The Phillies could soon part ways with these seven arbitration-eligible players
The Philadelphia Phillies have seven players eligible for salary arbitration, and the December 2 deadline is fast approaching as to whether they will offer them a non-guaranteed contract for the 2021 season. Then, the two sides can either negotiate a deal or head to an arbitration hearing in February.
Those arbitration-eligible players who are not extended an offer are deemed “non-tendered” and immediately become free agents. Last offseason, the Phillies did just that with infielders Cesar Hernandez and Maikel Franco, who went on to play the 2021 season with the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals; the Phillies deemed their salaries outweighed their contributions and went on to essentially replace them with Didi Gregorius and Alec Bohm, respectively. Hernandez was recently named a 2020 American League Gold Glove Award winner.
Click through to see as many as seven players who the Phillies could likewise non-tender ahead of the upcoming deadline.
7. Seranthony Dominguez
Hard-throwing right-hander Seranthony Dominguez has not pitched in a big-league game since June 2019, and is expected to miss most of the 2021 season. Despite being recommended for Tommy John surgery in March, he did not have the reconstructive elbow procedure until late July.
The 26-year-old has appeared in 80 games out of the bullpen since his May 2018 debut, going 5-5 with a 3.27 ERA, 1.089 WHIP, and 103-34 strikeouts-to-walks ratio spanning 82 2/3 innings. The Phillies bullpen has sorely missed Dominguez, especially the 2020 cohort, which combined for the second-worst ERA in Major League Baseball history.
“The Phillies must ask themselves if they can stomach the potential price to keep him in the fold or non-tender him and risk losing him,” MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes. “A team that believes in Dominguez’s talent might try to steal him.”
Dominguez is projected to earn $900,000 in arbitration.