8:12pm: Hellickson has a right knee sprain, the club announced (via Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com, on Twitter). That’s certainly good news for the Phils and for Hellickson, assuming that there’s no further damage.
7:30pm: Phillies right-hander Jeremy Hellickson left the mound tonight with an apparent injury, calling for the trainer in the middle of the fourth inning. This was his final scheduled start of the season, with free agency beckoning at year’s end.
At present, there is no indication of just what went wrong. Certainly, it isn’t clear whether Hellickson suffered any significant injury, let alone one that would impact his upcoming entry onto the open market.
Any uncertainty could have a major impact on a pitcher who’ll be one of the best available through free agency this winter. Philadelphia has been expected to issue a qualifying offer to Hellickson, who’ll presumably decline it in hopes of securing a multi-year pact.
Hellickson, 29, has provided Philadelphia with 185 2/3 innings of 3.78 ERA pitching entering tonight’s contest, with 7.3 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 and a 40.5% groundball rate. ERA estimators weren’t quite as high on him as the results would suggest, but still valued him — as they have in years past — as a low-4.00 ERA arm.
That’s actually quite a valuable profile, especially in a market that lacks anything close to the firepower we’ve seen in recent years. Hellickson has an argument as the hurler with the most earning potential this winter, with his top competitors likely being the aging-but-suddenly-unhittable Rich Hill and a re-emergent Ivan Nova.
AngelFan69
He was told that the Angels were the #1 suitors for the off season bidding and he “mysteriously” got injured …
gmflores27
Please just stop trashing the org. I can’t believe you call them stupid and wish for them to overpay for a mediocre player like hellickson
BoldyMinnesota
Where did it say the Angels were suitors?
AngelFan69
You truly made me laugh out loud… RU kidding me? That was a compliment, not “trash talk”…
BoldyMinnesota
Dude every post a below average player that is released will be signed to a huge contract by the Angels, and guess what, it never happens!
BoldyMinnesota
You say*
staypuft
I mean, it looked obvious to me that he was kidding.
BoldyMinnesota
I know it’s just he says it on every single post about a depth guy, but it never happens.
AngelFan69
Correct!
krillin
You heard it here first, Hellickson will be wearing a Braves uniform next season if he doesn’t take a QO.