The Philadelphia Phillies made the right call letting Cesar Hernandez go

The Philadelphia Phillies were correct to let Cesar Hernandez go.

When it was announced that former Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez had won a Gold Glove this year, fans were quick to vent their frustrations. On paper, it checked out. The Phillies front office had made a point of allowing Hernandez to leave last offseason as they pursued other free agents, and now the veteran infielder was “thriving” with another organization.

Fans of the team cited this as yet another example of the Phillies front office being wildly dysfunctional.

While I obviously agree that the Phillies have had an extremely poor front office in recent years, letting Hernandez walk is not one of the contributing factors that I would point to. The Phillies have done a lot of really dumb things in terms of roster management, but not extending their longtime infielder just isn’t on the list, even with Hernandez snagging himself a Gold Glove.

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For what it’s worth, Hernandez had a pretty standard season compared to his career averages. His batting average and OPS were just 6 and 3 points higher than his normal numbers, and his OPS was only .736; considerably lower than what it was in 2016 and 2017 for the Phils. It was by no means the best season of his career, in fact, it was one of his worst in terms of actual run production.

In a 162 game season, Hernandez was on pace for just 54 RBIs and 8 home runs. A considerable drop off from the 71 RBIs and 14 HRs he had with the Philadelphia Phillies last season.

Now granted, Cesar did in fact win himself a Gold Glove, so props to him for that. His improved defense was a pleasant surprise for the Cleveland Indians, especially considering the fact that he was never known for his defensive capabilities in Philly.

Hernandez’ numbers aside for a second, the primary source of frustration regarding his departure arose from the fact that his “replacement”, Scott Kingery, had a downright miserable 2020 season. Kingery hit just .159 last year, only appearing in 36 total games.

While frustration surrounding Kingery is understandable, the truth is that Scott was ultimately not the guy who ended up replacing Hernandez. Instead, it was effectively Jean Segura. Once standout rookie Alec Bohm was up and accustomed to the major leagues, it was Segura who became the everyday second baseman while marquee FA signing Didi Gregorius held down shortstop.

Albeit in less games, Segura actually posted fewer errors and a higher fielding percentage at 2B than Hernandez did. Segura’s .769 OPS also ranked 6 points higher than Hernandez’ as well. It’s fairly easy to make the argument than Segura was in fact the better overall second baseman in 2020.

On-field production completely aside for the moment, moving off Cesar was also crucial in terms of the Phillies overall roster construction. They needed space in the infield for both Gregorius and Bohm. While they’ve since botched the entire situation, I don’t think anyone is of the mindset that  the Phillies would have been better off with Hernandez over Gregorius last season.

Ultimately speaking, in 2020, Cesar Hernandez was exactly who he’s always been. His numbers were fairly consistent with what he did in Philadelphia, and his season ended the same way that his former Phillies teammates did; with no World Series ring. The one-year investment that the Indians put into him didn’t yield unbelievable results, and now the veteran infielder is right back on the open market searching for a team to give him starting reps.

It’s always easy to play the “this team should’ve done that” game, but this scenario just isn’t an applicable one. Letting Hernandez go allowed the Phillies to invest into Zack Wheeler, Gregorius, and eventually Bohm. There’s also no guarantee that Kingery won’t one day develop into a better all-around player than Segura; he’s still just 26 years old after all.