Phillies trade rumors: Giants not actually into Jeremy Hellickson

There was a time, not too long ago, when interest in Jeremy Hellickson was adequate. The Marlins were into him. The Orioles were into him. Hell, even the Giants were calling Matt Klentak and hanging up, giggling, in typical Giants fashion.

Now, those days are a distant memory, despite being, like, less than a week ago. The Marlins got Andrew Cashner from the Padres. The Orioles got Wade Miley from the Mariners. And the Giants, well; the Giants may not have ever given as much of a crap as anybody thought in the first place.

So, who’s left? Didn’t I hear something about the Blue Jays poking around? No? Maybe the Rangers? That’s a reach at this point, too? Great.

I swear to god, if a blister-ridden Rich Hill gets dealt before Hellickson, I will... react proportionately and rationally to the news.

Look, the great part of seeing the comparable players to your top trade asset getting dealt is you can imagine what the return will be like. And boy howdy, are teams ready to pay for starting pitching. With the Drew Pomeranz and Andrew Cashner deals complete, the Phillies were asking for potentially four or five prospects back for a pitcher who is, again, Jeremy Hellickson. The trick is, apparently, finding someone who will pay for what MLB Daily Dish called “an impending free agent... having his best season since 2012.”

While these dwindling hours of trade time tick down, perhaps a panicked, frenzied GM gives the Phillies a call and forks over a couple of top prospects from a weak system or one top five prospect from a stronger one. But it’s looking more and more like the Phillies are going to sit this one out and make one of those totally legal trades after the “trade deadline,” the term used for August 1 that never really makes sense.

Time to break out Plan B.