While much has been made of the Phillies’ desire to add a veteran bat this winter — two, if manager Pete Mackanin gets his wish — Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com writes that adding a veteran starter to provide some stable innings in the rotation “seems to be as big a priority” for GM Matt Klentak as adding to his lineup.
“I don’t think we will ever have the luxury of ignoring starting pitching,” said Klentak. “Starting pitching is the name of the game. We saw it for the first month or two of the year. Every night we were pitching. Our starters were performing. … We were competitive almost every night. At times, throughout the rest of the season, we’ve sputtered along. … But if you can dictate the pace of the game on the mound, you always have a chance to win. We’re never going to ignore that.”
Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, acquired with little fanfare this offseason, proved to be that stabilizing force for the Phillies in 2016, but Salisbury writes that he’ll likely go elsewhere (likely after rejecting a qualifying offer, from my own vantage point) and cautions not to expect any type of spending spree on the free agent market this winter. As such, a low-cost free-agent starter — Charlie Morton, Doug Fister and Jorge De La Rosa come to mind as possibilities — or swinging a similar deal to last year’s Hellickson swap could make some sense for the Phils.
Hellickson amounted to a rental for Philadelphia at the time of the deal, as he’d disappointed in his lone season with the D-backs and cost the team a low-level prospect and the willingness to pay Hellickon’s arbitration salary. There may not be a direct comparable to Hellickson’s situation, but the Twins’ Hector Santiago has disappointed in his few months with the team (and has a connection to Klentak from the duo’s Angels days), and left-hander Wade Miley has floundered in Baltimore but still has $9.25MM coming his way through next season. The Phils could also look to acquire a pitcher with a 2017 option that is of borderline value (e.g. Jaime Garcia or Derek Holland) and hope that he experiences better results in 2017.
While some Phillies fans might bemoan the idea of adding a veteran starter when the team has so many enticing young arms, there’s a great deal of uncertainty in Philadelphia’s contingent of young horses. Vince Velasquez has long had durability questions and missed a month on the DL this season, while Aaron Nola had to be shut down for the season due to a UCL/flexor sprain and Zach Eflin underwent surgery on each of his knees. With Hellickson departing, there’s certainly plenty of logic to adding not only a source of potentially quality innings but someone to help mentor the team’s young starters through the ups and downs of a full season at the big league level.
Salisbury also writes that in addition to adding a source of innings to the rotation, the Phillies also figure to look into some veteran relievers. However, Klentak stressed to Salisbury that the Phillies aren’t interested in removing too many opportunities for the team’s younger players to establish themselves. “We want to do everything we can to field the most competitive team on the field that we possibly can,” the GM explained. “We also want to make sure we continue to provide opportunities to our young players to develop. That’s the fine line that we’ll have to tiptoe all offseason.”
FloridaMan1988
What makes Steve Adams automatically think that Hellickson is gone? You know what happens when you assume.
Steve Adams
If the Phillies aren’t going to spend heavily — and that was the vibe from Salisbury’s report — then I don’t see them landing Hellickson, who I think is going to sign a four-year contract this winter even coming off the likely qualifying offer.
For what it’s worth, I was only saying the QO seemed likely. Salisbury’s piece states that Hellickson is likely to move on, though I agree with that sentiment. I don’t think they’re at the point where they’re going to spend $40-50MM on free-agent starters, and my expectation is that Hellickson lands in that area.
fighterflea
The Phils’ qualifying offer to Hellickson will be declined. They’ll then exercise their $9.5 M option on Charlie Morton. I don’t see a better option on a one year deal — Fister certainly isn’t that better option. At a point when Shohei Otani comes on the market, I hope the Phils are all over him
Dookie Howser, MD
Why is there zero talk about Shohei Otani? I’m not saying he is going to be a dominant MLB player like he is over in Japan, but his name never even pops up around here
vtadave
I think the sense is that he’s not coming over next year.
Cam
Yeah, there’s no indication that he’s going to be posted while his team has years of control left.
Dookie Howser, MD
We talk about 17 year old minor league prospects years before they will reach the majors. We talk about trading young players with years of control and the holding team showing very little interest in parting with them.
Not saying it will happen, but it might be more interesting to talk about something new rather than recycle a bunch of Chris Sale/Julio Tehren/insert PTBN later here ad nauseum
AngelFan69
Hellickson is history… Angels … Here we come…
gmflores27
Hell no
AngelFan69
2017 projected rotation … Hellickson, Richards, Chacin, Young and Meyer… And if Artie is willing to open his checkbook, we may end up getting Fister… We’ll see…
lovethegame27
how about Shoemaker and Skaggs. Got to fit them in the rotation
vtadave
Ha…he probably just needs to check under his couch cushions to find the money for Fister.
User 4245925809
Am sure ex-phillie sean o’sullivan would be more than happy to return after the season as a MiLB FA.
Philliesfan4life
Don’t write off weaver, I hope we bring him back
gmflores27
No
DannyQ3913
The Phils shouldn’t, the FA market is garbage.
money
There wasn’t one pitcher mentioned in this article that even excited me.
Looks like another lousy year ahead for the penny pinching Phillies in 2017.
BoldyMinnesota
Santiago could be alright, but philly doesn’t really need another pitcher. They could get by with all their young guys, especially since they’re still rebuilding. Save the money for when they can make a realistic push for the playoffs
marckahn
They will not win a World Series next year. They need to stay away from FA market and play what they have. Besides the pitchers on the major
League level they have some interesting talent in the minors.
julyn82001
Gray… Some health concerns – they showed case him last night – but still controllable… A’s Billy Beane et al will listen to right offers and the team has plenty of pitching towards next season…
budman3 2
Trade Dylan Cozens and Andrew Knapp to the Rays for Alex Cobb. Keep him for a year like Hellickson and than see what happens.
AngelFan69
Skaggs is hurt and Shoemaker will take some time to regain his form after the head injury before he is 100% to return to the mound…. We are not writing them off… As
to Weaver… My guess is as good as yours… Is pretty much a toss up if he returns…