By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
This past offseason, Philadelphia Phillies general manager Matt Klentak acquired/retained a slew of veterans, hoping that they would help to stabilize a young team and develop trade value. It's July 6, and the Phillies have the worst record in the sport (by a comfortable margin), so the stability hasn't come. Don't expect much of a payoff at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline either.
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports spoke to an anonymous general manager who says that All-Star reliever Pat Neshek is the only veteran on the Phillies that has relevant trade value:
Pat Neshek was identified by one rival GM as the one Phillie likely to hit the trading block, who has real trade value.
Just prior to a decision needing to be made on his 2017 option, the Houston Astros traded Neshek to the Phillies in November. Neshek, 36, has proven to be a great pickup by Klentak, as he has just a 1.39 ERA and a 2.41 FIP (per FanGraphs) in 35 games this season. As mentioned, the impending free-agent is heading to Miami later this month for his second career All-Star appearance, which will likely come just prior to the Phillies trading him to a contender. He noted last month that he expects a trade to occur.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Phillies' veterans haven't developed the same type of value that Neshek has.
Clay Buchholz had season-ending shoulder surgery in April, putting a quick end to any hopes that he would develop value. Perhaps the 7.1 innings that he pitched in 2017 aren't enough to make a judgment off of, but his 12.27 ERA suggests that he probably would have been more likely to lose his spot in the rotation than to become a coveted July trade chip.
Jeremy Hellickson, who the Phillies nearly dealt to the Miami Marlins last summer, has also disappointed in 2017. After what may have been the best season of his career in 2016, Hellickson has a 4.48 ERA, a 5.59 FIP, a 5.69 xFIP and an alarmingly low 4.58 K/9 in his second season with the Phillies. While a report earlier this season indicated that Hellickson wouldn't be opposed to staying in Philadelphia long-term, that now feels unlikely. And if the club really wanted to, they could trade him now and attempt to land him in free-agency this offseason. He remains pretty likely to move, but not for the value that the Phillies would have gotten for him last summer or had hoped coming into the 2017 season.
Trending: Is there a growing disconnect between the Phillies front-office and coaching staff?
Veteran Joaquin Benoit is in nearly an identical situation to Hellickson, as he's likely to be moved but has been disappointing in 2017. A year ago, Benoit had a very ineffective first half of the season with the Seattle Mariners, posting a 5.18 ERA in 26 games. After being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, the 39-year-old posted an 0.38 ERA in 25 games, helping the Blue Jays win the second American League Wild Card. The Mariners, of course, didn't benefit in any way from Benoit's revival, which may be what happens to the Phillies this year.
When he's been on the field, Howie Kendrick has been very effective. Kendrick is slashing .349/.403/.476 with eight stolen bases. It is worth noting that Kendrick has only batted 126 times this year, because injuries have limited him to 33 games. Certainly if he played more, his offensive output would come back to earth a bit, but he's played well nonetheless. The problem is that Kendrick missed the second half of April and nearly all of May with an oblique injury and is currently on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe wrote last weekend that a trade market for Kendrick was starting to develop prior to his latest trip to the disabled list, but it's hard for teams to be overly interested in a player that's only played in 33 games in 2017.
Daniel Nava, who made the team after being a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, has actually had quite an impressive season. The 34-year-old is slashing .313/.408/.430 in 128 at-bats. The switch-hitter has been especially effective from the left side of the plate, as he's hitting .379 and has an OPS over 1.000 from the left side. Nava is a good clubhouse influence that has some flexibility in the field, but as Fansided's Matt Veasey noted, Phillies fans shouldn't expect much of a return for journeyman.
In many ways, this general manager is right. Neshek is the only likely-to-be-shopped veteran that could bring any sort of relevant return back, and even that may be asking too much.
