The Phillies may be close to making one of their first moves of the 2017-2018 MLB offseason.  This one involves a familiar face.  According to many published sources, including this one from Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies are close to announcing a deal that will bring back reliever Pat Neshek to the Phillies.

Neshek was the lone 2017 All-Star from the Philadelphia Phillies club.  Ahead of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, Neshek was shipped to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for three players: infielder Jose Gomez, pitcher Alejandro Requena, and pitcher J.D. Hammer.  Neshek helped the Rockies secure a wild card, before falling to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the wild card game.

Of the three pitchers, Hammer pitched particularly well after joining the organization.  Hammer went 2-0 with a 0.57 earned run average for the Clearwater Threshes in 2017 after coming off of a 5.25 earned run average in the Rockies system.  Hammer continued to impress in the Arizona Fall League and was named to the "Fall Stars" team.

Neshek went 3-2 with a 1.12 earned run average for the Phillies and then 2-1 with a 2.45 earned run average for the Rockies.

An interesting note: Neshek prefers to wear jersey number 17, since taken by Rhys Hoskins.  Hoskins typically wore number 12 in college and through the Phillies system.  It would be interesting to see if Hoskins will change numbers for Neshek.  Neshek frequently wore number 37, too, which is also taken.  Neshek wore number 41 during his All-Star season with the Cardinals in 2014, which is available.

UPDATE: According to several reports, including Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the deal is a two-year deal worth $16.25 million.

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