The Philadelphia Phillies could be looking to move two veteran relievers ahead of their offseason heavy lifting, per recent reports.
The Philadelphia Phillies are undoubtedly going to be one of the most active teams in baseball this offseason, with their front office nearly committed to spending the necessary money to acquire some top talent. However, not much has been mentioned about the team subtracting from their roster.
They could do a little bit of that as well, as Jon Heyman of Fancred says that relievers Pat Neshek and Tommy Hunter are on the trade block, and that the Phillies will be listening to offers for both arms.
phillies not only have carlos santana on the block, as @Ken_Rosenthal said but also tommy hunter and pat neshek. the relievers had solid years, but with so many quality bullpen arms on the free agent market, timing for trades may not be easy
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 21, 2018
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Neshek, 38, has one year remaining on his contract, and has been relatively effective since rejoining the Phillies. Despite some injury troubles in 2018, he pitched to an excellent 2.59 ERA in 24.1 innings, adding five saves and three wins.
Hunter, 32, is also going to be entering the final year of his contract. He too, despite his age and experience, was great for the Phillies last season, tossing 64.0 innings with an ERA of 3.80 and 51 strikeouts and just 15 walks.
Both pitchers, while only under contract for another season, could provide significant value to an interested team, despite Heyman’s observation that the bullpen market, which is packed with viable bullpen options, isn’t exactly conducive to trying to make trade for relievers. Still, the market could, as it often has in the past, surprise various teams looking to move certain pieces.
Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see if the Phillies actually do manage to trade away the pair of veterans. The list of teams that could use them could be interested in their services could be quite large, but the list of teams that’d be willing to pay for them could be quite small. We’ll follow this development as it becomes more detailed.