Former Phillies Friday: Giles and Diekman sign in NL East; Syndergaard and Lorenzen drawing interest

Ken Giles began his career with the Phillies. (Gavin Baker/Icon Sportswire)

Two former Philadelphia Phillies relievers could be playing with National League East rivals this season, and two more pitchers with ties to the organization may soon pick their 2024 teams.

Veteran left-handed reliever Jake Diekman, who spent the first three-and-a-half seasons of his career with the Phillies, has agreed to a one-year deal with the New York Mets, according to SNY‘s Andy Martino. MLB.com‘s Anthony DiComo hears that the pact is “for around $4 million, with a vesting option for 2025.”

A 30th-round pick by the Phillies in the 2007 MLB Draft, Diekman posted a 3.84 ERA and 2.97 FIP in 191 games in red pinstripes, before being traded to the Texas Rangers in July of 2015 as part of the Cole Hamels deal. His most notable moment as a Phillie came on Sept. 1, 2014, when he was part of a combined no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, which also featured Hamels, Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon.

Now 37, Diekman revived his career after being released by the Chicago White Sox last May and catching on with the Tampa Bay Rays. In 50 games for the Rays, Diekman posted a 2.18 ERA and 3.21 FIP.

Speaking of Giles, he has latched on with the Braves, signing a minor-league deal with the six-time defending NL East Champions, which will include an invite to MLB Spring Training. The team announced the move Friday morning.

Tommy John surgery and the subsequent recovery has limited Giles to just nine appearances over the last three seasons, but the 33-year-old recently threw for teams and will have the chance to earn $1.75 million if he’s in the majors with the Braves this season, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

Giles was a seventh-round pick by the Phillies in 2011, and was dominant across 113 appearances between the 2014 and 2015 seasons, posting a 1.56 ERA and 1.82 FIP. But as the Phillies embarked on a full-on rebuild under new president Andy MacPhail and general manager Matt Klentak, they decided to cash in on the controllable Giles in December of 2015. The Phillies traded Giles and Jonathan Arauz to the Houston Astros as the first major move of the MacPhail/Klentak regime, acquiring Vince Velasquez, Mark Appel, Tom Eshelman, Brett Oberholtzer and Harold Arauz in a trade that would ultimately prove disappointing for both teams.

Embed from Getty Images

Elsewhere, former Phillies righty Noah Syndergaard is looking to rebound from a disastrous 2023 season that saw him post a 6.50 ERA and 6.20 FIP across 18 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Guardians.

Syndegaard has multiple bullpen sessions, which Heyman reported were attended by the New York Yankees, “among about 15 teams.”

Heyman added that the former All-Star was “said to be in the mid-90’s” in terms of fastball velocity, which would be a pretty remarkable development considering the drastic velocity drop he’s experienced since undergoing Tommy John surgery in March of 2020. Syndergaard split the 2022 season with the Los Angeles Angels and Phillies, averaging 94.5 mph on his fastball. In 2023, he averaged 92.3 mph on his fastball. Both were drastically down from what the former All-Star once did with the New York Mets, averaging 97.9 mph as recently as 2019.

At this stage, it appears unlikely the version of Syndergaard who was one of the more electric pitchers in baseball will ever return. However, if his fastball velocity ticks back up towards the 94.5 mph he averaged in 2022, he could still hang around the league for a while. There’s plenty of value in the type of pitcher Syndergaard was in 2022, when he posted a 3.94 ERA and 3.83 FIP across 134 2/3 innings.

Finally, Michael Lorenzen remains a free agent after spending the second half of the 2023 season with the Phillies. Of course, Lorenzen tossed a no-hitter against the Washington Nationals in his second start with the Phillies, but wasn’t able to recapture that magic for the remainder of his stint with the team. Lorenzen became unusable late in the season, ultimately finishing with a 5.51 ERA and 5.81 FIP over 47 1/3 innings pitched with the Phillies. He made just two mop-up appearances out of the bullpen during the postseason.

MLB.com‘s Jon Morosi reported last week that the Baltimore Orioles had interest in Lorenzen, although now that they’ve acquired former NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers, that might not be a fit.

The San Diego Padres could be, though. Morosi has connected Lorenzen with the Padres multiple times this offseason, including earlier this week. The Padres are likely to lose reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell in free agency, and have already seen Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha depart this offseason. Lorenzen could very well come in and pitch 130-150 innings in 2024 for the Friars.