Why the Phillies should cut Odúbel Herrera while they still can | Marcus Hayes

Hand print markings on his girlfriend’s neck.

I can’t get past it.

That phrase chills me today as much as it chilled me in May of 2019. It comes from the police report concerning the domestic violence incident between burly Phillies outfielder Odúbel Herrera and his petite 20-year-old girlfriend, Melany Martinez-Angulo, at an Atlantic City casino. Herrera somehow remains a Phillie. He’s at spring training right now. I want him gone. Why?

Try this. Put your hand around your own neck. Now squeeze. Harder. Hard enough to leave a mark.

Now close your eyes. Imagine that hand belongs to a man nicknamed “El Torito,” which means “Little Bull.” Except this bull isn’t little. He’s 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. And he’s angry.

I’ve covered dozens of domestic abuse incidents, from Rae Carruth to Ray Rice. They all are horrible. But for some reason, this one makes me madder. Maybe it’s because it’s closer to home. Maybe it’s because, unlike most like him, Herrera might wear a uniform that should be denied him; most players in cases like these do not return to their teams. Martinez-Angulo didn’t pursue the assault charges, so prosecutors dropped the case. That’s a technicality. Justice can still be served.

The Phillies have a small window in the next few days in which they can plausibly cut Herrera. They have three candidates to play center field, Herrera’s position. He’s been a .200 hitter since late 2018. There is no arguing that he cannot be released on merit. It will cost almost $13 million to do so, assuming no team claims him off waivers. Between his character issues and the competence issues, none will.

You see, there is a chance that Herrera performs well enough to return as a Phillie, either during spring training or during the regular season. They cannot give him that chance. They are foolish to invite the protests that will inevitably come outside of Citizens Bank Park. They are foolish to invite the avalanche of controversy that will come if he wears those red pinstripes again.

» READ MORE: Odúbel Herrera looks good early in spring training, but will have to earn Phillies’ trust

I don’t want him out of baseball, per se. I really don’t care if he plays somewhere else. That might not make sense. I can’t help it. I just don’t want him in Philadelphia.

This is the sort of decision owners make. That’s John Middleton.

Release him, John.

I wanted Herrera cut immediately, but then-Phillies president Andy MacPhail explained that, due to Major League Baseball’s second-chance rule, which precludes players from being punished twice, Herrera would have to remain a Phillie. The team suspended him immediately. The league, after a brief investigation, extended that suspension for the rest of the 2019 season — so, 85 games, all told.

Then, the Phillies got a mulligan. They’d removed Herrera from the 40-man roster and assigned him to the minor leagues when the coronavirus pandemic delayed the major-league season, shortened it to 60 games, then wiped out the minor-league season. He hasn’t played a game since his troubles. The Phillies now are nearly two years removed from the incident. That’s enough time. Cut him.

The baseball men making that decision seem reluctant to do it. Then again, they have no skin in this game.

The Phillies’ manager, Joe Girardi, arrived after the 2019 season. The president, Dave Dombrowski, arrived in December.

“I know he has done a lot himself, as far as addressing the situation that took place, in counseling,” Dombrowski said last month.

So what?

“I would ask that everyone gives him the opportunity because none of us are perfect. We’ve all fallen short. Some things are considered, obviously, worse than others, I get that, in the eyes of the beholder. But none of us are perfect,” Girardi said Sunday. Tuesday, Girardi said, “I know he’s in tremendous shape!”

So what?

Girardi and Dombrowski sound like men eager to win games right away, and at any cost — even the cost of a riven clubhouse.

“I would [welcome him],” said starter Aaron Nola. “I believe in second chances.”

» READ MORE: Phillies are ‘likely’ to have fans for home opener, city health commissioner says

Not every player is as certain.

“Everyone knows he’s going to have to earn that clubhouse’s trust back,” said first baseman Rhys Hoskins.

He’s doing that now, I guess. He’s dressing with the minor leaguers, but he’s training with big-league players and he’ll play in Grapefruit League games. Which is sickening.

Herrera is fast, athletic, and powerful. In 2016, his second full season, he rode his first 58 games — a .319 average, .425 on-base percentage, .860 OPS — to an All-Star berth.

Focus doesn’t always follow talent. In his last 80 games, from late 2018 through his 2019 suspension, Herrera hit .202 with 22 runs scored. He is discardable on merit.

If they don’t discard him now, they might not be able to do it later.

They begin Grapefruit League games Sunday, and their three center-field options have flaws: Adam Haseley, an ordinary hitter through his first 334 plate appearances, with unremarkable speed; Roman Quinn, one of the fastest players in baseball and a defensive stud but a light hitter; and Scott Kingery, a converted second baseman who hit .159 last season.

All were injured at some point last season. Quinn, the best among them, is less dependable than the Texas power grid.

None has the ceiling Herrera has. That’s dangerous.

» READ MORE: Phillies hoping slimmed-down Scott Kingery can finally live up to his lofty potential

If Herrera gets five hits and two home runs in the first week of spring training games, they won’t be able to send him to minor-league camp early. If he rakes all of March, he’ll make the team.

And if Herrera doesn’t make the team out of camp but then hits, say, .350 with three homers the first two weeks of the triple-A season? Then an injury to any of the outfielders, including 34-year-old left fielder Andrew McCutchen and right fielder Bryce Harper, would open a spot for Herrera.

A team spokesperson yesterday said that Herrera and Martinez-Angulo are still together, and that their relationship has matured. That’s wonderful. It really is. I wish them the best.

Elsewhere.

Herrera publicly apologized when he arrived at spring training last year. He and Martinez-Angulo spent two months in counseling in 2019. He promised to donate money to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence through 2021, two years longer than Major League Baseball mandated. Admirable.

So what?

My stomach still turns whenever I think of him. Because I hear those words again:

Hand print markings on his girlfriend’s neck.