Howie Kendrick activated, Brock Stassi sent to Lehigh Valley

Remember Howie Kendrick? He played the outfield in April and then was gone for awhile? And then he was back and then gone again? Well now he’s back! Again!

The Phillies activated Kendrick today after he played just one rehab game in Reading. He hit a home run, so I guess they assumed he was ready. Kendrick has been out since June 28 with a strained left hamstring.

As I mentioned, this was Kendrick’s second stint on the DL. He missed six weeks (all of May and a few weeks in April) with a strained oblique. He was around for three weeks before the hamstring issue. With all the time he’s missed, Kendrick has played in just 33 games and gotten 139 plate appearances. But he’s made them all count. He’s got a .349/.403/.476 triple slash, along with two homers.

The Phillies want to trade Kendrick before the deadline, but they’re not going to be foolish about it. Kendrick isn’t starting tonight’s game in Philly, but he’ll presumably get a start sometime over the weekend.

Of course, if someone comes back, someone also has to go away. And it could really be no one other than Brock Stassi. At least Stassi wasn’t sent to Double-A this time. The Phillies sent him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, which will hopefully be kinder to him than the majors have. When he was sent down to Double-A in June, he’d managed a .197 average. In his second stint, from late June to now, his average is down to .167.

Not great numbers, but the Phillies have a shortage of options as far as bench dudes. And if Stassi wants to know when he might be called back up, Kendrick isn’t going to be here much longer. Unless one of the Phillies’ trades nets them an outfield/first base bench bat, we can expect to see Brock again really soon.