The Phillies have announced that they’ve acquired starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson from the Diamondbacks, with 20-year-old righty Sam McWilliams heading to Arizona. The 28-year-old Hellickson is projected to make $6.6MM in 2016 in his final season before free agency, and he will presumably help fill out the rotation for a rebuilding Phillies team.
As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted in his Offseason Outlook post on the Phillies, the team can use a bit more certainty in their rotation behind Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff. Hellickson could help provide it. Following his Rookie of the Year award with the Rays in 2011 and a solid follow-up campaign in 2012, the 28-year-old Hellickson has essentially been a back-of-the-rotation starter, fighting through injury issues along the way. After heading from Tampa to Arizona in a trade last offseason (a year ago today, in fact, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times points out), Hellickson pitched 146 innings, posting a 4.62 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 2015 while missing a bit of time due to a hamstring issue. Still, the Phillies likely feel he’s capable of eating innings, and if he can regain a bit of his early-career magic, they could conceivably deal him to a contender this summer.
McWilliams, an eighth-round pick out of a Tennessee high school in 2014, spent his second consecutive season with the Phillies’ Gulf Coast League affiliate in 2015, where he posted a 3.27 ERA, 5.7 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 33 innings. MLB.com ranked McWilliams the Phillies’ No. 27 prospect, noting that he’s big (at 6’7) and can throw in the mid-90s. He has a changeup but is still developing his breaking stuff, making him a bit of a project.
McWilliams appears to be an interesting lottery ticket, but the Diamondbacks’ return for Hellickson looks relatively modest, which isn’t surprising. MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted last week that Hellickson was a potential non-tender candidate, while also pointing out that a trade was a possibility. Hellickson is useful, but perhaps not worth $6.6MM, and Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart has shown interest in pursuing higher-wattage pitching talent this offseason. Clearing Hellickson’s rotation spot and salary appears to help him do that.
CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury first reported that the two sides were working on a trade (Twitter link). Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray first tweeted that the deal was done, adding that a right-handed pitching prospect would head to the D-Backs in the exchange. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 reported that McWilliams was the pitcher in question (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hellickson is worth a bucket of bubble gum and 2 signed Goldy balls…
Exactly the kind of guy Phily doesn’t need, oh brother…
I thought you guys jettisoned Amaro.
Why not? He will help them lose more games and secure a better draft pick! And he should be cheap too!
Pretty sure you can find someone cheaper than $6MM to help lose games
Ill do it for 50k. Make me your 5th starter and ill get you the number 1 pick next year.
I’d be glad to join ya.
This is called a gamble trade. Phillies are hoping he bounces back and has a very good year. Trade him around trade deadline for a good prospect. They have payroll to waste so they are gambling on a better prospect in return.
If it doesn’t work out
He will be gone in a year
I’ll do it for 25k……..
There’s plenty of 28-35 year old career minor leaguers languishing at AAA who would put up similar numbers or even better for minimum wage.
Why, unless we are getting prospects as well, why is hellickson even remotely a good idea?
If you’re not really giving anything up I don’t understand why people would have a problem with this move
Exactly.
This move only makes sense if Phily just takes his contract and gives up no players. The fact that the gave someone up and took on money means they lost this deal.
Because he cost you nothing and your rotation was half empty
He costs you $6 million dollars
And we thought Ruben had bad ideas…
This is clearly not thinking out of the box and the ultimate waste of time, logistics and talent.
when Hellickson is healthy he is very effective.
When he is both healthy and having one of his better days he is. He was healthy for all of 2015 and rated out as one of the 5 worst full-time starters in the game. His ROY success was based on unsustainable beating of his peripherals. Last season showed Hellickson is very much the pitcher he has been showing for 3 years now.
He was most definitely not healthy for the entire 2015 season.
I am ok with this as long as we don’t give up much for him. The Phillies need someone to pitch innings until some of the kids are ready.
Good point
Phillies buying low on Hellickson
Not a terrible move
Amaro is already gone.
Who would the dbacks get in return? Or is it just a salary dump?
