With Major League Baseball's non-tender deadline still hours away, the Philadelphia Phillies got busy early on Friday ahead of the 8 p.m. ET deadline. News broke that the team has non-tendered outfielder Austin Hays.
The non-tender deadline is the cut-off for when teams have to make their final decision on whether or not to offer contracts to their arbitration-eligible players for the 2025 season. As soon as a player is non-tendered, they become a free agent. The Phillies have eight players eligible for arbitration this winter — seven now after the Hays news.
Phillies non-tender outfielder Austin Hays after trade deadline disappointment
MLB insider Jon Heyman of the New York Post and MLB Network broke the news that the Phillies had informed Hays that he is being non-tendered. It doesn't come as a huge surprise to Phillies fans, with his name being mentioned as a possible non-tender candidate since the Phillies were eliminated in the NLDS.
Austin Hays was informed he is being non-tendered by Phillies. Only 29, Hays suffered through a severe kidney infection after being traded to Philly. Only a year removed from an All Star and Gold Glove finalist season, he’ll be an interesting free agent.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 22, 2024
The Phillies traded for Hays, 29, at the deadline this past summer, sending outfielder Cristian Pache and right-handed reliever Seranthony Dominguez to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange.
The Hays experiment didn't go as planned for the Phillies. The trade deadline acquisition was supposed to solve the team's left-field instability. Unfortunately, the 2023 All-Star wasn't able to get much going at the plate around two stints on the IL for a hamstring strain and a scary kidney infection.
Hays only played in 22 games for the Phillies over the final two months of the season, slashing .256/.275/.397 with a pair of home runs and six RBI in 80 plate appearances. He didn't generate a single walk, which was as advertised, but it wasn't the kind of lineup addition the chase-happy Phillies needed down the stretch.
The former Oriole made $6.3 million in 2024. MLB Trade Rumors projected him to earn $6.4 million in arbitration. With such a hefty price tag for such a big question mark, the Phillies decided to cut their losses ahead of a winter of change in the outfield personnel.