Colorado Rockies Add to Bullpen in Trade for Pat Neshek

On Wednesday, the Colorado Rockies helped their beleaguered bullpen by acquiring Pat Neshek a right-handed reliever from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for three Rockies minor leaguers.

The Phillies received Jose Gomez a shortstop, Alejandro Requena and J.D. Hammer a pair of right-handed pitchers.

Neshek exits Philly leaving behind the team with the worst record in the majors of 35-65 and joins Colorado at 58-44 leading the Chicago Cubs by 4 ½ games for the second and final National League wildcard berth.

Neshek called the move exciting after his final game with the Phillies on Wednesday as he will be jumping into a race for a postseason berth with a team that has a strong offense.

Nevertheless, he called it bittersweet as well because he enjoyed his time with the Phillies calling his teammates some of the best he had played with since his career began.

Recently five other major league teams including the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers had scouts at Phillies games watching Neshek, but Colorado was able to give the Phillies the best offer.

The bullpen for the Rockies is No. 25 in baseball with an ERA of 4.53 and the organization has searched for a reliable third reliever that will help take some of the load from both Jake McGee and closer Greg Holland.

Neshek, who is 36, has a career record of 31-21 with an ERA of 2.76 in his 11 seasons. Colorado will be the seventh team Neshek has pitched for in his major league career. He has played in two All-Star Games including this year’s in Miami earlier in the month.

Last November, Neshek was acquired by Philadelphia from Houston and exercised a 2017 club option for $6.5 million. He has been the Phillies most reliable reliever the entire season.

He is ranked second amongst relievers in MLB with an ERA of 1.12 and third with a 0.83 WHIP.

Phillies team officials are not saying if they will entertain any more deals before next Monday’s trade deadline. However, they lost a possible trade chip for the deadline when Daniel Nava an outfielder was injured and put on the team’s disabled list with a strained hamstring.

Howie Kendrick, who is another player for the Phillies mentioned in speculation involving a trade, left the team’s win on Wednesday in the fourth inning after he was hit by a pitch and suffered a bruised hand.