The Rays designated outfielder Brett Phillips for task yesterday upon buying outfielder Jose Siri from the Astros, and whereas a staff usually has every week to commerce a participant following a DFA, that’s not the case with immediately’s 6pm ET deadline looming. Phillips appears prone to change fingers immediately, as he’s already drawing curiosity from a number of golf equipment. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe tweets that the Purple Sox have reached out to the Rays, whereas Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets that the Phillies have additionally proven curiosity as they appear so as to add some protection in heart. Brendan Kuty of NJ.com provides the Yankees as one other membership.

It’s been a dismal season on the plate for Phillips, who’s hitting simply .147/.225/.250 via 208 plate appearances and has fanned at a whopping 40.9% fee. He’s by no means been one to supply a lot with the bat, however this 12 months’s struggles nonetheless signify a pronounced departure from final 12 months’s .206/.300/.427 output and the profession .201/.291/.381 Phillips carried into the season.

For all of Phillips’ struggles with the bat, he’s lengthy been one of many sport’s premier defenders. He’s not solely able to taking part in all three outfield spots however is a plus defender throughout the board, evidenced by profession marks of 38 Defensive Runs Saved, 31 Outs Above Common and a 25.three Final Zone Score in simply 2100 innings of outfield work in his profession. The left-handed-hitting Phillips additionally has displayed loads of pop and been a wonderful base stealer previous to the season. In 675 prior plate appearances, he’d popped 23 homers and gone 29-for-34 in stolen base makes an attempt.

Phillips is incomes $1.4MM this season and is controllable for an additional two years by way of arbitration, though this 12 months’s struggles on the plate make him an apparent non-tender candidate. Nonetheless, as a backup outfielder with energy, velocity and an elite glove, he might provide loads of worth to a contender off the bench within the season’s closing couple months. He’s out of minor league choices, so he’ll want to stay on the roster of no matter membership probably acquires him.

Speculatively, there are many different potential suits even past the three groups reported to have inquired. The Marlins and Astros are each recognized to be searching for potential heart subject upgrades, and Phillips is after all a former Astros farmhand. The Twins’ outfield is banged up past recognition for the time being, and Phillips would give them a low-cost stopgap with elite protection to assist shore issues up. The Blue Jays might see Phillips as a extra interesting model of the identical ability set that present fourth outfielder Bradley Zimmer provides.

Lack of offensive worth however, the protection, velocity and previous energy manufacturing might very nicely land Phillips with one other staff in some unspecified time in the future immediately.