Patrick Corbin visits the Phillies | MLB.com

PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies are trying to sign the left-handed free agent Patrick Corbin.

Corbin is due to visit Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, sources told MLB.com, while the Phillies hope to add the pitcher to their rotation. The Phils want Corbin because he is probably the best free-throw pitcher available and they want to balance their rotation, which has had only three starts of a southpaw since the end of the 2016 season.

PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies are trying to sign the left-handed free agent Patrick Corbin.

Corbin is due to visit Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, sources told MLB.com, while the Phillies hope to add the pitcher to their rotation. The Phils want Corbin because he is probably the best free-throw pitcher available and they want to balance their rotation, which has had only three starts of a southpaw since the end of the 2016 season.

The addition of Corbin would be an important first step in what should be a great offseason for the Phillies.

"In a perfect world, we would like to have a balanced rotation," Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said in early November at the meeting of general managers in Carlsbad, California.

"Now, what we are not going to do is trade a good deal for a worse left, we will not do it just to create a balance, but if we can keep the rotation as good as it is It is or I think it deserves to be explored, I do not know if we will, but I know we are going to explore it. "

Corbin, 29, scored 11-7 with an average of 3.15 in 33 starts last season with the D-backs. He eliminated 246 batters in 200 innings and posted a 6.3 FanGraphs WAR. Corbin also finished fifth in the National League vote, receiving the Cy Young Award, two places behind ace Phils and third place. Aaron Nola.

Corbin has one of the best baseball sliders. He pitched the pitch 40.9 percent of the time in 2018, and his opponents hit only 0.145 and slugged that 0.243 against. David Adler of MLB.com written in october that Corbin withdrew 196 hitters with his slider, 71 more than any other pitcher. He also got 387 passes and swings on his slider – 176 more than any other pitcher.

No baseball pitcher has such a large margin of dams or misses on any other court.

Corbin and his left-handed compatriot J.A. Happ, 36, could be at the top of the Phillies' wish list, though Philly is aware of a potential swap against the giant's aces Madison Bumgarner and expressed interest in others, such as Nathan Eovaldi. Happ could be looking for a three year contract. Corbin is almost certainly looking for more, maybe at least a $ 100 million contract over five years. If the Phils give what he wants to Corbin, it would be a departure from Klentak's public reluctance to make a long-term commitment to pitchers.

Corbin carries risks, to the extent that he is less accomplished than other top players recently acquired by the Phillies, such as Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt. Corbin missed 2014 and part of 2015 as a result of surgery on Tommy John's left elbow. He went 19-26 with an ERA 4.53 and a 4.42 FIP from 16 to 17 before hitting in 18.

But Corbin would go well between Nola and right-handed Jake Arrieta at the top of the Phillies' rotation. This would allow Phils to move forward with their other post-season plans to strengthen the offensive and the public market. Philadelphia has interest in relieving Craig Kimbrel, Zach Britton and Andrew Miller, and he is considered a favorite to land Bryce Harper or Manny Machadoalthough these players do not prevent the club from seeking other ways to outperform. Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com recently wrote that the Phillies have expressed interest in the free agent Michael Brantley and ONE J. Pollock, as well as others.