And then there were two…
It’s been the most talked about position battle this spring for the Phillies once Weston Wilson strained his oblique. The battle has raged, both on the field with the players and off the field with the fans. Now, the battle for the final bench spot is now down to two players.
Phillies made some cuts this morning. The last bench job is down to Kody Clemens and Buddy Kennedy. The club has kept Tyler Phillips and Michael Mercado in camp in case Ranger Suárez isn’t ready; Taijuan Walker would slide into rotation and one of them would be long man.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) March 22, 2025
Christian Arroyo and Oscar Mercado, they of the minor league deals thanks to a workout session, are moving on. Maybe they go to Lehigh Valley as depth in case there is an issue later this season, maybe they’ve shown enough that another club will give them a job. But now, we get down to the nitty gritty – who will travel to Washington this week?
There is still this nagging idea that the team would like a right handed player on the bench, what with the team so left handed as it is. That would tilt the scales in favor of Kennedy. On the other hand, Clemens has been quite good this spring and has proven useful to the team over the past few seasons. It’s a difficult issue right now.
The team is likely offering one or both around the league in a trade. Maybe they can grab a wild card low minors arm that they can mold into something. Maybe they can get some international money to spend on another prospect from the Dominican Republic or Venezuela. Maybe they just lose one of them through the waivers process. Whatever they do, they have only a few days left to do it in.