Phillies hosting Patrick Corbin for visit shows aggressive approach in free agency

The Philadelphia Phillies hosted Patrick Corbin for a visit on Tuesday, as the team continues to make it clear they’re going to be aggressive in free agency.

Last offseason, the Philadelphia Phillies ended up landing one of the top free agents at pitcher in Jake Arrieta, although it took a little longer than originally expected.

This time around, it looks like the Phillies are considering all options when it comes to boosting their rotation with another reliable pitcher. And even though nothing is set in stone at the moment, the attention has shifted to Patrick Corbin of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

One day after reports started to surface about Philadelphia’s interest in potentially acquiring Paul Goldschmidt, the first baseman’s teammate was at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday for a visit, which is obviously exciting for numerous reasons.

While Corbin has been drawing plenty of interest from numerous teams looking to improve their pitching rotation, it appears the star is high on the wish list for the Phillies, as Jim Salisbury from NBC Sports in Philadelphia pointed out.

Would Corbin make a great fit in a rotation that already consists of Arrieta and Aaron Nola? Absolutely.

There’s a reason why Corbin is viewed as one of the top pitchers from this year’s free agency class when seeing how the 29-year-old is coming off an impressive 2018 campaign that consisted of an 11-7 record to go along with a career high 246 strikeouts.

Take into consideration that Corbin crushed his previous career high of 178 strikeouts, it’s easy to understand why the Phillies along with other teams are expressing such high interest in the pitcher.

When looking at all of the ridiculous money they can afford to spend compared to others, it will be interesting to see what kind of offer Philadelphia makes Corbin, assuming they do at some point if the interest is as high as Salisbury indicates.

Missing out on the playoffs last season when looking at how great of shape they were in at the beginning of August was beyond frustrating for the Phillies. But at least if they do end up with some key additions this offseason, whether Corbin is included or not, the chances of them living up to the hype in 2019 seems more likely to happen.