5 Phillies who don’t deserve to be on the 40-man roster
By Tim Boyle
4) Why Andrew Vasquez doesn’t deserve to be on the Phillies 40-man roster
In terms of deserving a 40-man roster spot or not, one of the big factors are those pesky minor league options. When they run out, a team has to have a lot of faith in the player to perform well. Andrew Vasquez will have the shortest leash of all. In fact, outside of an injury in the spring, it might be difficult to imagine the Phillies actually keeping him around.
Vasquez is out of minor league options and the owner of a 7.04 ERA in 15.1 MLB innings. He has pitched pretty well in the minor leagues dating back to 2015. Unfortunately, the 29-year-old has not figured it out at the MLB level.
The Phillies picked up this southpaw off the waiver wire from the San Francisco Giants. It was an early offseason move well before the club signed Matt Strahm or traded for Gregory Soto. Along with Jose Alvarado, the team already has three lefties. There is no chance the Phillies would possibly consider carrying a fourth lefty in their bullpen. It doesn’t make any sense, especially when one of them is Vasquez.
We can think of Vasquez as protection in the spring in case one of the others go down. It wouldn’t hurt to have him as a safety net.