Phillies Trade Jeremy Hellickson to Orioles

When you’re a late scratch from a start less than a week out from the non-waiver trade deadline, the “T” word starts flying around immediately. Sure enough - not long after dealing Howie Kendrick to Washington - the Phillies announced a deal to send Jeremy Hellickson to the Baltimore Orioles for TK.

This finally ends what feels like a full year-plus of trade speculation for Hellickson, whose existence on the Phillies roster was solely to boost his profile for contending teams to take notice (and maybe allow some prospect seasoning and bullpen preservation along the way).

Hellickson, 30, was brought over from Arizona in 2015 for RHP Sam McWilliams, and had a 4.09 ERA for his Phillies career. His strikeouts weirdly evaporated for the better part of this season, but better performances (by and large) of late proved he was still a viable back-end piece.

As of this writing, the return had not yet been announced. More to come!

UPDATE: The Phillies will receive LHP Garrett Cleavinger, 23, as their return for Hellickson. Cleavinger has a 6.28 ERA this year in 27 relief appearances, but is striking out more than a batter per inning at Double-A Bowie. A lottery ticket to win a lottery ticket, by accounts.

UPDATE 2: Jon Heyman reports the Phillies are also taking back OF Hyun Soo Kim, who had a nice rookie season but is struggling awfully thus far in 2017 and has been relegated to bench duty, as well as $1M in international pool cash.