Reports: Phils agree to trade Giles for four players

Kenny Giles, image- Jay Floyd

After a day full of hot stove rumors indicating the Phillies were in talks with Houston about a deal for righty closer Kenny Giles, several reports have the deal in place, pending physicals.

A reporter from a Fox affiliate in Houston tweeted incorrect facts about the trade multiple time, but it seems the return coming back for the 25-year-old Giles are right-handed hurler Vincent Velasquez, left-handed pitcher Brett Oberholtzer and outfielder Derek Fisher.

Velsaquez, a 23-year-old, was a 2nd round pick by Houston in 2010. With terrific upside, the youngster sported a 4-0 record with a 1.91 ERA and a 12.3 K/9 mark in nine games at the Double-A level last season prior to a promotion to the big league. With the Astros, in 19 games (seven starts) Velasquez tallied a 4.37 ERA and a .240 batting average against.

Oberholtzer, 26, has an 11-20 record in 3.94 ERA in 45 career big league outings. He was an 8th round draft selection by Houston in 2008.

Fisher, 22, posted a .275 average with 22 homers and 87 RBI in 123 combined games at Class A and High A last season. He is said to have plus speed, having swiped 31 bags in 38 chances this year.

Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki also reports a 4th player is headed to Philly for Giles. Details to come.

Giles took over the role of Phillies' closer this season, in his second year in the big leagues, following the trade of All-Star reliever Jonathan Papelbon. In 69 outings last season, Giles sported a 6-3 record with 15 saves and a 1.80 ERA.

With the Phils fully in rebuild mode and expected to make a run at last place again next year, the need for a stud closer isn't a great one. The return of Velasquez and Fisher along with whatever else the Astros send to Philly for the occasional 100 MPH fastball of Giles is a solid one for sure.

This article originally appeared on Phillies Nation.

*UPDATE*

Astros beat writer Evan Drellich tweeted late Wednesday night that the fourth player coming from Houston is Thomas Eshelman.

Source: Thomas Eshelman is 4th Astros player Phillies get for Ken Giles. Final haul pending meds: Velasquez, Fisher, Oberholtzer, Eshelman
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) December 10, 2015

Eshelman is a 21-year-old right-hander hurler. The six-foot-three 210-pounder was a 2nd round draft pick this year and pitched in just four pro games in his young career.

Comments

Jealous Ones Envy

Joe Blanton continues to excel and prove his worth in the Phillies pitching rotation. In his latest outing on Sunday, Blanton threw 8 strong innings, striking out 6, while walking just 1 and surrendering 2 earned runs, improving his record to 7-4. This season in July, Joe is 3-0 over four starts with 22 K's, 5 walks and a 1.21 ERA. Over his last 6 starts, Joe's ERA is 1.94. As a member of the Phillies, Blanton has a 3.84 ERA after the all star break with a 5-0 record. The Phillies are 20-12 (.625 winning percentage) in games that Blanton has started, since being acquired last July. Combined this season against other National League playoff contenders St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles, Blanton has a combined 1.67 ERA in 4 starts with a 2-0 record. Blanton is on such a sizzling run that the Bowling Green Hot Rods, a Tampa Bay Rays farm team, will host a Joe Blanton bobble head give away tomorrow. Bowling Green will host Joe's mother, father and sister for the event, as Joe...

Heroes- Fight of the Century

VS. It's a big day for your boy, Jay Ballz . No work, X-Men Origins: Wolverine premieres, our Phillies face the Metropolitans for the first time this season and tailgating for BOTH doesn't sound all that absurd to me. Anyway, I surveyed some qualified phans and got several opinions on how exactly a fight might go down if the mutant hero Wolverine faced off against Phillies hero Matt Stairs. Well known blogger, Chris, of I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake , kept it real and said the following- "Wolverine has adamantium ( indestructible metal substance) claws, so that's a great advantage. Stairs' Wonder Bat is neutralized there. See, the problem becomes Wolverine's ability to recover (he has a regenerative power) faster. Stairs is merely human. Sure, he has a goatee, and goatees are great, but they're great for saving sauce, not for defeating mutants. I think Wolverine takes it in a fight to the death in about 15 minutes because Stairs simply doesn'...

...Got My Learn On

The weekend is just about here, but it's not feeling great so far. My college hoops team lost, and my mail included a huge image of Mets star David Wright on the cover of The Sporting News. "All Wright"? Um, I don't really believe it is. Aside from the non-appealing cover, it's the MLB preview issue, so allow me to share some things I learned from this week's magazine. 1- Former Phillie, and regular Sporting News columnist, Todd Jones has gone insane. Jones predicts that Jamie Moyer will win the NL Cy Young Award, and that Manny Ramirez will run for governor of California after the Dodgers win the 2009 World Series. 2- Ichiro Suzuki rocks the party that rocks the body. Metropolitans reliever Francisco Rodriguez compares Jose Reyes to Ichiro, saying they do many of the same things. I must have missed Ichiro performing rehearsed celebratory hand jives after getting a hit or scoring a run in a losing effort. And I know I missed Ichiro getting caught cheating on...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog