Yesterday while talking to the media Odubel Herrera addressed his domestic violence arrest for the first time publicly. Odubel said “I’m very regretful for what I did,” “It’s been a lesson learned for me and I want to turn the page and keep going with life.”
“Honestly, this whole process has helped me become a better version of me,” Herrera said. “Especially the counseling sessions in Philly. They were great. There’s no one who regrets this more than me. It’s one of those things that I learned from and tried to get better from.”
Herrera is currently attempting to make the Phillies minor league rosters. He could be released at the end of spring training or even brought back to the majors in 2020 for the Phillies. There is also the very real possibility that he never plays another game in the majors ever again. I believe if the Phillies do decide to cut times with Herrera, he will have played his last MLB game already. Buuuuuuut there is one thing that could stand in the way of the Phillies cutting ties just yet.
$20.2 million.
That is how much money the Phillies will owe Odubel through 2021 whether he plays for the big league team or not. That is a lot of money to just wave goodbye to and get nothing in return. He’s completely untradable at this point so the decision sits with the Phillies. And if this offseason has taught us anything about John Middleton it is that he doesn’t want to spend extra unnecessary money if possible.
If you check the beautiful cesspool that is Twitter you’ll find a whole bunch of mixed reactions. Some saying cut him now and others saying give the guy a second chance. It pains me to say this but I have to, IN PART, agree with Angelo Cataldi here.
https://twitter.com/AngeloCataldi/status/1232617129943367680?s=20
I know Herrera has taken ownership of his actions and I realize it’s a ton of money but I just don’t know if he is worth the headache at this point. Since the end of the 2017 season he is a .249 hitter with an on base % just over .300 at .306. The classic case of the ‘juice is not worth the squeeze.’ You hate to say it but if he was a .300 hitter with 100 RBIs a season, you’d have a higher tolerance. Sad but that’s how the sports ownership world works.
But on the flip side, everyone does deserve a second chance and with this whole Astros scandal going on, you can kind of hide this under that. So much noise coming out of Houston, Herrera would go almost unnoticed. But I think the decision has to be based on if you think he is making true changes. If you are keeping him because of the money you’re missing the point. What he did was disgusting and insane. But if you are going to give him a shot make it for the right reasons.
I lean towards cutting him but I can see a scenario or two where it akes sense to keep him. Time will tell.