By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Contrary to popular opinion, general manager Matt Klentak and the Philadelphia Phillies have been relatively aggressive during the slowest offseason in recent memory, signing Carlos Santana, Pat Neshek and Tommy Hunter to lucrative contracts. The team may not make another major move this offseason, but they don't appear to be finished making transactions.
According to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, the Phillies are waiting out a slow moving market, but in comparison to other teams, the Phillies have been aggressive in their pursuit of starting pitching:
According to a source, they've been aggressive in their pursuit of a veteran arm, though there's no indication that they're nearing the finish line.
The catch, according to one source that Feinsand spoke to, is that the Phillies are unlikely to sign a pitcher to even a medium-length deal:
"It's likely a short-term, one-year kind of thing," the first source said.
Four names that Feinsand speculated could be fits are RHP Andrew Cashner, RHP Chris Tillman, LHP Jason Vargas and LHP Jaime Garcia. Another interesting route the Phillies could consider is trading for a starting pitcher, such as Tampa Bay Rays RHP Jake Odorizzi or Houston Astros RHP Collin McHugh, both of whom Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported this week are drawing trade interest. In any event, it doesn't appear that the Phillies are finished adding starting pitching options.
That the Phillies seem to be targeting a pitcher on a one-year deal would seem to rule out free-agent RHP Yu Darvish, who Rosenthal linked the team to earlier this offseason. The possibility does exist that the Phillies sign a free-agent like Cashner or Tillman, but continue to monitor the market for Darvish, Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb. It still feels unlikely any of them end up in Philadelphia, but if there becomes a point that any decide they are tired of playing the waiting game and want to give themselves a chance to be free-agents again next offseason, the Phillies could be a fit. Perhaps someone like Arrieta could even be a fit if he's willing to take a three-year deal, though since the Phillies are unlikely to be a contender in 2018, his timeline still doesn't seem to match up with that of the Phillies.
For the time being, Aaron Nola seems to be a lock to be the team's Opening Day starter, with Jerad Eickhoff and Vince Velasquez very likely to join him in the rotation. Beyond that, Nick Pivetta, Ben Lively, Mark Leiter Jr., Jake Thompson and Tom Eshelman figure to factor into the team's 2018 rotation.
