The Philadelphia Phillies have made a move during the winter meetings, beginning the Matt Klentak era as GM. According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Phillies have signed right-handed relief pitcher David Hernandez.
On Tuesday night, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo mentioned that the Phillies could be the team on Hernandez.
Phillies may be the team on Hernandez, but haven't confirmed. All five could add bullpen pieces. Announcement soon.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) December 9, 2015
Hernandez, who is 30-years-old, pitched this past season with the Arizona Diamondbacks after missing 2014 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Last season, he had a 1-5 record with a 4.28 ERA, while striking out 33 over 33 2/3 innings pitched.
Before Tommy John surgery, 2011 and 2012 were Hernandez’s best seasons. In 2011 with Arizona, he had a 5-3 record with a 3.38 ERA, while striking out 77 over 69 1/3 innings pitched. Then in 2012, his ERA went down to 2.50 as he had 98 strikeouts over 68 1/3 innings pitched. If Hernandez can stay healthy, he can be a solid bullpen piece for the Phillies in late game situations.
But it looks like the Phillies may not be done adding pitching at the winter meetings as they are looking to add a veteran to the starting rotation. According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, the Phillies have interest in starter Doug Fister.
Fister, who is 32-years-old, had a down year last season with the Washington Nationals. Last season, Fister posted a career-high ERA of 4.19 with a record of 5-7. In 103 innings pitched, he gave up 14 home runs, walked 24 batters, while only having 63 strikeouts. With those kind of stats, Fister lost his spot in the Nationals’ starting rotation.
2014 was the best season of Fister’s career as he finished eighth in Cy Young voting. In 2014, Fister posted a career-best 2.41 ERA to go with a record of 16-6. During that season, he pitched 164 innings, striking out 98 hitters.
The Phillies hope that they can catch lightning in a bottle with a veteran such as Fister, who can eat innings and then use as a possible trade chip during the MLB Trade Deadline.
Finally, there is another tidbit of news on the Ken Giles‘ front. Giles, who is receiving a lot of attention this offseason is still getting pursued by the Houston Astros. According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, Houston is still trying to get the 25-year-old closer from the Phillies but it would take good prospects to get a deal done.
Phils GM Klentak has made it known this offseason that Giles has been drawing trade interest, according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com.
“I don’t know how much I really want to say about that, but, yeah, there’s a lot of interest in him because he’s good, and because he’s young and because he’s cheap,” said Klentak.
This past season, Giles became the full-time closer after the Phillies moved disgruntled closer Jonathan Papelbon to the Nationals during the trade deadline. As the team’s full-time closer, he had 15 saves and posted a 1.80 ERA.
But as Klentak noted, he is happy to keep Giles and that his goal is not to trade him. “We’ll see. I don’t know how that’s going to shake out, [but] if he’s with us we’ll be very happy he’s still with us.”
Here at Total Sports Live, we will keep you updated on the latest Phillies moves during the winter meetings.
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