Phillies: Seranthony Dominguez among 7 non-tender candidates

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.

5. David Hale

If parting ways with David Hale from the disastrous 2020 Phillies bullpen is among the offseason plans to revamp it, consider the likelihood for the right-handed reliever to be non-tendered as strong.

The Phillies acquired the seven-year veteran from the New York Yankees in August in exchange for minor-league pitcher Addison Russ, who was invited to the team’s big-league summer camp roster.

Hale made just six appearances in red pinstripes to finish the season, going 0-0 with a 4.09 ERA, 1.545 WHIP, and 7-1 strikeouts-to-walk ratio spanning 11 innings. The Phillies also used him twice as a doubleheader starter in the latter half of the twin bill; the team coincidentally won one of the games 8-7, and lost the other 7-8.

The 33-year-old Hale has already pitched for five different teams in his career, first the Atlanta Braves (2013-14), followed by the Colorado Rockies (2015-16), Minnesota Twins (2018), Yankees (2018-20), and Phillies (2020).

Overall in his career through 101 appearances and 22 starts, he has gone 13-10 with a 4.23 ERA, three saves, 27 games finished, and a 1.437 WHIP ratio. Although Hale seems to be versatile, the Phillies could ultimately decide to allocate their dollars elsewhere for 2021.

4. Rhys Hoskins

Along with righty starter Zach Eflin, first baseman Rhys Hoskins is another likely player on this list of seven to be tendered a contract for the 2021 season.

Through 404 career games and 1,762 plate appearances, Hoskins has slugged 87 doubles, five triples, 91 home runs, and 255 RBI, along with 269 walks. In 2019, the Sacramento, California, native led the National League with 116 walks; Hoskins slashed just .226/.364/.454 that year, but bounced back in 2020 with a .245/.384/.503 slash line, along with 10 homers and 26 RBI through 41 games and 185 plate appearances.

Hoskins is projected to earn between the $3 million and $5 million range in arbitration; even that figure is a bargain for the slugger. Barring a trade or injury, he will be the team’s Opening Day starter in 2021 at first base.

3. Andrew Knapp

As it currently stands, catcher Andrew Knapp is the starting catcher for the Phillies, with J.T. Realmuto a free agent becoming more and more unlikely to re-sign as each day passes.

Projected to earn a little more than $1 million in arbitration, the four-year veteran would surely be a cheap everyday player; however, the Phillies would likely look to the free agent catcher pool to sign a veteran starter, if Realmuto happens to sign elsewhere.

Knapp had a career-best season in 2020, slashing .278/.404/.444 with four doubles, one triple, two home runs, 15 RBI, 15 walks, and just 19 strikeouts spanning 33 games and 89 plate appearances. In the field, he committed only two errors across 233 chances as catcher, and no errors spanning six chances at first base. While Knapp logged the second-most passed balls among National League catchers in 2020 (4), he also turned the fifth-most double plays (2).

Debuting in April 2017, Knapp has a career .230/.337/.350 slash line with 27 doubles, 11 home runs, and 51 RBI across 247 games and 668 plate appearances.

If Knapp is non-tendered ahead of the December 2 deadline, that should be a strong sign for Phillies fans that Realmuto could be coming back. Rafael Marchan has impressed and likely would then be the backup.

2. Hector Neris

Earlier this offseason, the Phillies declined a $7 million club option for Hector Neris; therefore, if they do tender him a contract, they will try to re-sign him for less than that figure.

On paper, the seven-year veteran Neris had a disappointing 2020 season. Across 24 appearances and 13 games finished, he blew three save opportunities, yielded 15 runs (11 earned) in 21 2/3 innings, and posted a career-worst 2.08 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.

Neris is projected to earn as much as $6.4 million in arbitration; given the would-be salary commitment, the Phillies could very well decide to part ways with the Dominican Republic native, or give him a chance to rebound under their new pitching coach.

1. Vince Velasquez

Vince Velasquez remains as the last remaining piece from the December 2015 trade that sent closer Ken Giles to the Houston Astros. It seems as if he has been held onto longer than most other pitchers would have, just because the Phillies want at least some return on investment from the swap.

MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki thinks Velasquez “might be on the bubble,” as he made $3.6 million  in 2020, “but the Phils could go in another direction, even though they are remarkably short on starting pitching depth.”

This past season, the six-year veteran struggled with a 5.56 ERA, 1.559 WHIP, and 21 earned runs allowed spanning 34 innings, seven starts and two relief appearances. Overall in red pinstripes, Velasquez has gone 27-34 with a 4.76 ERA across 112 appearances, 99 of which were starts.

Considering the Phillies’ new pitching coach Caleb Cotham is on board, the Phillies may try to give Velasquez one more chance to find his place and succeed on their big-league roster. Velasquez did strike out 46 batters in 34 innings this past season. Talent is there; he just has not been able to translate that success through other statistical categories — ERA being among them.

It will be interesting to see which, if any, of the Phillies’ seven arbitration-eligible players will be non-tendered ahead of the December 2 deadline.

Right-handed relievers Blake Parker and Heath Hembree, southpaw Adam Morgan, and infielder Phil Gosselin were also arbitration-eligible, however, they were outrighted off of the 40-man roster and elected free agency in late October. Morgan recently had surgery to repair his left elbow’s flexor tendon and will miss a significant portion of the 2021 season.

The Phillies offseason continues on — quietly, so far.