Phillies free agency rumors: Team unlikely to land J.A. Happ
By John Town
The Phillies are unwilling to offer a three-year deal to J.A. Happ, meaning they are unlikely to sign the starting pitcher.
The Phillies had “ongoing discussions” with J.A. Happ earlier this week, but a key hangup in the talks was a potential third year on a contract. Philadelphia and most other teams were unwilling to offer Happ that third year, which he is willing to hold out for. As it turns out that, unwillingness may lead to the team missing out on Happ altogether.
Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reported that the team is pessimistic about landing Happ due to their reluctance towards giving Happ the third year. That was the general notion when reports of Happ’s desire for a third year was first reported, and Salisbury only furthered that notion.
In fact, it appears the Yankees are close to bringing Happ back. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported that Happ and the Yankees had agreed to a three-year deal, but he retracted that report 10 minutes later. Rosenthal still stated that the two sides were close to a deal. In addition, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reported that a deal was close as well.
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Zolecki confirmed Salisbury’s report on the team’s reluctance to offer a three-year deal, stating that they never offered Happ more than two guaranteed years. Also, Zolecki stated that they never offered Patrick Corbin a six-year deal, and possibly not even five years.
With the possibility of missing out on both Happ and Corbin likely, where does the team go from here? Zolecki said that the next two likely targets are Dallas Keuchel and Yusei Kikuchi. Both would require several more years than Happ, but both are significantly younger. Zolecki also offered up Charlie Morton as another free agent target.
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Zolecki stated that the price for starters via trade is likely quite high, particularly for Trevor Bauer and Corey Kluber of the Indians. Of course, the team could always stick with the rotation they had last year.