The Phillies have made a decision on their final bench spot. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski informed reporters, including , that made the team. This means that , who is out of options, will not. Dombrowski says that theres a bit of trade interest for Kennedy and they will try to work out a swap, but hell be designated for a signment on Thursday if they cant work something out. Like e sentially all clubs, the Phils are expected to carry 13 pitchers on their roster, the maximum allowed. That means there are 13 spots for position players, leaving a four-man bench behind the nine regulars. One of those spots will go to backup catcher . With the Phils expected to platoon and in center, one of them will take another spot. had another locked down by his ability to provide strong defense around the infield, while also kicking in some roughly average offense. Marchn and Sosa are both out of options. That left Clemens and Kennedy battling for the final spot. Since both of them are out of options as well, whoever didnt get picked would end up off the roster entirely. Neither player has hit much Jordan Lyles Jersey in the big leagues thus far. Clemens has a .200/.246/.373 batting line and Kennedy has hit .203/.295/.313. Those leads to respective wRC+ numbers of 68 and 72. Both have hit better in the minors but neither is a guarantee to produce in the bigs. Defensively, the two have fairly similar skill sets. Both have played all around the infield but neither is really considered a viable shortstop. Both have significant second base innings in the minors, with Kennedy playing a bit more third and Clemens a bit more at first. That put them on roughly even footing coming into camp, but Clemens has had the better showing in recent weeks. Spring stats are always to be taken with a grain of salt but Clemens has a line of .308/.357/.500, compared to Kennedys .162/.347/.432 showing. Kennedy also hits right-handed, the same as Sosa, while Clemens gives the club another left-handed bat. Though Kennedy is getting squeezed off the Philly roster, he could find interest elsewhere. Dombrowski says theyve been getting some calls, which lines up with Kennedys popularity on the waiver wire. In late 2023 and early 2024, he went from the Diamondbacks to the Athletics, Cardinals and Tigers via waiver claims. He got nudged off Detroits roster in June and flipped to the Phillies for cash. As mentioned, he can bounce around to various different positions. While his bat still hasnt clicked in the majors, he put up a line of .290/.404/.456 in the minors over the past two years, with that production translating to a 121 wRC+. He has le s than a year of service time. Though hes out of options, any club willing to give him a roster spot would therefore gain six potential years of control. Photo courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images Nick Anderson Jersey
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