10 players have qualifying offers, including Hellickson

Good morning! Keep your head on straight today by thinking about baseball!

• As we reported yesterday, the Phillies extended a qualifying offer to Jeremy Hellickson. If accepted, the pitcher will earn $17.2 million to pitch for the Phils in 2017. If rejected, he’ll go into the free agency market and the Phils would gain a compensatory draft pick upon his signing.

The right move. Either the Phils extract real value for him or they have him locked in the rotation with the kids. He demonstrated that he belongs. A win-win.

• Meanwhile nine other big leaguers were extended qualifying offers. They are: Kenley Jansen, Edwin Encarnacion, Neil Walker, Justin Turner, Ian Desmond, Jose Bautista, Dexter Fowler, Yoenis Cespedes and Mark Trumbo.

All expected. Hellickson is the only pitcher on the list, which isn’t necessarily good or bad (it’s a weak market this year). Notable omissions include Michael Saunders, Edinson Volquez and Rajai Davis.

• Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly writes today that the Phils could be in the trade market this year. Targets? He mentions J.D. Martinez (someone we covered in our Offseason Overview) and pitcher Anibal Sanchez. He also said it’s possible Vince Velasquez or Hector Neris could be trade chips (we wrote about Neris yesterday).

It’s less likely that Matt Klentak trades value this year, as the free agent market seems to be in the Phils’ favor. That said, can’t rule anything out.