The D-Backs need to free up some money, the Phillies need warm bodies to eat up innings. If this is anything like the Arroyo deal for the D-Backs, where they shed salary by trading Hellickson and kick in a prospect to Phiily, then it’s good for both teams. If Hellickson performs, Philly can flip him mid-season for more prospects. If he doesn’t perform well, then he bridges the gap a bit for the young arms to get ready.
This would be awesome for Philadelphia! Can’t wait for Hellickson to be wearing Philly Red! (I’m from AZ…lol)
Yeah, I’m an AZ fan too. Not like they’ll get anything for him, but not having him on the mound next year is plenty good enough for me
Not to mention $6 million to spend elsewhere
Seems like a very silly move. He has one year of control and thus won’t necessarily be around for any future years in which the Phillies are actually trying to compete. And even if he were around, it’s uncertain that Hellickson could actually contribute to such an effort: even his Rookie of the Year campaign was largely a fluke, considering his FIP was 1.5 runs higher than his ERA, and he hasn’t gotten better with time.
I understand that the Phillies need someone to pitch this year, but there are surely cheaper options out there, both in terms of money and talent.
If they gave up low level guys that will never make an MLB roster whats silly about it? If Hellickson sucks they lose nothing cause the Phillies will suck regardless and they gave up nothing. If he gets lucky and plays well they trade him at the deadline for a much better prospect. What’s to hate about that?
Acquiring bad players in their final year of arbitration eligibility on the off chance that they might suddenly turn into good players that other teams might be interested in is not a good business model. Obviously this isn’t a crippling deal or anything, but it’s akin to flushing 6.6 MM down the toilet.
Why isn’t it a good business model? There’s little risk involved for 5 mill. Especially for someone like the Phillies
The Cubs got Arrieta this exact same way. They took a one year flyer on Feldman and the Orioles traded them Arrieta. I see really zero risk in this. Phillies will be terrible regardless of what Hellickson does
I think part of the difference is that the Cubs saw something in Arrieta that they could help adjust. Hellickson might bounce back a bit but he’ll likely be a BOR going forward
For a rebuilding team that dumped over $100 million in commitments last season? That’s actually the exact business model you’re looking for in this situation.
You people need to remember (not calling you out on this one Ryan, just happens to be part of your reply) that this club is not expected to compete in 2016, and this move was not made with the thought that it’s going to take the Phillies to the World Series this year. The Phillies have 2, maybe 3 locks for the rotation out of spring training. They will need innings eaters this year. And lots of them.
The two or three “locks” for the rotation have each pitched less than 1 season in the bigs. Hellickson provides a low risk, high reward guy who can (hopefully) be flipped at the break. If Hellickson was non-tendered then the Phillies would be competing with 31 other teams in vying for his services, and getting guys to sign a 1 year deal on a 99 loss team isn’t the easiest thing to have happen.
Worst case, Hellickson is hurt and doesn’t pitch an inning for the Phillies this year, thus wasting his $6mil salary. For a 99 loss team that had an opening day payroll of $150mil last season and only has $50 committed to next year? I think they can afford the risk. If Hellickson was a no-miss guy, then the D-Backs wouldn’t have wanted to trade him. Keep service time down on players who aren’t MLB ready and give yourself a chance at making another deadline deal. Similar to Amaro the last 2 years, yes, but that’s what a rebuilding club has to do. If he stays healthy, he could make a great trade target for someone like the Astros or the Pirates in July 2016.
Why is everyone convinced the Phillies aren’t trying to compete in 2016? They were a very hot team in the second half and could easily have a Texas-style turn around quickly with a few breaks.
Cause they wouldn’t have traded Hamels if they would have known they had any shot to compete. They have very little talent right now on their team
They didn’t give Hamels away. They got 6 pieces back, some of which could easily help them win ball games. They are going to surprise you next year.
