Nick Piccone
The Phillies should have won last night’s game against the Nationals. They were in control of pretty much the entire game up until the eighth inning when Hector Neris entered the game. Despite a solid season thus far by Neris, the Nationals took the lead on a double by the unconscious Daniel Murphy, who is having his best season of his career. He’s hitting a ridiculous .395 with 75 hits in 50 games already. It’s not even June.
But the question after the game was if Pete Mackanin should have left Jeremy Hellickson in the game, as he had only thrown 79 pitches through seven innings to that point. Neris has been phenomenal in his role as the eighth inning set up guy for Jeanmar Gomez. That’s a huge reason the Phillies are in a good position in the division despite their current slide.
Hellickson might not stay with the Phillies the entire season; he’s a free agent after this season and could easily be traded away before the this season’s trade deadline. Were the Phillies protecting a possible trade chip down the line? I’ll bet you a guy like Matt Klentak was absolutely thinking about that. Nobody’s safe right now on the roster, with the possible exceptions of Maikel Franco, Aaron Nola and Vinny Velasquez.
And remember – it’s a game in May. Sure, Hellickson could have gone out and pitched the eighth, but if he gave up a few runs, people would be saying Mackanin should have taken him out. That’s how these things go all the time. I’d take the Neris/Gomez in the at that point. The expectations have become pretty lofty for this team by some after an extraordinary start to the season.
I still think Hellickson will be with another team at the end of this season. And I think this might be the Phillies’ way of protecting their investment for another investment down the road. Is trotting Hellickson out to the mound for the eighth inning going to damage him that much? Who knows? Any time a pitcher throws a baseball from the mound, an injury can happen. Any time you or I throw a baseball from anywhere, an injury can happen.
Maybe that’s what they were thinking. Maybe.
Then again, if they were insistent on trading Hellickson by the deadline, why not get the most use out of him as possible? I sort of see it from both sides. I just don’t think Mackanin’s decision was as ridiculous as others think it was. Maybe if it was August, I’d think differently.
Here’s Mackanin talking about his decision and the reactions from Neris and Hellickson. Hellickson says that he wanted to stay in the game, but what else was he supposed to say?