Corey Knebel describes chaos of signing with Phillies right before lockout

Corey Knebel describes the chaos of signing with Phillies right before MLB lockout

The Philadelphia Phillies were not one of the teams throwing money around before MLB went into lockout on December 2, 2021, but they did make a few moves.

Arguably the biggest move – most of their transactions were minor-league deals or trades – was to sign hard-throwing reliever Corey Knebel.

The team and free agent came to an agreement on a one-year deal for $10M at the last minute, but it was far from smooth sailing.

Speaking to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, Knebel described the chaos of making a deal before the deadline. The lockout was set to commence right after midnight on December 2 and had to get from Mexico to Philadelphia to undergo a physical in order to finalize the deal. And as soon as Knebel became a Phillie, the organization would not be allowed to contact him, or any of his new teammates.

“Hurry up and talk to everyone. Do your physical. Sign real quick. And then don’t talk to us again. That was basically how it went down.”

For years, the MLB offseason has heated up closer to Spring Training, but with the lockout, this year was different. A flurry of big free-agent signings occurred before the December 2 deadline. Knebel chalked that up to “the unknown” of the lockout and what baseball will look like after.

Phillies President of Baseball Ops Dave Dombrowski player transaction history

As TBOH noted at the time of the signing, President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski was still the GM of the Detroit Tigers when they drafted Knebel in 2013, and when he debuted.

Dombrowski has a history of bringing talented players with him from franchise to franchise; JD Martinez, Rick Porcello, and Doug Fister all played for the Tigers and then Red Sox under Dombrowski. The Phillies were rumored to be in on Craig Kimbrel ahead of the 2021 trade deadline; Dombrowski brought him to Boston, too. The latest in this long trend is Nick Castellanos, who is also rumored to be a Phillies free-agent target, and whom Dombrowski drafted in Detroit (say that five times fast).

After years of injuries and Tommy John surgery in 2019, Knebel is coming off a strong season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Over 27 games – including his first four career starts – he posted a 2.45 ERA, his lowest since his only All-Star season in 2017. Over 25 2/3 innings, he struck out 30 batters only issued nine walks, and allowed seven earned runs, including two home runs.

The Phillies bullpen desperately needs Knebel to be in fighting form in 2022. They led MLB in blown saves for almost the entire season and tied the all-time record of 34 blown saves, set by the 2004 Colorado Rockies.