They ‘could’ and I’m optimistic that they might be the 2015 Astros next season, but there is way too much inexperience on this team to ‘expect’ them to compete. Their strong second half last year included was against one of the easiest ranked schedules last year too. Most of those wins happened agains MIA, MIL, ATL, SD, and ARI. I think they will be better next year, no doubt about it, and I’m super excited about their future. But when compared to the rest of the MLB, their roster does not stack up against their competition. Not yet at least. Their time is coming, and soon. 2016 is probably just a little too early to expect to see said turnaround.
They didn’t make the schedule, so you can’t really hold that against them. They beat those five teams that finished ahead of them in the standings. That’s a sure sign of an improving club. I think 77-85 wins is entirely possible with a few nice (lucky?) under the radar signings/trades like this one.
Lol. You must be dreaming. The Mets have 4 aces and Washington will improve. The Phillies are bottom of the barrel and it’s gonna be a few years until they are even competitive.
Yeah well last year at this time Washington was going to run away with the NL East in 2015, so you’ll have to excuse my not believing the “experts” this time around. BTW, is it Syndergaard’s turn for TJ surgery in 2016?
Yep, and Aaron Nola in 2017 LOLOL
So much fun to talk about players getting injured and losing out on their livelihood, right?
Philly has a bright future. If I’m you guys I spend the next two years making good use of those high draft picks and phasing out all of the bad money. Howard comes off the books in one year and Harrison in two. Once they are gone you can use the money you aren’t paying them to pay for free agents to complement the young talent you have coming up from the farm.
The Phillies are not the Rays, so they don’t have to build the team like that. They are closer to a Dodgers-style payroll than a small market team. They can afford to have a couple of sunk costs on the team. They have already gotten rid of about $100 million in payroll. They don’t have to get their payroll down to nothing before they spend again.
6 million is nothing given the payroll space the Philies have. The club basically got him for free
Why would the Phillies want Hellickson? They trying to make a run on the Braves and fourth in the division?
The Phillies will be at least third next year, if not higher. Their second half record shows a team that is on the cusp of a turnaround. They are my pick for a surprise wild card run in 2016. They might not win the WC, but I see them in contention for it throughout the season.
They aren’t trying for the wild card. Management has said they aren’t signing free agents and they’re going to just let the young players play. So maybe you want to hold off on that surprise pick.
Since when do you have to sign free agents to compete for the WC? Houston didn’t last year. There is ABSOLUTELY no way that management will not sign free agents this off season. They might not sign a top tier free agent, but I guarantee they will make a few under the radar signings. I think I will stick with my pick. I have to because it’s not like my Rockies are going to surprise anyone and I need someone to root for.
Houston signed four top 50 free agents last offseason which I think is the most of any team, standalone.
They signed a couple of relievers and Colby Rasmus after his price came WAY down. It’s not like they were in the mix for Jon Lester or something. They made some nice under the radar signings which is exactly what I think the Phillies will do.
Yeahhh not gonna happen. They will be better than last year but will probably still have a top 5 draft pick in 2017.
Thank you great seer of the future. Please let me know how my future great grandchildren turn out next.
Says the guy who just asserted that the Phillies will be at least 3rd in the NL East next year
Your future wife’s name is Big John and you will die the day you talk back to him. How? I don’t want to get that graphic and it might give you nightmares.
Haha they gave up a prospect to get him
The #27 prospect of a relatively weak system. It’s not like they traded JP Crawford to get him or anything.
Not exactly a weak system, probably top 10 in baseball this year. Also, MLB is probably the only list where he cracks the top 30 and they don’t really know what they’re talking about.
He is 28 not 27. And if he has a year like his two good years, which were just three and fours years ago, they will have a chance at getting a draft pick for him. Can’t say the same for Bartolo Colon or Chris Young, who will also probably cost more.
Makes sense for both sides, money for innings. Better than starting an unpolished prospect’s service clock early in a non-competitive year, or exposing him too early. Team health permitting and looking ahead long-term, I’d easily take the sixth season of a 27 year old 5 season vet over the age 20 season of the same player when he should have been in AA.
This is a good low risk acquisition. It cost you nothing and he could be a decent 4 or 5.
