Should the Phillies consider free agent Carlos Rodon?

One of the eye-opening MLB players not presented with a qualifying offer recently is Carlos Rodon, who threw a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox this past season and posted a 2.37 ERA. That offer would have cost the Pale Hose $18.4 million, and considering his raw numbers last season, there are likely Philadelphia Phillies fans out there sputtering for their team to sign this guy.

Those folks need to tap their brakes a bit.

‘Tis the season for speculation. Should the Phillies be considering Carlos Rodon?

This is not to say something might work out here for the Phillies if Rodon doesn’t decide free agency is actually a PIA and he really, really loves the Sox, even for less money.

Rodon certainly won’t be signed for a bargain basement figure, considering that last season, on paper, his performance looks like a breakout effort. His WHIP was a dazzling 0.957, for example, and the left-hander will be only 29 next year.

All of this suggests strongly that Rodon is likely to remain unsigned at least until the possible MLB-lockout date, December 1, is passed, and probably well beyond that.

And this is good since there are things to mull over about this pitcher.

First and foremost is Rodon’s injury history. Since being selected third overall in the 2014 MLB draft, Rodon has not completed what could be called a full season for a starting pitcher. The closest he has come was in his age-23 season, when he started 28 games and went 9-10 with a 4.04 ERA.

Since 2016, however, the 6-foot-3, 245-pounder has had a sprained wrist, biceps bursitis, a shoulder “inflammation,” Tommy John surgery, and shoulder “fatigue” that marred even this past season. Thus, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times declared the White Sox’ non-offer “not unexpected.”

There is something depressingly business-like about that sentence. This guy threw a no-hitter last year. His peripheral numbers were great – his FIP figure trailed his ERA by 0.38. That’s right – this theoretically means he pitched better than his team, a division champion, played defense.

But yeah, $18.4 million is a lot of money. Chisox GM Rick Hahn has allowed the team might consider a lower figure.

Could the Phillies come up with something in, say, January when Carlos Rodon is still sitting by his phone waiting for Hahn, or well, somebody to call? Maybe so, assuming their due diligence has been done on the question of whether or not this hefty fellow is sufficiently committed to the conditioning needed by an MLB starter.

How about an exceedingly generous, guaranteed minor-league offer of $2-3 million with an assurance of making the big club at some point, assuming solid health, and a jump to the $12-14 million range? And incentives. The “at some point” would be a verbal matter, perhaps.

Maybe it would be out of spring training.

Seldom do medical reports impact an MLB player’s career as they are likely to for Carlos Rodon this winter. However, neither the Phillies nor any other team should dismiss him out of hand.