Earlier this week, the Phillies sent Spencer Howard down to “Triple-A,” which is what everyone is calling the 30 players on the 60-man 2020 roster that are not part of the 30-man Opening Day squad even though it isn’t really Triple-A. They’ll play a bunch of intrasquad games in order to stay fresh, but with the minor league season cancelled, there’s not much a pitcher like Howard is going to get out of it.
In order to delay Howard’s free agency by a year and gain another season of team control, the Phillies need only wait five days before calling him back up to the big leagues, which would put him on a path to returning to the big league club for Game No.