Don Money was predominantly a third baseman who played parts of five seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He hit the first home run at Veterans Stadium.

But the Phillies back then had a third base prospect that they were high on named Mike Schmidt and shipped Money to Milwaukee as part of a seven-player trade following the 1972 season.

On Sunday, Money, now 77, got a phone call from his grandson.

“I told him we got another Phillie in the family and he was like, I can’t say the word, but he was like, ‘No way,'” said Buddy Kennedy, who was recalled by the Phillies Monday as part of a flurry of roster moves.

With Weston Wilson going on the paternity list, the Phillies needed someone to replace him. And while the transaction sheet doesn’t exactly say that was the swap – the Phillies recalled relief pitcher Max Lazar for Wilson and Kennedy was added to replace Kolby Allard, who made a spot start and picked up the win Sunday in Kansas City – Kennedy is here for a few days, and his family couldn’t be happier.


“They all screamed,” said Kennedy, who is from Millville, N.J., and went to Millville High School, the same as Mike Trout. “My mom almost blew my ear out on the phone. My grandmother cried. It’s a special day today.”

The Phillies acquired Kennedy in a cash trade with the Detroit Tigers in June. An original draft pick of the Diamondbacks (2017, 5th round), Kennedy has had cups of coffee in the major leagues with Arizona in 2022 and 2023 before being waived last September. He was claimed by Oakland, waived, claimed by St. Louis, and waived again before being claimed by Detroit. He appeared in six games earlier this season for the Tigers before being traded to the Phillies.

Now he gets to be in uniform for the team he rooted for as a kid – just like Tyler Phillips did earlier this season.

“It’s a true dream for me, Kennedy said. “In the sports world you never get to play for your hometown team – very rarely it happens,” Kennedy said. “I started becoming a little kid again inside because I came to games. I came to the 2008 World Series. I came last year when they played the Diamondbacks in the LCS. Now we’re here and it’s a bit of a whirlwind, but hey, I’m going to enjoy every moment.”

Kennedy, 25, has been living at his girlfriend’s house in West Berlin, N.J. and making the 1 hour-40-minute-long commute each day to Lehigh Valley when the Iron Pigs were playing at home.

“It’s a lot sometimes, but I get to sleep in my bed, so that’s peaceful,” Kennedy said.

Since his arrival in Lehigh Valley, Kennedy has been one of the IronPigs’ best hitters. In 56 games he has slashed .313/.415/.543 for an OPS of .958 with nine homers and 29 RBI.

His numbers weren’t nearly as good when he was with Toledo, the Tigers Triple-A affiliate, and said he made some changes once he got to Lehigh Valley and it clicked for him.

Kennedy personally has 20 family members coming to the game Monday night just to see him in uniform and the off chance that he gets into the game. But he knows there’s going to be a lot more people coming to see him than that.

“Once the news got announced I got a lot of text messages, ‘Oh, Dude we’re gonna be there tonight,’ So it’s pretty cool. It’s just an honor.”

Kennedy got an NLCS championship ring from the Diamondbacks last season, even though he was waived in September. If he gets into just one game this week, he’ll be eligible for some jewelry with the Phillies if things come to fruition.

“I’d LOVE to get the World Series ring with these guys,” Kennedy stressed.

The Taijuan Walker conundrum

There’s no doubt that Taijuan Walker’s spot on the Phillies roster is in a precarious spot. There was a belief that he may have pitched his last game for the Phillies when he was shelled in Kansas City on Friday.

There was a lot of thought that he might be DFA’d or released as soon as Monday.

And there was an announcement about Walker, just not one that anyone was expecting.

“We flipped Taijuan and (Cristopher) Sanchez, so that Sanchez will get an extra, extra day,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Taijuan will go Wednesday against Houston and Sanchez will go Thursday against Atlanta.”

Come again?

“You can always make a change, but I’m confident he’s going to bounce back at this point,” Thomson said. “Maybe not everybody is, but I am, and that’s who I am.”

Well, okay then.

At this point the Phillies are doing Walker no favors. They are feeding him to the wolves. Making him pitch in front of a sellout crowd on Wednesday against a red-hot Houston team is flabbergasting.

Walker would have to have not just a “keep us in the game” start, but actually a sensational one to keep those wolves at bay. It’s asking for a lot.

And if there’s a reason for doing this, the only one that remotely makes sense is that their options are limited.

Kolby Allard has kept them in a few games, but if we’re being honest, he’s been more lucky than good. He also couldn’t throw again before Friday, and the Phillies want to give Sanchez an extra day of rest and weren’t about to move up Ranger Suarez a day after he just missed more than a month with back spasms. So, Allard wasn’t the answer. Tyler Phillips was fatigued and shipped back to the minors last week. He’s not yet eligible to return. Michael Mercado has been shifted back into a bullpen role.

Seth Johnson, who was just acquired from the Orioles in the Gregory Soto trade at the deadline, is intriguing and he is on the 40-man roster and is the pitcher on Lehigh Valley that is throwing on the same day as Walker. However, although he’s been impressive, he’s made just two starts at the Triple-A level.

The only other starters on the 40-man roster are Kyle Tyler, who has not looked great since being claimed off waivers from Miami and Mick Abel, whose 2024 struggles have been well-documented.

Maybe the Phillies think that there truly is no better option than one more Walker start, but if that’s the case, then they have nobody to blame but themselves for allowing it to get to a position where that’s the case.

Ultimately, this won’t matter come October, as there’s no way on Earth he’ll be pitching in the postseason, but in the moment, it sure seems like the Phillies are completely flubbing this No. 5 starter situation.

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