The Nationals have reportedly agreed to re-sign righty Jeremy Hellickson to a one-year, MLB contract. Hellickson, a client of the Boras Corporation, will earn a $1.3MM base rate and could achieve up to $4MM in incentive pay.
The extra cash is tied to the number of starts Hellickson makes. He can take home $200K bonuses upon reaching his 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 21st, and 23rd start and another $300K apiece for numbers 25 through 30.
Hellickson commands a big league roster spot after a productive 2018 season in D.C. Otherwise, the deal is rather similar to the one he took last year, a minor-league arrangement with a $2MM MLB salary and $4MM incentive package that ultimately paid dividends for both player and team.
Hellickson ultimately threw 91 1/3 innings over 19 starts, producing a 3.45 ERA for the Nats. The club rarely allowed him to face an opposing order for a third time. And understandably so: Hellickson was tagged for a .419/.500/.721 slash by the fifty opposing hitters that stepped into the box against him after two prior looks.
Even with that judicious deployment accounted for, ERA estimators weren’t totally sold on the outcome. Odds are, the Nats also would anticipate Hellickson regressing toward the levels of productivity that the metrics support. Still, for a fifth rotation/long-man candidate, those numbers — FIP (4.22), xFIP (4.27) and SIERA (4.33) — were rather promising.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Nationals approach their roster this spring. The club invested heavily to add Patrick Corbin at the top of the staff and committed to veteran Anibal Sanchez as a number-four starter. With Hellickson back in the fold, younger hurlers Joe Ross and Erick Fedde may be on the outside looking in. Those pitchers could end up winning a rotation job in camp, checking down to a bullpen job, or starting the season on optional assignment.
Craig Mish of MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM reported (Twitter links) that the sides were in discussions and later detailed the incentives. MLB.com’s Jamal Collier reported (Twitter link) the sides were “progressing.” Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link) first reported a deal was in place and provided financial details, while Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com tweeted that it was a MLB contract.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Definitely going to need some bullpen depth if they re-sign this guy.
They needed that in general. If I remember correctly, they had the worst pen in baseball last season.
15th in baseball, 4.05 ERA.
Link to trade rumors 3 days ago called them one of the worst, so your era of 15 in the league is moot
What are you even talking about? You’re responding against a fact….
You said worst then said one of the worst. Stop moving the goalposts.
Eat it and your multiple accounts
There are one of the worst
So what I had a typo. Get over it. Stupid keyboard warriors
Ill bite I guess… To expand further on your “logic.”
When did exactly middle of the pack become one of the worst?
That’s not what a typo is.
Auto spell-check often does more harm than good. Can make a profound truth or insight appear clueless. Ought to be a convenient way to disable it, like just flapping a swatch.
mets had the worst pen in baseball last year
I’m good with this. He’d be number 5. I’ll take five good innings out of a fifth starter and give my team something to work with over a throwaway fifth where hoping for six or seven is really just a gamble.
Yeah great pick-up. Hard to understand other teams in need for a starter didn’t offer more.
Because he can’t go through the order more than twice without getting shelled.
Cool
If he regularly goes 4 or 5 innings before getting pulled, is he an “opener” or a starter?
(See others comments re: Bullpen requirements in either case)
He is whichever one he chooses to identify as.
Don’t you dare assume my pitching role
3 innings or less is an opener.
4 innings or more is a starter.
That’s my two cents.
If u start the game, ur the starter
Felix Hernandez is officially an opener
Ross can piggyback him as a long man. If Scherzer and Corbin go the next two days, hopefully the bullpen sees less use.
As a side note semi-nationals related, the Giants are meeting with Harper for some reason.
If I were WSN I’d prefer joe Ross. I’m all for adding depth but best case scenario hellickson gives you 5 decent innings. I’d like to think Ross’ upside is a little higher than that. And I don’t think their floors are very different either.
Ross does have more upside, but he’s still coming back for injury. I’m good with Hellickson as the 5th starter, Ross in the bullpen as a long man/emergency starter and Fedde in AAA
Ross needs to chill in extended to manage his innings. Activate him when someone gets hurt.
Smart move by Riz. Low-cost, low-risk signing that can do nothing but improve depth—but it seems like most signings have looked like this lately…
wonder if another team would try to swing a deal for Joe Ross now.
Ross is a risk with only two pitches in his arsenal, and that slider is going to get him back into TJ trouble.
Hellickson’s 5+ inning each start last year were solid even if it required a heavier bullpen effort. With Ross and Fedde now in the bullpen, one of them could be a nice pairing with Hellickson to get games to the back of the pen.
Remember when he was actually good
I remember when the Phillies were rumored to be trying to extend him for something like 3 years and he chose FA.
He then had to accept the QO instead when Boras found out there was no market for him on a LT deal.
One wonders what a 3 – 4 year extension would have looked like had they been able to work something out, and whether he would have made more money accepting it?
Joe Ross beats him out all day, every day for the roster spot.
In 8 of his 19 starts he gave up 0 or 1 run. In 10 starts he gave up 2 or 3 runs. He got hammered for 8 runs once. Most of his starts were about 5 innings. He keeps you in the game. How many #5 starters can do that? He’s not a bad addition but how much is that worth?
most every team will need more than 5 starters over the course of a season and being able to keep a few quality SPs in AAA (Ross, Fedde & Voth) available for callup is a wise move getting Hellickson for the 5th rotation spot on the cheap.
True. It also lets the Nats take a guarded approach with Ross. He has a minor league option, so can work his way back slowly. Overall, Ross has a higher ceiling, but I think Hellickson is a safer bet at this point.
Rizzo got burned by a lack of SP depth last season. Looks like he is committed to fixing it this year.
2018: Scherzer, Strasburg, Gio, Roark, and a patchwork of Hellickson, Fedde, and Rodriguez.
2019: Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin, Sanchez, Hellickson? That’s a major upgrade.
Last season, Nats had the worst offensive production in the league at the Catcher position, now they have two solid hitting catchers in Suzuki and Gomes.
Last season, Nats only got about one month of a productive Daniel Murphy before trading him. Dozier has the potential to provide a major upgrade at 2B.
Last season, Eaton was far from healthy, and didn’t get going until July. Nats fans haven’t seen what he can do when fully healthy.
A full season of Juan Soto, and the debut of Victor Robles, should be exciting.
Only glaring hole in the roster, IMO, is a lefty specialist. They need a nasty LOOGY to face guys like Freeman, Markakis, Cano, etc.
Mike Rizzo has had as good of an offseason as any GM in baseball.
gotta hope that Sammy Solis finds his way back to being a serviceable LH out of the pen again. can’t take another year of him pitching BP up there.
No kidding. I’m actually counting on him being released at the end of ST. Can’t take watching him get shelled any more. He’s been given plenty of chances.
Gotta admit as Phillies fan the Nats have done a good job this offseason.
I’m not sue they’ll miss 2018 Harper (1.3 rWAR, though any team would miss 2015 Harper).
I’m leery of Dave Martinez. The 2018 team under-performed and that could be partially the Manager… or perhaps there was not enough focus on team Baseball vs. team Bryce Harper.
nats do need a long reliever that can spot start in emergency. you want Ross, Fedde and probably Voth as well maxing their innings to stay in tune in AAA. maybe give Cole another look? he had good k/9 numbers. wouldnt be much of a risk and something good might come of it