Philadelphia Phillies Release Dontrelle Willis

Well, they gave him a shot.

The Philadelphia Phillies have officially released Dontrelle Willis Friday morning, announcing the move via Twitter very plainly.

The 30-year-old lefty signed a non-guaranteed contract with the team back in December worth $850,000 over one year with the hopes of competing for a spot in the bullpen this spring. This in itself may have been hard for him to swallow after spending all nine of his big league seasons as a starter.

Unfortunately, in three appearances this spring, Willis allowed five earned runs on five hits with four walks in just 2.2 innings. Yikes. The good news is he will receive $139,000 in severance pay.

So what happened to the D-Train? Remember when he was kinda awesome? The 2003 National League Rookie of the Year made two All-Star appearances with the Florida Marlins and even finished second in the NL Cy Young Award voting in 2005. Those were the days cause it's pretty much been downhill from there. He tried a career revival back in 2010 with the Cincinnati Reds too, after lasting just 33 days with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but I think it's safe to say it's over buddy.

Who knows, maybe he didn't take enough protein supplements or something. Hopefully this whole ordeal doesn't trigger his anxiety disorder again... There's always Mexican baseball. Or coaching little league. Those who can't do, teach!

[USA Today]