High-Profile Ace Previously Connected to Phillies Predicted to Hit Open Market

The Philadelphia Phillies could be in the sweepstakes for one of the top pitchers in the league based on this prediction.

Sep 5, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell (7) signals to the catcher during the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Oracle Park / Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Coming down the final stretch of the season, the Philadelphia Phillies are hoping to keep playing well to enter the playoffs with some momentum.

Despite an ugly loss on Friday, this stretch is the best their offense has looked since the All-Star break, something that is a major positive when factoring in all of the injuries they've dealt with lately.

The Phillies are a clear contender to win the World Series, evident by their dominance in the first half of the year and having a roster full of superstar talent, but after looking like a juggernaut, some clear cracks in their armor were showing during the latter parts of summer.

One issue on full display is their fifth starter spot.

Taijuan Walker played his way into a bullpen demotion, Spencer Turnbull is hurt, some of their young players aren't ready, and they seemingly don't trust the minor league journeyman they added in case this exact scenario occurred.

This likely won't hurt them in the playoffs since Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez have all had great seasons and will be the primary starting arms used in October, but this is a clear weakness on their roster.

And whenever that is present, Dave Dombrowski will look to fix it.

Someone he could have interest in pursuing this winter is a player who Philadelphia was connected to throughout free agency; Blake Snell.

The two-time Cy Young winner has put together an incredible few months after starting off really slow, sitting with a 3.52 ERA and 12.1 K/9 ratio across his 92 innings pitched.

Because of this, the expectation is he will test the free agency market again in search for his megadeal, prompting him to opt-out of his current contract with the San Francisco Giants.

Could the Phillies have interest in handing out another huge contract for a star player?

As Dombrowski has shown in the past, he is not afraid to be aggressive and will likely kick around the possibility of adding yet another elite starter to this rotation.

Even after they re-signed Nola with a seven-year deal, they were still eyeing Japanese phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto and were willing to give him $300 million to get it done.

Snell presents them the same opportunity.

One thing is for certain, no matter how this season ends for Philadelphia and whether or not they become World Series champions, they will be a team who is in the middle of rumors throughout the winter.