August 02, 2022
The Odubel Herrera era is at its end. The Phillies have designated the 30-year-old centerfielder for assignment, per The Athletic's Matt Gelb.
For reference, a player designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster and has seven days to be traded or placed on waivers.
This was a long time coming for a lot of Phillies fans. Herrera was a controversial figure in Philadelphia, stemming from a domestic violence incident in 2019. I wrote before the 2022 season that keeping Herrera on the roster given the off-the-field issues and his inconsistent play on it was a tone-deaf move. Here's a quick summary of Herrera's situation from that story:
In May 2019, Herrera was arrested for a domestic violence incident in Atlantic City and charged with simple assault. The victim, Herrera's girlfriend, later dropped the charges, but the damage was already done both in terms of Herrera's disgusting behavior and his public standing among Phillies fans.
Herrera went on administrative leave and was suspended for the remainder of the 2019 season, missing 85 games for violating Major League Baseball's Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.
The entire Phillies centerfield situation has been a disaster this season with Herrera being one of the big reasons why. He sported a woeful .279 on-base percentage this season and has always been prone to base-running and fielding gaffs. He cost the Phils a run this past Friday against the Pirates with a head-scratching decision to stop running on the base paths.
The team's trade for defense-first outfielder Brandon Marsh earlier on Tuesday proceeded this corresponding move.
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