4 players agree to deals; Domínguez likely headed to arbitration
The Phillies avoided arbitration with four players but could not come to a deal with Seranthony Domínguez by Friday’s 1 p.m. deadline, according to a source. It’s possible the two sides can agree on a multi-year deal, but because Domínguez will hit free agency in 2025, it is more likely that the right-handed reliever will head to an arbitration hearing in February.
Domínguez was projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $2 million in 2023. He earned $725,000 in 2022. After missing two seasons while rehabbing Tommy John surgery, Domínguez became a reliable, late-inning bullpen arm for manager Rob Thomson in 2023. He posted a 3.00 ERA in 51 innings with 61 strikeouts, and a 1.69 ERA in 10⅔ postseason innings.
Friday was the deadline for
teams and arbitration-eligible players to submit salary figures for 2023. The Phillies tendered contracts to five arbitration eligible players in November (and picked
up another arbitration-eligible player in Gregory Soto, whom they acquired in a trade with the Detroit Tigers on Jan. 7). They were able to come to one-year deals with four of them: first baseman Rhys Hoskins ($12 million), starting pitcher Ranger Suárez ($2.95 million), Soto ($3.925 million) and infielder Edmundo Sosa ($950,000), sources told The Inquirer.
Hoskins is eligible to become a free agent after the 2023 season. He has averaged 30 home runs and a .435 slugging percentage over his past four seasons but struggled defensively, committing a careerhigh 12 errors in 151 games in 2022.
“There’s a lot of good things about him,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said of Hoskins in November. “But he’s not the perfect player, right? It’s just the way it is.”
Reliever José Alvarado is the last arbitration-eligible Phillie but his contract status is not yet known. MLB Trade Rumors projected Alvarado to earn $3.2 million in 2023 (after earning $1.9 million in 2022).
The hard-throwing lefty struggled with this command in the first half of the season, but after a brief stint in triple-A, he regained it, cutting his walk rate from 14.9% to 6.5%.
He posted a 3.18 ERA in 2022 with 81 strikeouts, and will hit free agency in 2024.
Phillies to sign pitcher Wen-Hui Pan
The Phillies are expected to sign hard-throwing right-handed pitcher Wen-Hui Pan at the international signing deadline on Sunday.
Pan, 20, has topped out at 98.2 mph and has a four-pitch arsenal. Phillies farm director Preston Mattingly said Pan will be in minor league spring training this year and will be given a chance to start.