Can the Phillies salvage Didi Gregorius’ final year of his contract?
The Philadelphia Phillies owe Didi Gregorius $15.25M in 2022.
That’s a lot of money for a struggling hitter who has been one of the worst defensive players in baseball for years now.
Gregorius had a strong, albeit shortened, 2020 season with the Phillies, in which he appeared in all 60 games and hit .284/.339/.488 with a .827 OPS. It was a good enough first impression for the Phillies to then sign him to a 2-year deal for $28M.
Unfortunately, Gregorius’ 2021 follow-up turned out to be one of the worst seasons of his 10-year career. He only played 103 games, and hit .209/.270/.370 with a .639 OPS, setting new low marks in batting average and on-base percentage. His 3.2 HR% was the lowest it’s been since 2015, and his 16.4 strikeout % was the highest since 2014.
Defensively, Gregorius made 18 errors at shortstop, the most of any season in his career, despite only playing 101 games at the position. In terms of defensive runs saved, only three shortstops were worse.
The Phillies have likely tried to trade the infielder already, and will presumably try again when the lockout ends. But if they can’t, then they need to figure out how he can be productive.
At the end of the season, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters that Gregorius could be sidelined or replaced in 2022:
"“It very well could be him. But he knows, we’ve had a discussion with him, that he needs to be better.We’re in a position where we also are going to be open-minded to what’s going to take place at shortstop next year. It could be internal. It could be him if he comes back.”“We need to get better at shortstop. We need to, if it’s internally or externally, whatever it may be, we need to do that.”"
However, if the Phillies are stuck with Gregorius for the remaining season of his contract, having him as designated hitter might be the only way he can contribute.
Gregorius only has two career games as DH, both with the Yankees in 2017 and 2019. He’s also made 29 pinch-hit appearances in 1,014 games. That’s not an ideal amount of experience, but the Phillies don’t exactly have a lot of options for the struggling infielder.
Of course, if the new Collective Bargaining Agreement does not include the Universal DH, then this is all a moot point.