Grading every Philadelphia Phillies offseason roster addition

Jeurys Familia: B-

A familiar face in the division, Jeurys Familia spent 10 seasons with the New York Mets. Aside from a brief trade to Oakland in 2018, he’s been with them for his entire big-league career.

This signing just doesn’t move the needle for me. Maybe it would in 2015 or 2016, when he led MLB in games finished two years in a row, and led all pitchers in saves in the latter year. But since re-signing with the Mets in 2019, he has a 4.62 ERA over 156 appearances, and only one save. He’s durable, at least; averaging 68 appearances per 162 games.

Familia also is one of two players the Phillies signed this month who have spent time suspended for violating the league’s Joint Policy for domestic violence, which is two too many.

Odúbel Herrera: F

The Phillies get a failing grade for re-signing Odúbel Herrera, whom fans thought they were finally rid of last fall, when the team bought out his option and sent him to free agency. But alas, he’s back on a $1.75M deal with performance bonuses, because in baseball, it doesn’t matter if you attack a woman, so long as you occasionally make contact between the bat and ball. That the Phillies rendered him a free agent to avoid paying him $11M, only to re-sign him for a fraction of the cost, only makes this situation more unpalatable.

While the front office claims he’s going to be splitting time in centerfield with promising rookie Matt Vierling, it’s pretty baffling that the Phillies spent big on some huge free-agent signings and then brought Herrera back at all. There are billions of men on the planet, so it’s pretty hard to believe the Phillies couldn’t find a single affordable outfielder who doesn’t hurt people to replace him.

Oh, and he’s already hurt with an oblique injury that will sideline him 4-6 weeks.