The Phillies have agreed to a one-year deal with reliever Seranthony Dominguez, leaving three arbitration-eligible players on the roster.
Dominguez made $727,500 last season, making his long-awaited return during a minor-league rehab assignment in August and appearing in the final game of the season. His salary will be nearly the same in 2022.
The other three arbitration-eligible Phillies are Rhys Hoskins, Zach Eflin and Jose Alvarado. They began the offseason with nine but cut ties with Odubel Herrera, Andrew Knapp, Ronald Torreyes, Travis Jankowski, and on Monday, Roman Quinn. From that group, it's possible Torreyes returns on a different deal given manager Joe Girardi's affinity for him and the way he played his role in 2021.
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Dominguez will be an important piece of the Phillies' 2022 bullpen, but they can't count on him as one of their top late-inning relievers when they revamp that unit this offseason. He missed half of 2019 with an elbow injury and all of 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery that July. He appeared in Game 162 this past season. If he can stay healthy and maintain his velocity throughout the year, it would be a nice bonus that could raise the Phils' ceiling a bit.
The Phillies have made minor additions to their pitching staff this month, claiming right-hander Yoan Lopez and lefties Ryan Sherriff, Kent Emanuel and Scott Moss off waivers, and acquiring right-handed reliever Nick Nelson from the Yankees.
They have much more work to do and could be close to adding Corey Knebel, a 30-year-old, high-strikeout reliever who had a 2.45 ERA this past season with the Dodgers. Knebel missed 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery but has a 2.80 ERA with 13.7 strikeouts per nine innings since 2017.
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