Phillies and Seranthony Domínguez agree to contract extension

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Seranthony Domínguez avoided salary arbitration — and then some — with the Phillies.

Domínguez agreed to a two-year contract extension with a club option for 2025, the team announced Thursday before pitchers and catchers held their first spring-training workout. According to a source, the deal is valued at $7.25 million: $2.5 million this year, $4.25 million next year, and $8 million or a $500,000 buyout in 2025.

“It’s a really special day to me and to my family, too,” Domínguez said. “I just want to be here with the Phillies. I would like to be here forever because it’s the only family that I knew. The Phillies’ clubhouse is a nice place to be right now.”

» READ MORE: Nine questions for the Phillies as they open spring training

Domínguez, 28, signed for $25,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2011. He made his major league debut in 2018 and overcame Tommy John elbow surgery in 2020. The contract extension buys out his final two years of arbitration eligibility and potentially one year of free agency.

It also provides a measure of financial security for Domínguez, who missed nearly a month last summer with right triceps tendinitis. He finished the season with a 3.00 ERA, 61 strikeouts, and 22 walks in 51 innings.

“For us, the big thing was getting the ability to have an option on the free-agency year,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. “It gives us one additional year, and they were willing to do that for the ability to get the dollars certainty.”

» READ MORE: Andrew Painter shows his potential -- and a new pitch -- in Phillies camp

The Phillies expect Domínguez to be a key piece at the back of the bullpen. They signed active saves leader Craig Kimbrel as a free agent and traded for hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto. Manager Rob Thomson doesn’t plan to designate a closer, but rather will use Kimbrel, Soto, Domínguez, and lefty José Alvarado in the late innings.

“They’re really good guys,” Domínguez said of Kimbrel, Soto, and lefty newcomer Matt Strahm. “I believe in those guys and believe they’re going to help us win. We’re going to be a really good bullpen.”

When Bryce Harper was injured last summer, the Phillies called up Darick Hall to fill in as the designated hitter. Playing mostly against right-handed pitchers, the lefty-hitting Hall slugged .522 with nine homers.

The plan may be different this time around.

Harper will miss the season’s first few months after Tommy John elbow surgery in November, and Thomson said he likely will rotate DHs against right-handers and lefties to give players a rest and also improve the team’s defense. That would mean DH at-bats for Rhys Hoskins, Alec Bohm, Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, and others.

“At this point, I think it’s a rotation,” Thomson said. “Getting people off their feet and giving them a half-day, so to speak, is probably going to be the plan until Harp gets back.”

» READ MORE: Why new Phillies star Trea Turner isn’t concerned about the WBC disrupting his spring training

Backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, slick-fielding infielder Edmundo Sosa, and veteran utility player Josh Harrison appear to be locks for the bench. Thomson said there are a handful of candidates for the final spots.

Dalton Guthrie and Kody Clemens play the infield and outfield, while Jake Cave plays every outfield position. Hall is strictly a first baseman/DH. Hall, Clemens, and Cave bat from the left side; Guthrie is a right-handed hitter. All have minor-league options.

“You want to make sure you have balance of left-handed, right-handed [hitter], and you want to have balance of outfield [and] infield,” Thomson said. “The good thing about this group of guys that are competing for a job, all the infielders play the outfield. So, that’s a good problem to have as well.”

Soto will be late in arriving to camp because of a visa delay in the Dominican Republic. But he pitched in winter ball and lives near the Phillies’ academy in the D.R., according to Thomson, so the team believes he won’t lag behind the other pitchers. ... Right-hander Jon Duplantier, a non-roster invitee to camp, is dealing with a hamstring injury. ... Thomson’s Day 1 message to the team: “Just health. Let’s make sure that we ramp up appropriately and make sure we don’t push it. Don’t try to impress anybody. Just go out there and be yourself.”