Former Maligned Philadelphia Phillies Infielder Reportedly Breaks His Foot

One of the past Philadelphia Phillies players has reportedly broken his foot, something that could impact how their division race plays out.

Sep 3, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Braves second baseman Whit Merrifield (15) on ground after being hit in the head with a pitch against the Colorado Rockies in the seventh inning at Truist Park / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

During this past offseason, the Philadelphia Phillies didn't do much when it came to bringing in players from the outside despite their disappointing elimination at home in the National League Championship Series.

Instead, the front office prioritized re-signing Aaron Nola and extending Zack Wheeler to keep this one-two punch at the top of their rotation during this World Series window.

Perhaps they could have done more, but with a roster already full of superstars and young, emerging players filling out the other lineup spots, there wasn't much that needed to be upgraded.

The one notable move the Phillies made was bringing in superutilityman Whit Merrifield on a one-year, $8 million deal that looked like a bargain considering the veteran was coming off his third All-Star season in 2023.

Unfortunately, his tenure was a complete disaster for both parties.

He slashed .199/.277/.295 with three homers, eight extra-base hits and 11 RBI across his 56 games, putting up an OPS+ of 62 that was an eye-opening 38 points below the league average.

This forced Philadelphia to part ways with him on July 12 when they outright released him.

The Phillies and Merrifield saga didn't end there, though.

The veteran infielder signed a deal with their archrival Atlanta Braves just 10 days later, joining them on their quest to chase down Philadelphia in the NL East standings.

Well, the maligned former player will now be out of action after reportedly suffering a broken foot when he fouled a ball off his left foot during this past Friday's game.

However, after the initial fear was he would be out for the remainder of the regular season, Merrifield could return much sooner than expected.

"When they saw the CT scan and saw the small fracture, automatically it was six to eight [weeks]. Then they talked to the foot specialist, he said, 'He's not going to hurt it anymore. It's about what he can tolerate,'" Braves manager Brian Snitker said per Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

So, the former Phillie seems like he'll still be in the mix to help their archrivals try and chase down the team that cut him.