Nice move by Phillies. Didn’t give up much and Hellickson at 28 can turn himself into a productive starter or good trade chip
As a D-Back fan, I can’t say I’ll miss Hellickson. That being said, I’m not sure it’s brutal for Philly like people are making it out to be. He’ll just eat a few innings on a non-contender next year, and they can’t be giving up anything of worth for a non-tender player. Makes sense to let him pitch for them for a year, very little to lose
The Phillies and D-Backs are not swapping player value. Arizona gets payroll-relief and Phillie gets innings without any real commitment.
This move makes a lot of sense.
Don’t really get the hate. It’s a procedural move for the D-Backs and someone has to throw innings in Philly.
Under the right coaching, maybe Hellickson returns to form, and he could be good enough to receive a QO and a draft pick compensation. Good low risk/high reward type move for the Phils.
I agree that it’s not an outright terrible move, and Hellickson will eat some innings for the Phillies and they could possibly be better than a lot of people expect. But the chances Hellickson gets a QO isn’t even remote; it’s non-existent. If he pitches well enough to warrant a QO he’ll be traded at mid-season, and if he isn’t traded there’s no way he’s worth $17M or $18M, which the QO will be after next season when factoring in the huge money that Price, Greinke and the like will get and increased the top 125 salaries for 2016.
That coaching is not going to be McClure. The good thing though is that the coaching is irrelevant. If Hellickson pitches to his 2015 level (or above) the Phils will have gotten a decent deal. He’s back end fodder, but anything better than the jokes of Jerome Williams, Severino Gonzalez and David Buchanan is welcome in my book.
Severino actually has upside., his K/9 rate was solid. I think he’ll be a good reliever
I don’t think it’s a coaching thing. Hellickson was developed under arguably the best pitching coach in baseball with Hickey in Tampa. It’s a confidence thing. If he isn’t feeling it, he’s going to tank. You can’t teach someone to calm down. That’s what he needs though. Is somehow to teach him self to keep the moment small. When he did that in Tampa he was great! But after the second or third year his confidence went and the Rays didn’t have room for him anymore. But if he has someone that can help him keep the moment small, he could find some degree of what he had in Tampa.
“if he can regain a bit of his early-career magic, they could conceivably deal him to a contender this summer”
If he regains his early career magic, the Phillies could easily BE a contender this summer. Don’t forget, they were one of the hotter teams in the NL in the second half last season. They are in a weak division and if they catch a few breaks and avoid a few injuries, they could be in the running for a wild card.
Sarcasm?
They were hot coming out of the all star break, but still only finished 36-45 in the 2nd half (34-37 post ASB). And that was with a 13-3 record right out of the break.
I love your optimism, but the Phillies are a few years away from having a chance to have that lucky season. 2017 at the very earliest and even that would be extremely surprising to me. Need to wait til guys like JP Crawford, Nick Williams, Jake Thompson, etc get the call-up which should start sometime this summer to get a real read on it.
No actual sincerity. I mean just look at the 4 worst teams from the 2014 season. 2 of them made the playoffs in 2015. The Phils are in a weak division and had a near .500 record in the second half. There is no reason to believe they couldn’t have a 75-80 win season. Maybe more with a few breaks and that would put them in prime wild card position. Chances are you won’t have 98 and 97 win teams winning the wild cards next year. Everyone is 0-0 at this moment, so no one is ready to throw in the towel just yet.
I don’t disagree that until the games are played, no one knows what is going to happen. It was actually 2 of the 5 worst teams in 2014 made the playoffs and 3 of the 7 worst. But the key difference there is that each team was ahead of the Phillies in some way or another:
Texas – had the talent but had injuries, acquired Hamels.
Houston – made some trades and FA signings (Rasmus, Gattis, Gomez), prospects developed (Correa, Springer)
Chicago – prospects developed (Russell, Bryant, Schwarber, Soler), trades and FA signings (Lester, Fowler)
Each team had a ton of talent on their roster already and added to it and then everything just kind of came together. They had the pieces in place, you just kind of waited for it.
