Lefty starting pitching still a priority for Phillies this off-season

Keuchel won the 2015 NL Cy Young Award with the Astros

After agreeing to a deal with the free agent lefty starting pitcher a couple of days ago, the Washington Nationals today announced the signing of Patrick Corbin to a six-year, $140 million deal. Corbin now joins Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in the Nationals starting rotation.

With their own rotation headed by a pair of talented right-handers in Aaron Nola and Jake Arrieta, the Philadelphia Phillies are known to be looking for a left-hander as well.

The Phillies appear to have been one of the finalists for Corbin. Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports reported  “five years at what is believed to have been a bit over $100 million” as the Phillies offer.

The Phillies have not had a southpaw in their rotation since Adam Morgan made 21 starts in the 2016 season. They haven’t had an effective left-handed starter since Cole Hamels was dealt in late July 2015.

Having lost out on Corbin to a division rival, where might Phillies general manager Matt Klentak turn next in his search?

There are a handful of remaining left-handed starting pitchers who have each been linked to the Phillies in recent weeks. Each one comes with his own question marks and challenges in bringing them to Philadelphia. Let’s examine a few of the better options.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS VETERAN

The biggest name is that of San Francisco Giants veteran Madison Bumgarner. The 29-year-old helped lead the Giants to three World Series titles earlier in this decade, and was the Most Valuable Player of the 2014 Fall Classic.

Trade rumors involving MadBum have blazed in the Hot Stove in recent days. (Photo: Arturo Pardavilla III)

Bumgarner made four straight NL All-Star teams from 2013-16, finishing among the top 10 in NL Cy Young Award voting each of those seasons. He also knows how to handle a bat, having blasted 17 career home runs and won a pair of Silver Slugger Awards.

After missing the first three months of the 2018 season with a broken hand, Bumgarner returned to make 21 starts. The North Carolina native is owed just $12 million for next season after which he will become a free agent, so there is not a big contract commitment.

However, he would not come cheap as far as the price to land him. Giants new GM Farhan Zaidi is likely to ask for a player/prospect combination with some real value. It might take something like an Odubel Herrera and Adonis Medina package.

HOUSTON ASTROS FREE AGENT

Assuming that Corbin was free agent pitching ‘Plan A’ for Klentak, perhaps the ‘Plan B’ is named Dallas Keuchel, who turns 31-years-old on New Year’s Day 2019.

Keuchel was the Houston Astros seventh round pick in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft. He has spent his entire seven-year big-league career in Houston, and was a key member of the 2017 World Series champions pitching rotation.

Keuchel has a 76-63 career record with a 3.66 ERA, 1.250 WHIP, and 3.72 FIP mark. The Oklahoma native is more of a typical crafty left-hander than a power pitcher, with career 2.76 K/BB and 7.2 K/9 marks.

The 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner has won a dozen or more games in four of the last five years, is a 2x NL All-Star, and has won five Gold Glove Awards including this past season.

It is believed that Keuchel will be looking for a four-year deal at an $80 million total. While that is less than Corbin’s total cost, it still takes him out to age 34. The Phillies supposedly balked at a sixth year on their Corbin offer, which would have been his age 34 season.

A reunion with Charlie Morton might make free agent sense for Phillies

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Morton could make sense on a short-term free agent deal

The MLB Hot Stove has now finally been lit with dozens of free agents now eligible to negotiate with any team. The Philadelphia Phillies are widely considered to be one of the leading contenders to strike it big in the market this off-season.

In addition to big hitters such as Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, the Phillies are in need of at least one more proven veteran starting pitcher for their rotation of they wish to contend in the 2019 season.

One name now being connected to the club is that of Charlie Morton. The Phillies obtained the right-hander from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a December 2015 trade for low-level prospect pitcher David Whitehead.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, Morton made just four April starts in the 2016 season. He suffered a torn left hamstring during his April 23 start in Milwaukee while running to first base on a sacrifice bunt attempt, and was done for the season.

For the $8 million paid to Morton that year the Phillies received 17.1 innings. He allowed 15 hits, just one of those a home run, with a 19/8 K:BB ratio over the four outings.

The team and Morton had a mutual $9.5 million option for the 2017 season, but the Phillies declined, reportedly against the opinion of some on the coaching staff, and instead paid him a $1 million buyout. He then became a free agent, signed with the Houston Astros, and became one of the American League’s most consistent starters over the last two seasons.

During the Astros run to the 2017 World Series championship, Morton made a half-dozen postseason appearances. In the title-clincher against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Morton was called upon to provide four innings in relief and was on the mound for the final out.

