Philadelphia Phillies finally make a decision on Vince Velasquez
The Philadelphia Phillies are keeping the much-maligned Vince Velasquez
Fans went back and forth on whether the Philadelphia Phillies would actually retain Vince Velasquez in 2021, and they finally got their answer on Wednesday night.
Teams had until 7 PM on Wednesday night to either sign or tender arbitration-eligible players (such as VV) to a contract for 2021. If they didn’t want to, they could let them walk as a free agent.
Philadelphia announced that they signed all of their eligible players (David Hale, Andrew Knapp, Seranthony Dominguez, Zach Eflin, and Hector Neris) to one-year deals and tendered Rhys Hoskins and Velasquez contracts that could go to arbitration.
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The move allows the Phillies to give Velasquez a
second third
fourth chance to prove he belongs in the team’s future, whether that be a starter or reliever.
Last year he, once again, failed to live up to the potential flashed in 2016 when the Phillies acquired him in the Ken Giles deal.
Vinny V had a career-worst 5.56 ERA in nine games, seven of which were starts, in 34 innings with 46 strikeouts and 17 walks, both of which set career-highs in K% and BB%. Fangraphs shows how he worked in his change-up a career-high 14.2% of the time while cutting in half the times he threw his slider. His velocity remained the same across the board with elite potential in his fastball, but with Velasquez it’s more his focus and execution than “stuff.”
When you look at the bigger picture, tendering Velasquez a contract makes sense for the penny-pinching 2021 Phillies. He would have likely been the best fifth or sixth starter on the free agent market with teams salivating over the upside he showed against the Padres on April 14, 2016, when he struck out 16 batters in his Citizens Bank Park debut.
While that day feels like forever ago and fans have run Velazquez off the mound more times than we’d like to count, this last chance might have a better likelihood of paying off under new pitching coach Caleb Cotham than adding a 35-year-old fifth starter who’ll have a bum arm in July.
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Phillies, just promise us that if this doesn’t work out it’ll be Velasquez’s final, LAST chance with the team.