Six Philadelphia Phillies Declare Free Agency

The offseason is finally upon us. The Philadelphia Phillies had six players declared Major League free agents the day after the World Series ended.

The ride is over. The Philadelphia Phillies lasted longer than anyone thought they would. A blue flag will fly forever amongst the others at Citizens Bank Park. 1915, 1950, 1980, 1983, 1993, 2008, 2009 and now 2022 will forever be immortalized in Phillies history.

Every player on the 26-man roster at any point is a part of what became one of the great Phillies teams in history, but today, Nov. 6, 2022, the journey officially ended for six.

Noah Syndergaard, Brad Hand, Corey Knebel, Kyle Gibson, Chris Devinski and David Robertson all declared free agency.

Of those six, only Gibson was with the team for more than one season, and only just. He joined the Phillies in the deal that sent Spencer Howard to the Texas Rangers in August 2021.

Across two seasons with the Phillies he pitched 236.2 innings to a 5.06 ERA. He was never truly great, but he ate innings when it was needed of him, including 2.1 scoreless in the postseason.

Syndergaard arrived Aug. 2 in the deal that saw former first overall pick Mickey Moniak shipped to the Los Angeles Angels. Across 54.2 innings, he pitched to a solid 4.12 ERA with a very productive postseason that featured 8.1 innings of three-run ball.

Less impactful, yet still a useful piece on the Phillies were the relief arms of Hand, Robertson and Knebel. All three had back-end ceilings but low floors, and each showed they were capable of both greatness and abject mediocrity throughout the season.

While Hand did pitch to a 2.80 ERA in 2022, his ineffectiveness was apparent in the postseason when he surrendered three runs in NLCS Game 4's blown loss to the San Diego Padres.

Knebel started the year red-hot, with an ERA of 0.87 through his first 10.1 innings. But as the calendar turned to May the wheels fell off and from then through Jun. 19 his ERA was 5.82. Finally, Knebel put the pieces back together, and barring a five-run blow-up in Atlanta on Aug. 2, he didn't allow a run the rest of the season, until a mid-August injury ended his 2022.

Despite a shaky September, Robertson was near-perfect in the postseason. He allowed just one run on 7.2 innings, though his five walks were always a cause for concern whenever he was called upon.

Devinski barely deserves a mention, but he was a postseason reserve, and he did pitch 4.0 regular season innings, though he gave up five runs.

Perhaps one or more of these players will return to the Phillies in 2023, but it seems more likely than not that the Phillies will build their team for youth in the coming seasons. Though Syndergaard and Robertson would be more than adequate depth.

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