According to Adam Rubin of ESPN NewYork, the Philadelphia Phillies have declined their team option on J.C. Romero, and are now in the hunt for a left-handed reliever.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (as per Rubin) is speculating that the Phillies may now have strong interest in Hisanori Takahashi who was released by the Mets after they were unable to work out a new contract with him.
Takahashi, 35, is reportedly seeking a three-year deal worth about $15MM after a successful rookie that saw him work as both a starter and various relief roles including closer after Francisco Rodriguez went on the DL.
Takahashi had a 3.61 ERA in 122 innings pitched.
There’s really not much we can do if the Phillies end up signing Takahashi. Right now I’m actually more concerned with signing and keeping Pedro Feliciano.
We’ll know more very soon about where we stand with Feliciano, as teams have already begun offering arbitration or non-tendering their players. Pedro Feliciano is a Type B free agent which earns the Mets a compensation pick if they offer arbitration and he refuses and opts for free agency.
The last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to free agents in order to preserve their right to draft-pick compensation is November 23rd, while the last day for free agents to accept salary-arbitration offers is a week later on November 30th.
