By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
In case you were wondering, the Philadelphia Phillies remain interested in adding front-line starting pitching. Thus far, they've found the cost – both on the trade market and in free-agency – prohibitive.
At Carlos Santana's introductory press conference Wednesday, Klentak addressed the team's biggest remaining hole – starting pitching:
Matt Klentak says the Phillies would still like to add another starting pitcher. Says Phillies will continue to look into it, but the trade market is "very expensive" for young, controllable starting pitchers. As is FA market.
— Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) December 20, 2017
This past weekend, Matt Gelb and Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Phillies have "inquired on just about every starting pitcher that can be had." That, according to the duo, included Marcus Stroman, Danny Duffy and Chris Archer. Jayson Stark suggested in a radio appearance that the Phillies and Tigers had touched base, and that a trade involving Cesar Hernandez and Michael Fulmer could be something to watch for.
The Phillies never seemed to be much of a match for free-agent starting pitching this offseason. Multiple reports suggested that the team's brass did meet with free-agent RHP Jake Arrieta, while also noting that the Phillies just seemed to be doing their due-diligence. The other top free-agent starting pitcher – Yu Darvish – hasn't been connected to the Phillies in any way.
Gelb reported earlier this offseason that the Phillies did make "a multi-year offer" to Tyler Chatwood, who ultimately signed with the Cubs. In fairness to the Phillies, Spotrac projected that Chatwood would receive a deal that paid him $7 million per season. The Cubs obviously paid him much more than that, which backs up Klentak's assessment that the price for starting pitching is "very expensive" currently.
Certainly, the Phillies will continue to monitor the market for starting pitching – specifically the trade market. If the team wants to be serious players in next offseason's free-agent market, it would seem they need to add another front-line starter on top of Aaron Nola. But Klentak also mentioned the amount of young pitching talent in the upper levels of the Phillies organization, perhaps a sign that the team plans to get more out of Jerad Eickhoff, Vince Velasquez and Nick Pivetta, among others, than they did in 2017. Further down the road, the Phillies have Sixto Sanchez, Adonis Medina and Franklyn Kilome, all of whom have potential to be top-of-the-rotation arms, Sanchez specifically.
As the Phillies push towards contention, internal starting pitching improvements will be crucial to the team's success.
