an easy sell by any measure and it’s unlikely the team gets any real value in a trade.

If I had to guess, Herrera’s time as a Phillie will end after this season. I don’t see any team wanting to trade for him, so it will likely take Philadelphia buying him out to wash their hands of this whole situation.