3 former Phillies fan favorites still without a job heading toward spring training
Will our former friends find new homes before spring training starts in February?
The Hot Stove season has been a slow burn so far for fans and half of the free agent market. Many baseball insiders expected free agent deals to start picking up at a feverish pace once Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed with a ballclub.
To call this offseason sluggish would be an understatement. The glacial pace of free agent signings has created frustration among most fan bases and franchises not named the Los Angeles Dodgers with under a month left to go until spring training begins. That being said, a number of top-tier players remain available to good homes — for the right price.
Among those still looking for work this offseason are several former Philadelphia Phillies fan favorites. Let’s have a look at how free agency is going for three notable former Phillies players.
Héctor Neris
Old friend Héctor Neris pitched eight seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies and provided the bullpen with versatility while wearing red and white pinstripes. Neris spent a few seasons as the Phillies closer, recording 84 saves and 3.42 ERA in 405 regular season appearances.
Neris left the Phillies as a free agent following the 2021 season and signed with the Houston Astros. In Houston, Neris became a reliable weapon for an Astros bullpen that has become a perennial lock to make it to the postseason. Over two years with the club, Neris put up arguably the best two seasons of his career with a record of 12-7, five saves, and a 2.69 ERA in 141 games.
Héctor Neris has been mentioned in rumors off and on over the course of the offseason. Most recently, the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers have emerged as teams interested in Neris. A recent tweet from baseball insider Héctor Gómez suggests Neris is looking for a three-year $50 million deal from a ballclub.
