By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia Phillies been rumored throughout the offseason, and well into this year's spring training, to have considerable interest in acquiring a veteran starting pitcher to complement their young staff in the rotation.
Names such as former All-Stars and World Series champion-right-handers, Jake Arrieta and Lance Lynn have surfaced and been connected via rumors to the club, as it heads into this season under rookie manager Gabe Kapler.
Back in 2011, the mantra of the club, under general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., was to bolster the rotation with as much talent as possible. The club had all-eyes set toward a deep playoff run.
Fast-forwarding seven years later to now, the Phillies have yet to sniff a postseason appearance since. Now led by Managing Partner John Middleton, the club appears to be interested in assembling a similar, formidable rotation once again by signing not just one veteran starter, but two.
According to MLB.com's Jon Morosi, the Phillies have "entertained the possibility" to sign two of the remaining free agent starting pitchers. "While not likely to occur, the situation is financially plausible," tweets Morosi. "At present, Philly has lowest payroll commitment of any MLB team for 2018."
The Phillies have just $44.9 million on the books for the 2018 season, $33.4 million for 2019, $35.2 million for 2020, and $27.9 million for 2021, well under the league average, per Spotrac.
The additions of both Arrieta and Lynn would surely be possible monetarily, and it would be an immediate, vast improvement to the starting rotation to complement Aaron Nola and the two other arms that would round out the rotation. In addition, adding Arrieta and Lynn would only slightly hinder the Phillies' flexibility heading into next offseason to pursue Bryce Harper and/or Manny Machado, given they have so few salary commitments this season and beyond.
Other veteran free agent starting pitching arms include: Brett Anderson, Clay Buchholz, Trevor Cahill, Alex Cobb, R.A. Dickey, Scott Feldman, Matt Garza, Jeremy Hellickson, Ubaldo Jimenez, John Lackey, Jeff Locke, Rickey Nolasco, Jake Peavy and Mike Pelfrey.
With the Philadelphia Eagles coming off of a Super Bowl victory, and the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia 76ers playoff bound, it's surely an exciting time for Philadelphia sports.
