On the surface, the Philadelphia Phillies' off-season trade of closer Ken Giles for a package of younger pitchers makes quite a bit of sense. Giles, 25, should be a very good closer for years to come, but the Phillies are still a few years away from contending. So rather than taking the chance that Giles fizzles out, or waiting until he gets more expensive, general manager Matt Klentak elected to move him for a package that he felt better fits the timeline of the Phillies.
How that decision plays out remains to be seen, but the line of thinking behind it seems to be sound.
The problem is that within a six month span, for very different reasons, the Phillies moved Giles and franchise-saves leader Jonathan Papelbon. The Phillies obviously weren't a very good team at all the past two seasons, but it had become a virtual lock that if they were able to get the ball to those two at the end of the game, they were going to win.
David Hernandez, who the team signed this off-season, seems to be the favorite to open the year as the team's closer. Hernandez has 19 career saves and was effective for the Diamondbacks in 2011 and 2012, but it's been three full seasons (one of which he missed due to Tommy John surgery) since he's really been an impact arm.
Luis Garcia could get some opportunities to close as well, but presumably the team will want to have a steady eighth inning pitcher, a role that he seems likely to otherwise fill.
Beyond that, Jeanmar Gomez, Elvis Araujo and Hector Nerris are among a slew of arms that are likely to fill roles in the bullpen, but the team still feels light on late-inning options that are locks to be on the big league roster.
Klentak has done quite a good job this off-season of giving the Phillies some bounce-back options, such as Hernandez, Edward Mujica, Ernesto Frieri and Andrew Bailey. The team isn't short of bounce-back options, but a majority of the aforementioned candidates won't pan out, so having one more option wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
One other option that the team could potentially consider is former New York Mets' closer Bobby Parnell. Parnell's profile isn't that much different than Hernandez. He had Tommy John surgery in 2014, and struggled even more than Hernandez in 2015, as he posted a 6.38 ERA. But prior to that, the 31 year-old saved 29 games between 2012 and 2013, while posting a 2.33 ERA in 123 games.
Parnell is currently a free-agent, and according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe some around the league believe that he may be worth the risk of signing prior to Spring Training.
Some scouts have expressed surprise that Parnell hasn’t been signed. “He’s someone a team could easily take a chance on and hope he regains that power he once had,” said an American League scout. Parnell has had a rough couple of years, with Tommy John surgery and then ineffectiveness and arm fatigue last summer. He was once a flamethrower, but it appears he’ll have to find his way on a minor league deal and prove himself again.
In a position like where the Phillies are now, adding another option like Parnell, assuming it's only on a minor-league deal, wouldn't be a bad idea.
Parnell's velocity did dip in 2015, and it's unclear if he will ever get that back after having Tommy John surgery or if he'll be able to learn how to pitch with diminished velocity. But if he does, he would give the Phillies a late-inning option and a potential piece to flip late next summer.
Phillies Nuggets
- On paper, the Phillies could have given Yoenis Cespedes the three-year/$75 million deal that the Mets did over this weekend. Giving a 30 year-old a three-year deal isn't much of a risk and he's likely to opt-out after the first year anyway. However, that line of thinking is flawed. There's nothing the Phillies could offer that would make Cespedes want to play for what's going to be a bad team over playing for the Mets, and the Phillies wouldn't have been able to bank on trading Cespdes for a package of young players this summer because he has a full no-trade clause in his deal.
- I spent this entire off-season under the belief that the Phillies would trade Cody Asche. They still could, and he may be a piece that some teams have interest in this summer, but it would appear he's going to start the season with the team.