The Phillies won’t be making those kind of FA signings or trades and most of the young guys that are being counted on for the rebuild won’t be on the roster most of the year. The only guys on the roster with some promise right now are Nola, Giles, Franco, and Herrera. You can add in some lower upside guys like Eickhoff and Altherr. But the real talent that needs to arrive for a Texas/Houston/Chicago type of scenario will be the following year or two when Crawford, Nick Williams, Alfaro, Thompson, etc begin to arrive.
Texas lost arguably their best player in Yu Darvish for the entire season. They started the season with their entire rotation on the DL. They had injuries in 2015 as well, but still turned around. It’s true that it is unlikely to happen, but it just bugs me to no end when people (not you) suggest that certain teams should just not try because they have no chance for a year or three.
I actively root for teams like that just so the smug “experts” can be proven wrong. Even if they’ll never admit it and offer up a thousand excuses for why they were still technically correct.
Sorry for the slow response. I completely agree. I always root for the underdog, especially a homegrown one. I’d love to see the Phillies rebuild happen quicker than expected, I just refuse to get my hopes up. As a Philadelphia sports fan you learn to keep your expectations low. It’s kinda sad I’ve learned this lesson and I’m only 29.
Jeremy Hellickson is not very good. Due to that, he should fit right in with the Phils!
Will Harang still get a major league offer this year? Hellickson seems to be taking his job of eating innings in this deal.
This is a move that non contending teams make. Hellickson can come here and teach these young pitchers the Phillies have how to play in this league. Hellickson himself is nothing special, just a guy who has experience. The Phillies have a long road ahead of them.
As a Dbacks fan, I support this move. It frees up money to pursue SP & starts unclogging the back of the rotation. Stewart found usefulness in 2015 for a couple of lotto tickets he bought last offseason.
Seems like Harang or Williams could do the same thing for cheaper. Granted, a good Hellickson first half would probably return more at the deadline than a good first half from the other two I mentioned but a good first half from Hellickson is far from a given.
Calling a Hellickson Cy Young season next year and 3 no nos and a perfect game
Its the money part that kills me, the DBax should be paying his contract if they’re getting back literally any player.
I wonder if the Braves or Phillies will successfully complete their rebuild first. My money is on Atlanta right now I guess
Atlanta is still in the middle of rebuilding. Philly is all but finished with theirs. Philly will be a nice surprise in 2016.
No Philly won’t be competitive until 2018. They still need to get all the bad money off the books. All the players the Braves game up except Simmons were going to be free agents in 2015 or 2016 anyway.
The only bad money still on the books is Ryan Howard. But that’s beside the point. If you know what is going to happen between now and 2018 and beyond, then why do you waste your time following baseball? If it is that easy for you, then perhaps you should put your vast intelligence toward a more difficult endeavor and leave sports to the rest of us troglodytes.
Just stop. You sound like an idiot.
They also have Matt Harrison who is on the books through 2017.
OMG, how with the $150 miilion payroll Phillies ever afford Matt Harrison? Maybe you should realize that there is more than one way to skin a cat. Yes some teams can try the Royals model of losing forever to build a farm system and maybe eventually have a good team. However, other teams can go from last to first with a few good key free agents signings as well, a la Boston in 2013. But you have your mind made up so there is no point trying to convince you of anything. Except that name calling is the desperate act of an inferior argument. That sound idiotic as well?
The idea is to get ALL the bad money off the books first so that when they are contending that have a core of free agent signings who ARE earning their money and young, cheap, homegrown players. The last of the bad money won’t be phased out for another 2 years, so during that time I’d focus on rebuilding the farm. In 2 years, many of the players from that farm will have reached the Majors and they can reallocate the money they are currently paying Howard and Harrison towards guys who will actually benefit the team.
Why?
Not needed again
Phillies could have brought back Kyle Kendrick for half the money and the same results they are going to get with Hellickson.
Key phrase being “half the money.” 180 innings with a 4.50 ERA would be well worth the price for admission (for the Phillies franchise, not worth the $75 price of admission to watch him pitch haha.)
Well, i don’t know what Philly was thinking in this one. Hellickson is a FA at the end of the year, and obviously aren’t contending.