The Purge Continues: Brown, Three Others Outrighted

When you lose 99 games, you can expect some roster turnover. After outrighting Justin DeFratus and six others off the 40-man roster two weeks ago, the Phillies have announced four more players have been taken off the 40-man roster.

Domonic Brown headlines this collection of players outrighted off the 40-man roster. He is joined by Tommy Joseph, Kelly Dugan and Brian Bogusevic.

It's no major shock that Brown has been outrighted off the roster, though there's something about seeing it in writing that gives it a bittersweet finality. Brown was arbitration eligible for the second time this winter, and that's not a process the Phillies had even the slightest interest in going through.

Brown made $2.6 million in 2015, signing a deal in January that avoided arbitration. At this point, Brown's simply not worth the money that he would be making next season.

Brown hit .228/.284/.349 in 2015, posting essentially the same line that he had in 2014. With no progress since his 2013 All-Star breakout, the Phillies were left with no other choice.

Our final memory of Brown will be flipping himself helicopter-style over the cement wall in field at Citi Field in early September. So, there's that. Brown can elect to become a free agent, which he will likely do. At 28, Brown will likely be looking for a minor league deal this off-season, though there is the chance that someone takes a bigger risk on him on a Major League deal.

Dugan and Joseph, meanwhile, have sadly become well-known as two of the most injury prone players in the Phillies' system.

Dugan, who just turned 25, showed up to spring training in a walking boot, dealing with a stress reaction in his right foot. He broke the same foot in 2014, also dealing with an oblique injury in that campaign. Finally ready to suit up in June, he hit .315/.391/.393 in Reading in 44 games with a particularly hot start to the season, but didn't follow through in Lehigh Valley, posting a .592 OPS in 131 at-bats.

Joseph has dealt with numerous concussions throughout his minor-league career, including in 2015. He was seen as the key piece when the Phillies dealt Hunter Pence to the Giants back in 2012, but he never materialized behind the dish.

He was working to transition to first base throughout the summer after being cleared from his May concussion, joining the Iron Pigs in mid-August after having worked at first in rookie ball for a few weeks. There were at least some signs of life in Joseph's bat after his call-up in August, though he ended up hitting .193/.220/.301 overall in AAA this season, mostly due in part to a poor April and May for the Pigs.

Bogusevic is the only other name besides Brown to appear in Major League games in 2015, putting up a .709 OPS in 22 games.