Philadelphia Phillies: Gerrit Cole tops Phils Wish List
Do the Philadelphia Phillies have it in them to spend on Gerrit Cole, another high priced free agent?
If Gerrit Cole‘s decision to wear a Boras corporation hat immediately after the World Series told us anything, it signaled that the race was on to attain the services of last year’s strikeout king. There will presumably be many suitors for Cole’s services, but one that stands out is the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Phils suffered a disappointing 2019, finishing with an 81-81 record, despite having one of the more transformative offseasons of any team in baseball. The team added high priced names to help bolster the Phillies lineup and stabilize their bullpen, but few of them panned out as envisioned.
Oh, and there was this gem from Phillies owner John Middleton:
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“We’re going in to this excited to spend money…. and we might get a little stupid about it.”
I’m sure that quote won’t follow him the rest of his time with the team in Philadelphia, only the most forgiving city in sports, right (do I have to note sarcasm? I shouldn’t have to right? I mean, it’s Philly..)?
It’s not all gloom and doom for the Phils though, as Andrew McCutchen continues his rehabilitation, and players like Scott Kingery continue to emerge, the Philadelphia Phillies could be in position to make a move again this year, pending that their pitching staff can get its act together. The team is littered with high upside arms that simply regressed all at once this past season, not helped at all by a slow start from ace Aaron Nola or injury concerns from Jake Arrieta.
They could turn it around, but that’s asking a lot for a team that posted the lowest starters ERA in the NL East, a division that seems to be revolving around the strength of their rotations.
So there’s an obvious need from a baseball side, but what about the financials? MLBTR predicts Cole to receive an AAV of somewhere around $32MM per year (albeit to the Angels, but let’s stick to Philly for this exercise) . Is this doable? At first glance, it’s ugly.
- The Phils already have $155M committed to next season, the 7th highest in MLB
- $110M of that is eaten up by only six players
- Harper – $25M
- Arrieta – $20M
- McCutchen – $17M
- Segura – $15M
- Hernandez – $12M
- Robertson – $11M
- Only one of those players (Harper) accrued more than 3 WAR for the 2019 season.
Add in the cost uncertainty of Aaron Nola and JT Realmuto’s arbitration status and things are looking awfully dicey if the Phils are going to attain Cole’s services. Could they explore trading one of these high priced players to make room for a much needed starter? That’s tricky.
Three are coming off major injury (Robertson/McCutchen/Arrieta), Harper is obviously not on the table, and Segura’s main value was in his speed, which seems to have left him (only 10SB’s last year), and for a 90 OPS+ hitter, that’s not going to interest a lot of teams. Hernandez is fine but at the end of the day, his salary won’t be the deal maker or breaker in getting Cole.
One can assume that Cole will be tied to the Phils, a major market team that is trying to keep up with the arms race in the NL East, but it would take another dose of some of that “stupid money” that Middleton was alluding to in order to add a star of that caliber to a financially bloated roster.
Next. Hanley Ramirez trying to make comeback. dark
So here we are again, with the Philadelphia Phillies in an all-or-nothing situation leading into a decisive season and a tough fanbase that was promised results.
Seems…. stupid.