3 former Phillies fan favorites still without a job heading toward spring training
Will our former friends find new homes before spring training starts in February?
The Hot Stove season has been a slow burn so far for fans and half of the free agent market. Many baseball insiders expected free agent deals to start picking up at a feverish pace once Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed with a ballclub.
To call this offseason sluggish would be an understatement. The glacial pace of free agent signings has created frustration among most fan bases and franchises not named the Los Angeles Dodgers with under a month left to go until spring training begins. That being said, a number of top-tier players remain available to good homes — for the right price.
Among those still looking for work this offseason are several former Philadelphia Phillies fan favorites. Let’s have a look at how free agency is going for three notable former Phillies players.
Héctor Neris
Old friend Héctor Neris pitched eight seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies and provided the bullpen with versatility while wearing red and white pinstripes. Neris spent a few seasons as the Phillies closer, recording 84 saves and 3.42 ERA in 405 regular season appearances.
Neris left the Phillies as a free agent following the 2021 season and signed with the Houston Astros. In Houston, Neris became a reliable weapon for an Astros bullpen that has become a perennial lock to make it to the postseason. Over two years with the club, Neris put up arguably the best two seasons of his career with a record of 12-7, five saves, and a 2.69 ERA in 141 games.
Héctor Neris has been mentioned in rumors off and on over the course of the offseason. Most recently, the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers have emerged as teams interested in Neris. A recent tweet from baseball insider Héctor Gómez suggests Neris is looking for a three-year $50 million deal from a ballclub.
Jean Segura
Jean Segura spent four seasons in a Philadelphia Phillies jersey after being acquired in a December 2018 deal that sent Carlos Santana and J.P. Crawford to the Seattle Mariners. On paper, the deal looks lopsided in the Mariners’ favor, but Segura became a key member of the first Phillies team to make it to the World Series since 2009.
Segura put up some solid numbers when healthy for the Phillies from 2019 to 2023. In 427 games, he batted .281 with 43 home runs and 176 RBI to go along with 459 hits. Primarily a shortstop earlier in his career, Segura found himself playing second base for the Phillies.
He held that position until the emergence of Bryson Stott as an everyday player in 2023. Between Stott becoming the second baseman of the future and the Phillies signing of Trea Turner last offseason, the writing was on the wall for Segura’s time in Philadelphia.
Segura signed a one-year deal with the Miami Marlins in 2023, and nothing seemed to go right during his time in Miami. Expected to provide a veteran presence for a young ballclub, Segura battled injuries and only appeared in 85 games last season. At the plate, he hit a career-worst .219 with three home runs and 21 RBI and only collected 66 hits in 301 at-bats.
Rhys Hoskins
Rhys Hoskins is easily the biggest name on this list. The soon-to-be 31-year-old slugger can be credited along with Aaron Nola as the two young stars that helped build the early core of a Phillies team that was a few years away from contention.
In a six-year run as the Phillies’ primary first baseman, Hoskins established himself as a leader on and off the field. In 427 games, Hoskins batted .242 with 148 home runs, 405 RBI, and collected 588 hits. His best season with the Phillies came in 2018 when he hit .246 with 34 home runs and 96 RBI.
Coming into 2023, Hoskins was entering his last season under contract and was ready to make his case as a viable free agent this offseason. Those plans came to a screeching halt when he suffered a knee injury during spring training, ending his season before it even started.
Like Segura, Hoskins found himself on the outside looking in. With the development of Bryce Harper being penciled in as the team’s first baseman going forward and a roadblock at DH with Kyle Schwarber holding down that role for another few seasons, Hoskins found himself the odd man out in a Phillies uniform.
This offseason has produced a number of rumors regarding teams interested in Rhys Hoskins. At various points during this painfully slow Hot Stove season, teams like the Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, and most recently, the San Francisco Giants (subscription required) have all shown various interest in Hoskins’ power bat. When healthy, Hoskins has shown the ability to hit 30-plus home runs in a season.
What kind of deal Hoskins will receive a year removed from surgery is anyone’s guess. No matter where Rhys lands, seeing him donning a new uniform will be a strange sight.
