Since taking over as the Philadelphia Phillies' president of baseball operations in late 2020, Dave Dombrowski has made a habit of acquiring former Boston Red Sox players. Perhaps it's Dombrowski's way of trying to stick it to his old team, who coldly fired him in 2019 less than 12 months after winning a World Series.
Kyle Schwarber, Craig Kimbrel, Matt Strahm and Kaleb Ort are a few examples of former Red Sox that Dombrowski has poached from his old organization.
Now you can add another player to that list, as the Phillies have signed veteran reliever Austin Brice to a minor-league deal according to Matt Gelb of The Athletic.
Brice, 31, was spotted at Spring Training on Sunday. He's already with his ninth organization, although he's only pitched for four in the big leagues. His last MLB appearance came in 2022 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he made only four appearances. The veteran righty spent last season at Triple-A for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Minnesota Twins but did not appear in a big-league game.
Brice is the first player born in Hong Kong to play in the majors. He's appeared in 144 MLB games (143 as a reliever), going 4-4 with a 5.12 ERA, a 1.30 WHIP and a 5.06 FIP. That includes two underwhelming seasons with Boston in 2020 and 2021, where he had a 6.21 ERA.
Brice has had only one season with an ERA under four, in 2019 with the Miami Marlins (3.43). His high home run (1.5 HR/9) and walk (3.5 BB/9) rates make him difficult to trust in high-leverage situations. He also doesn't strike many batters out (8.5 K/9).
Dombrowski has had some success raiding his former organization for talent, but Brice seems unlikely to pan out.
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