There’s no question that the Phillies are rebuilding, with some of their better prospects—see J.P. Crawford, Nick Williams and Jake Thompson—closing in on the Major Leagues. As a result, there was an expectation that general manager Matt Klentak would, at the least, trade away free agents-to-be Jeremy Hellickson and David Hernandez, both of whom are having strong seasons, and veteran catcher Carlos Ruiz, who has a $4.5MM club option in 2017. But the first-year general manager came up empty during his first trade deadline.
As Klentak explained on a conference call earlier today, he was open-minded to making a deal and had dialogue with quite a few teams on a number of their players.
“We had offers out to other teams that, if accepted, we would have done,” Klentak said. “At the end of the day, there was nothing we felt made sense for the organization at this time.”
Citing a focus on appropriately balancing the present and the future, Klentak believes that Ruiz and Hellickson are playing a key role in the development of their younger players.
“We want to make sure our young players are being mentored by the right veterans,” Klentak explained. “Chooch has had a great career with the Phillies, and we value what he means to the organization and to the younger players. We like what he brings to this team.”
With regard to the 29-year-old Hellickson, who was acquired from the Diamondbacks last winter, Klentak stressed the importance of having a reliable innings-eater with many of the Phillies’ young pitchers beginning to approach innings totals that they haven’t reached in their careers.
“The reason we went out and acquired him last offseason is to provide stability to our rotation and mentor our young pitchers,” Klentak said. “I think he’s been outstanding in that role.”
While Klentak said that they have not determined whether Hellickson will be given a qualifying offer, which is estimated to be $16.7MM, they are mindful that a new Collective Bargaining Agreement could be in place by the offseason. With a very supportive ownership group and few future commitments, however, he wouldn’t rule it out. He also didn’t rule out the possibility of an August trade, although there are more hurdles to clear that would make it complicated.
As far as opening up playing time for young prospects, Klentak said that he never looked at the trade deadline as the platform that would allow them to play. The important thing, he said, is to call them up when they’re ready and never have to send them back because they’re not ready.
“[The lack of trades] doesn’t set back the timeline for any promotion,” he says. “We will promote them when they’re ready. If we need to create room, we will do so. There’s a decent chance we’ll see another somewhat notable promotion of a first-time big-leaguer before the season’s up.”
Hellickson should have been traded. Not worth a top 5 prospect, but could have gotten in the top 10-15 range.
I think you’re right that Hellickson is probably only worth a top 10-15 prospect, but you have to remember that when the reports came out saying the Phils were looking for a top 5 prospect, it was the Marlins and Orioles who were rumored to be in on him. That’s a reasonable request from those teams, as a top 5 from the Marlins and Orioles is a 10-15 in most other farms.
Tigers were very interested but the demand was for Boyd, Norris, or Fulmer(current front runner for Rookie of the Year). All three are current Major League SP who were traded for Price and Cespedes. Hellickson is no Price or Cespedes.
Could still Trade.some this month.
If given a QO and he does not accept it, Hellickson will be unsigned until after the June amateur draft. He will not be worth the loss of a draft pick particularly as he is also a Boras client.
Absolutely appalled nothing happened today.
I completely agree with you, STUNNED.
I would tend to agree with Klentak. Making a deal for the sake of making a deal isn’t necessarily a prudent thing to do. Sure, if a good offer for a top 5 prospect came up I would have pulled the trigger but id rather see them be patient and get a compensatory pick off of a denied QO than settle for a low prospect that may never come to fruition. If Hellickson takes the QO, which would frankly surprise me, the Phils don’t have a lot on the books and they could make it happen just fine. They could likely ship him in ST or at next year’s deadline if necessary as well. That being said, he could also pass through waivers this month and a trade could still happen.
One thing… Hellickson is a free agent after the season.
Hence the discussion of him potentially taking the QO…
My bad… Should have read better.
True, Hellickson isn’t likely to be worth a top 5 prospect. Andrew Cashner probably isn’t either, and yet the Padres got one in return for him. With that kind of market, it’s hard to blame the Phillies for setting their price tag high, but I wonder if they set it maybe a little too high. Though it doesn’t sound like they got any really strong offers if they felt they could get more value from a potential compensation round draft pick after a qualifying offer then from the prospects they were being offered in return.
Have no problem with them standing pat. If other teams aren’t willing to give us a decent prospect, what’s the point? Even if he accepts the QO, keeping a reliable starter on the squad is worth it rather than gambling on some aaaa player or, worse, a career minor leaguer.
Hellickson isn’t worth a Top-5 prospect, and he’s not worth a QO… the only in between is to trade him for something of adequate value, b/c at the end of the day, it’s not worth signing him to a QO just b/c he is an innings eater. Get your top 15 org. prospect and call it a day.
Well now the Phillies basically HAVE to extend Hellickson and Hernandez qualifying offers.
Hellickson maybe, but Hernandez definitely not.
Well if no QO then why the Hell didn’t they trade him!? Literally ANYTHING they could have traded him for would would have been worth it.
Hernandez? Hahahaha that’s a good one
Well if no QO then why the Hell didn’t they trade him!? Literally ANYTHING they could have traded him for would would have been worth it.
being called an innings eater is an insult to a pitcher
There was no need to trade anyone. Hellickson was not going to get you much.. Prospects are great, but they are still prospects..
Better than the nothing they’ll get when he walks at the end of the season!
27 of 30 teams made trades yesterday. It was the busiest “active” trade-deadline day since 1975, and the Phillies ended up keeping every FA to-be here.
Hellickson will get a QO, and refuse it, because he will literally be one of the 3 best FA Pitchers in the 2017 FA Class. He’ll also refuse the QO because then he’d be a FA again in 2018, where the market will be loaded with the most talent of FA’s in history, and he would lose a lot of money.
I don’t believe Kentak saying that he didn’t get offers that made it worth it. We all know that Helly was scouted his last 3 starts by the Marlins, Orioles, Tigers, Giants, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Rangers.
Rangers and Tigers both failed to get a starter – Miami had to return Rea back to the Padres.
A Deal could of and should have been made!.
The Dodgers acquired Rich Hill, who is on the DL, and Reddick, who’s missed over 40 games this year both whom are FA’s as well – and they gave up 3 really good prospects,
I’m betting that Klentak must be voting for Hillary Clinton too – Liars seem to stick together.