By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor
Tonight's Philadelphia Phillies-Miami Marlins matchup may not be of particular consequence to the Phillies in terms of the outcome, though how Jeremy Hellickson and Jeanmar Gomez pitch appears to be being watched by numerous scouts from around the league.
Four separate reports have connected Hellickson to the Miami Marlins, who he is pitching against this evening. According to Jim Salisbury of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, multiple other teams have scouts at his latest starts as well.
Scouts from SF, Pitt, Balt, Toronto at Phillies game tonight. Hellickson starts. Baltimore has discussed him, sources say
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) July 20, 2016
It should be noted, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reported that the San Francisco Giants are scouting both Gomez and David Hernandez, so them being at the game may not be directly related to Hellickson. That said, Jake Peavy hasn't been particularly effective and the oft-injured Matt Cain is just coming off of the disabled list, so it's not impossible that they would consider Hellickson as well.
ESPN's Buster Olney connected the Pittsburgh Pirates to Gomez as well earlier this evening, suggesting that they were 'among' those scouting the reliever. They seem to be a very good fit for the 28-year-old reliever, though Hellickson could make sense for them as a rental as well.
The Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays both figure to have interest in Hellickson (Salisbury noted as much about the Orioles), but given the emphasis on building deep bullpens in today's league, it's hard to entirely rule out players like Gomez, Hernandez or Andrew Bailey for them.
The MLB's non-waiver trade deadline is August 1.