Phillies agree on 2 Year Deal with RHP Tommy Hunter

Squire 2017-12-13 01:44:12 UTC #1

....per the twitters. 31 year old reliever last with TB

zambonir 2017-12-13 02:14:10 UTC #2

that was fast. Gelb had tweeted they couldn't get Reed (he wanted three years apparently).

andyb 2017-12-13 03:43:27 UTC #3

$18 million over 2 years:

Austinfan 2017-12-13 04:30:46 UTC #4

Might be a little of an overpay, but even though he turns 32 in July, shows no sign of velocity loss.
4 seamer, cutter, sinker? (2 seam?), curve. Cutter became his out pitch last year. Throws all three between 94-96.
Curve looks almost like a slider, 85 MPH which is slider speed, so call it a hard curve.
Good control, only walks 2 per 9 innings over his career.

zambonir 2017-12-13 04:57:08 UTC #5

All this talk of a four-man bench and expanded bullpen makes me think Galvis and Hernandez aren't going anywhere for now. Kapler talked about that today too:

julio 2017-12-13 05:06:06 UTC #6

I could be wrong here (certainly wouldn't be the first time!), but my guess is that the Hunter signing won't become official until after Thursday.

zambonir 2017-12-13 05:31:51 UTC #7

I don't think the Neshek deal is official either. Klentak has also alluded to using the Rule V pick as a trade chip (not that it would get much in return, but it's a scenario where they use pick but don't actually lose the roster spot for very long).

Considering they probably need a few more spots (though maybe not if they're not aggressively looking for a FA SP) they could also still release someone right? Or is it already locked?

julio 2017-12-13 05:51:54 UTC #8

Last day to outright a player (after getting him through waivers) was Monday. Based on Rule 8, however, it appears that a club can clear a roster spot at any time by requesting unconditional release waivers on a player. The player is removed from the roster at the time the waiver request is submitted to the Commissioner's Office. There do not appear to be any restrictions on this procedure in the run-up to the Rule 5 draft.

andyb 2017-12-13 21:01:46 UTC #9

Fangraphs does love the changes Hunter made to his approach in 2017. I do worry that they gloss over the reliever year-to-year variability part, but there is at least some evidence that the 2017 Hunter was a better pitcher than the 2014-2016 Hunter.