With nearly a month’s worth of games having been played, one of the best relievers in baseball thus far in 2022 has been … Héctor Neris.
After spending parts of eight seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Neris departed this past offseason, signing a two-year/$17 million deal with the Houston Astros in November.
It’s early, but the deal that James Click and company inked Neris to looks like a good one. Neris leads all relievers with 15 appearances, and has a minuscule 0.64 ERA to show for it. Neris’ 1.65 FIP and 0.571 WHIP back up his back-of-the-baseball-card stats.
None of this is said with an angle necessarily. While you could make a case that the Phillies should have matched the offer from the Astros, there’s something to be said for changing scenery after spending such a long time with one team to begin your career.
Dusty Baker and the Astros also aren’t asking Neris to be their closer, and he’s probably best-geared to pitch in the seventh or eighth inning, as opposed to the ninth. At the time Neris signed with the Astros, the Phillies’ No. 1 priority was figuring out the ninth inning. That’s why they signed Corey Knebel to a one-year/$10 million deal a day after Neris left to sign with the Astros, with Robert Murray of FanSided later reporting that the Phillies were willing to make a multi-year commitment to Knebel, who instead elected to bet on himself in 2022.
Would the Phillies have preferred to have Neris over one of (or even both of) Brad Hand and Jeurys Familia? Possibly, but they ultimately signed Hand and Familia to one-year deals worth a total of $12 million. Neris got a two-year deal that includes incentives that could turn an $8.5 million club option in 2024 into a guaranteed third year of a contract.
For as much as Neris was loved as a person during his time with the Phillies, he unquestionably went through some trials and tribulations on the mound. And while he ended up as one of the more accomplished relievers in team history, a split after 2022 was probably in the best interests of all parties.
If Neris has a successful stint in Houston, there will be a lot of people in the Phillies organization looking on with a smile, just as long as he doesn’t help extend the playoff drought in Philadelphia to 11 years during the final series of the regular season.
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