Philadelphia Phillies: Affordable Rotation Options in Free Agency

Chris Tillman

I’ll say this before anything else, Chris Tillman was the worst pitcher in baseball in 2017. But even though he had just an awful year, he has shown plenty of promise in his career. There is no problem in giving Tillman a chance to show he still has the arm that showed so much promise.

Signing Tillman would be only on a “prove yourself” deal but it could turn out to be a jackpot for the Phillies. Say they gave him a 3 year 30 million dollar deal and he shows that 2017 was just a fluke. Then you’d have a great 1-2 combo at the top of your rotation for the next three years.

Before 2017 Tillman was poised to be one of the bigger names in this free agent class, in the group of pitchers after Darvish and Arietta. Just look at his numbers from before he disastrous 1-7 record, 7.84 ERA in 2017. He posted 16 wins twice, pitched more than 172 innings in four straight seasons, and had an ERA of 3.44 in 2015.

Tillman could easily be a complete bust of a signing. Maybe his shoulder injury he sustained before the 2017 season wrecked his career. But he has enough of a track record before to at least warrant a flier on a team looking for rotation pieces.