Morton will turn 35-years-old in just over a week. With the Phillies supposedly looking at starting pitching options, the MLB Trade Rumors site has listed them as their choice to bring back Morton in free agency. They are predicting a two-year, $32 million deal.

Per Tim Dierkes of MLBTR, the Phillies and Washington Nationals might end up as the leading contenders for his services:

“Morton will entertain many two- or even three-year offers on the open market, especially unencumbered by a QO.  If he doesn’t return to the Astros, Morton has cited proximity to his wife’s family in Delaware as a major factor.  That could put the Phillies and Nationals as frontrunners.”

Yankees find life as C.C. Sabathia turns back the clock

Sabathia gem helps cut Yankees ALCS deficit in half

The New York Yankees were in desperate shape entering Game Three of the 2017 American League Championship Series.

The Yanks trailed the Houston Astros by two games to none in the best-of-seven series. A loss back home in the Bronx would put them in an almost impossible 3-0 hole.

Manager Joe Girardi handed the ball to 37-year old, 17-year veteran C.C. Sabathia for the pivotal starting assignment on the mound.

Sabathia delivered, and then some. He would shut out the tough Houston lineup for six innings over which he threw 99 pitches. The big lefty surrendered just three hits, walked four, and struck out five batters in what he described as a "smoke and mirrors" performance per MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.

Despite his age, there is no one his team would have wanted more in that position. Per Hoch, Sabathia is now 10-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 13 starts following a Yankees loss during the 2017 regular season and postseason.

"Obviously you want to go out and have a good performance in the playoffs and give us a chance to get back in the series. Hopefully we did that tonight. We can come out tomorrow, swing the bats and score some more runs." ~ Sabathia, per Hoch

Swing the bats they did last night as well. The Bronx Bombers came out bombing early and often against Houston starter Charlie Morton. The veteran right-hander yielded seven earned runs on six hits and two walks over just 3.2 innings of work.

Todd Frazier got it started in the bottom of the second inning. The former Little League World Series hero reached out and poked a three-run homer just over the right field wall. That blast got the offense rolling in what would become an eventual 8-1 Yankees victory.

2017 MLB Spotlight Series: Cleveland Indians at Houston Astros

The team with the best record over the first month and a half of the 2017 MLB season has been the Houston Astros. The Cleveland Indians are the defending American League champions.

This weekend at Minute Maid Park, the Tribe comes to town for a showdown of two of the game’s top ball clubs in a series that will shine the baseball spotlight on Houston.

The Astros come into the weekend series with a 29-12 record for a .707 winning percentage. That gives manager A.J. Hinch‘s squad a 3.5 game lead over three other teams for the honor of best record in Major League Baseball.

For manager Terry Francona‘s Indians, it has been more of a struggle. Cleveland is just 20-19, sitting in second place in the AL Central Division, a game behind the surprising Minnesota Twins.

Philadelphia Phillies 2016 Grades: Rotation

When the 2016 regular season opened, the Phillies anticipated a starting rotation of veterans Jeremy Hellickson and Charlie Morton pitching in front of youngsters Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff.

The role of fifth starter in that rotation was a wide open spring training battle, with the favorites being a pair of left-handers with big league experience in newcomerBrett Oberholtzer and organizational arm Adam Morgan.

But another newcomer, Vince Velasquez, emerged during the Grapefruit League season as the best pitcher at Bright House Field back in March, and forced the Phillies hand in naming him to that final starting rotation berth.

As often happens to big league teams over the course of a long 162-game season, injuries struck. Morton went down in the season’s first month, presenting an opportunity for another prospect, Zach Eflin, to make his Major League Baseball debut.

In the end, Morton and soon to be 25-year old Alec Asher made just four starts for the Phillies, Morton back at that beginning and Asher here at the end of the season. 

Charlie Morton Gone for Good

Back in mid-December, new Phillies general manager Matt Klentak completed one of his first trades, sending organizational pitcher David Whitehead to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for veteran starting pitcher Charlie Morton.

The move was made to add an eight-year veteran to a rotation that was going to be relying heavily on a handful of inexperienced starting pitchers, while another handful percolated at the top of the club's minor league organization.

Morton had made 157 big league starts, most of those coming in seven seasons with the Pirates, who had acquired him back in June of 2009 from the Atlanta Braves club that had drafted him back in 2002.

So Morton was slotted into the rotation as a veteran innings-eater, someone who hopefully would provide the team with 15-20 starts leading up to the 2016 MLB trade deadline.

The club would then hopefully have a couple of those prospect arms ready, and could swap Morton out to a contender for a minor league piece