Phillies To Designate Garrett Stubbs For Assignment

The Phillies informed catcher Garrett Stubbs that he’s being designated for assignment, reports Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer. They’ll have five days to trade him or place him on waivers once they officially announce the DFA.

The move ends Stubbs’ five-year tenure with the organization. Philadelphia acquired the lefty-hitting backstop from the Astros in a minor trade over the 2021-22 offseason. Stubbs operated as the backup catcher behind J.T. Realmuto for the next three seasons. He’s fallen to third on the catching depth chart in the last two years, as Rafael Marchán has held the reserve role.

Philadelphia ran the out-of-options Stubbs through waivers at the end of Spring Training. That came after they unsuccessfully tried to find a taker on the trade front. He came back up in mid-April when Realmuto landed on the injured list. Philadelphia operated with three catchers once Realmuto returned, using Stubbs as the last player off the bench. He missed a week and a half in July to left wrist inflammation but otherwise held a spot on the active roster for the final five months of the season.

Stubbs only made it into 35 games. He started 17 times behind the plate and once in left field, otherwise coming off the bench. The USC product batted .153 without a home run in 65 plate appearances. He finishes his Philly tenure with a .212/.292/.300 slash in 181 contests. The likely outcome is that Stubbs will clear outright waivers and opt for minor league free agency.

Marchán is also out of options and hasn’t shown the ability to hit major league pitching yet. Realmuto led all catchers with 122 starts and trailed only William Contreras with 1058 2/3 innings behind the dish. That’s not ideal for a 35-year-old, and he slogged through a career-worst season. The trio of Realmuto, Marchán and Stubbs combined to hit .183/.254/.285 this year — easily the worst production for any catching group in the majors.

Philadelphia has no choice but to ride things out with Realmuto, who is signed for another two years at $15MM annually. They should look to upgrade over Marchán in a depth role, however. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said at his end-of-season press conference that the goal was to reduce Realmuto’s workload. That’d be much more comfortable if they had a reliable 1b option. Carson Kelly, Tyler Stephenson, James McCann or Gary Sánchez could play that role in free agency. Freddy Fermin, Luis Campusano, Jimmy Crooks, or Danny Jansen are potential trade targets.