With just hours before Jeremy Hellickson has to choose to accept or decline the Philadelphia Phillies $17.2 million qualifying offer, Jon Heyman of Today's Knuckeball says that the pitcher, along with his agent Scott Boras, are closely weighing all their options:
Pitcher Jeremy Hellickson and second baseman Neil Walker are viewed as the two free agents seen as real possibilities to accept the $17.2 million qualifying offer as the deadline looms late Monday afternoon. There is no certainty they will accept but it remains a possibility.
Players issued qualifying offers have to decide by 5 p.m. ET whether to accept or decline said offers.
Last week, Heyman noted that indications were that after getting a chance to gauge the free-agent market, Hellickson and company were 'leaning towards' declining the qualifying offer.
If Hellickson accepts the offer, he will return to the Phillies on a one-year/$17.2 million deal. If he declines it, the Phillies will receive either a first-round pick or a compensatory round pick from whatever team were to sign Hellickson.
The 29-year-old went 12-10 with a 3.71 ERA and a career high 3.2 WAR (per FanGraphs) over 189 innings in 2016.
