The Philadelphia Phillies are done done with Odubel Herrera

The Philadelphia Phillies are done done with Odubel Herrera.

The Philadelphia Phillies are done with Odubel Herrera– like, done done, over, finito, finished.

By leaving the 28-year-old centerfielder off the team’s initial 60-man ‘summer camp’ roster, the Phillies have effectively washed their hands of the player fans once affectionately called ‘El Torito’ three years removed from an All-Star season in 2017.

And believe you me, I doubt it was a tough call.

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With only 53 players on the team’s current 60-man roster, the decision to leave out Herrera was deliberate, a decision showing once and for all that he is not welcome on Joe Girardi‘s 2020 roster.

But really, should we be surprised? While Herrera has had some shining moments over his five-year tenure in red and white pinstripes, his on and off the field issues in 2019, lowlighted by a domestic violence arrest in Atlantic City, effectively left little doubt as to whether he had a future with the organization. The Phillies clearly weren’t super high on Herrera when they signed cross-state rival Andrew McCutchen to a three-year deal worth $50 million in December of 2018 that could keep him on the roster through 2022 if his options are picked up.

Now initially, Gabe Kapler mitigated any weirdness this move could understandably bring to the outfield by kicking McCutchen over to left field, allowing the two prototypical center fielders to co-exist next to the $300 million man, Bryce Harper, but had Philly’s phavorite Will Smith cosplayer not suffered a June 3rd torn ACL, it’s entirely possible the Phillies would have kicked Herrera to the bench by mid-June.

Technically, even with McCutchen gone, Kapler started dishing out healthy scratches to Herrera with increasing frequency before he was ultimately suspended for the remainder of the season – replacing the former All-Star with everyone from Scott Kingery and Nick Willaims to Roman Quinn.

Fun fact: Roman Quinn had the fastest sprint speed of any center fielder in Major League Baseball last season at 30.1 feet/second, whereas as Herrera had the slowest sprint speed of any center fielder at 26.7 feet/second. While Quinn is an exceptional athlete, Herrera is no slouch, signifying a clear discrepancy in effort.

Now granted, there’s still a chance some team desperate for… something in the middle of their outfield could throw the Phillies a bone for his services via trade, an outcome the Phillies have reportedly been desperate to get done since last summer, but according to Jim Salisbury, there is virtually no external interest in the 28-year-old’s services. The Phillies technically can’t even trade Herrera while he’s off their 60-man roster, which is more a living document than one etched in stone, but the club isn’t going to place him on the ledger unless a trade is imminent.

When recently re-signed minor league pitchers like Anthony Swarzak are getting added to the roster over a former All-Star, you know there is virtually no chance we see Herrera in a Phillies uniform this fall.

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So goodbye, Odubel Herrera. While your tenure wasn’t without its drama, you were one of the few bright spots of an otherwise dreadful era of Philadelphia Phillies baseball; an era that is slowly being wiped away as the Maikel Francos and Freddy Galvises of the world attempt to continue on their professional baseball careers elsewhere. Maybe one day, Herrera will do the same.

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