They'd only known each other briefly, but it was difficult for Rob Thomson to be the bearer of bad news to Whit Merrifield on Friday, even after decades of similar conversations.
"I've been a farm director, field coordinator, I've had many, many releases and had to fire many, many people and this was one of the tougher ones I've had," Thomson said two hours after the Phillies released the 35-year-old utilityman.
"It's the person, the teammate, the guy in the clubhouse. I personally really liked him a lot."
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Merrifield was signed at the start of spring training to a one-year, $8 million contract. The Phillies thought he could help them in left field against left-handed pitching. They rarely play Brandon Marsh against southpaws and Marsh hasn't performed in those limited opportunities, but Merrifield didn't either. He hit .199 and the quality of his contact was consistently weak. Merrifield is dead last among all 322 major-leaguers in average exit velocity, a ranking that marries up with the eye test.
A primary reason why the situation did not work was a lack of playing time. Merrifield played only 53 of the Phillies' 93 games before being released. He knew his starts would be sporadic. He knew it would be a challenging adjustment. But he never found a groove.
"He certainly worked at it," Thomson said. "He's always prepared. It just didn't happen. He was disappointed, but I think he was a little bit disappointed that he didn't perform better, too. He's a pro's pro. He stayed around for a while just to make sure he saw everybody to say goodbye and that tells me a lot about the person."
The other piece of the Merrifield decision was the man who replaced him on the Phillies' active roster: Weston Wilson. The Phillies brought Wilson with them to London in early June, returned him to Triple A after the series and he's been on fire ever since, hitting .315/.446/.740 with 10 home runs in 20 games.
Philadelphia Phillies
Wilson was in Friday's lineup against the A's, batting seventh in left field against lefty Hogan Harris.
"Wilson's hot. We're trying to get a little more thump from the right side," Thomson said. "We thought it was going to be Whit but as hard as he worked at it, it's a tough job, as I've said many times. It wasn't coming so we thought let's take a look at Willy.
"He's hitting home runs and he's stealing bases and that's what he did last year. He started off slow but he's really found his way so hopefully we can keep him going here. We had him in London and then we sent him right back down and he's just taken off since then."
Wilson had a breakout minor-league season in 2023 as a 28-year-old, hitting .259/.364/.515 with 31 home runs and 32 stolen bases. He also went 5-for-16 with a homer and six walks in the majors. He can play all over the diamond — left field, right field, every infield position other than catcher — but will play mostly left field against lefties.
The trade deadline is July 30 and the Phillies' top need is a right-handed hitting outfielder. They have 13 games — not all will be against lefties — between now and then to evaluate whether Wilson and Cristian Pache are up to the task. Barring a red-hot streak from any player, it's tough to envision Dave Dombrowski standing pat and not adding another bat to the outfield mix.