Buyer's Market

The free agency shopping season has begun and the Phillies figure to be active. Everybody and their mother will want to sign starting pitcher Gerrit Cole. He's going to command huge dollars and a huge commitment. I'm thinking something like an average of $35 million a year for 8 years.

That's an awfully long time for a starting pitcher. The Phils are averse to longer deals for pitchers. Maybe they could structure it with most of the money in the first 4 or 5 years. But I have a feeling Cole ends up with the Angels. He's from that area and went to high school just a few miles from Angels Stadium.

The other big arm on the market is Stephen Strasburg. I'm not sure I want any part of him, given his injury history. He threw 245 innings this year, including the postseason. The only other time he reached the 200-inning mark was in 2014. Between 2015 and 2018, he averaged just 145 innings a season. I'm going to want more innings than that from a guy who will ask for more than $30 million a year. And my guess is he ends up back in DC with the Nationals or heading home to San Diego to pitch for the Padres.

My two starting pitching targets are Zach Wheeler and Cole Hamels. Wheeler's best days are ahead of him and will be much more affordable than Cole or Strasburg. And it gets him off the Mets staff, which is always a plus. And I still have a man crush on Hamels, and would love to see him finish his career here.

A rotation of Nola-Wheeler-Arrieta-Hamels and whoever sounds pretty good to me. And new pitching coach Bryan Price has gotten great years from guys who aren't superstars. I think it could work.

I'm also not big on signing Nats third baseman Anthony Rendon. The Phillies have a budding star in the minors in Alec Bohm. He tore up the Arizona Fall League and should be given a chance to win the third base job out of spring training.