Phillies Rumors: Yankees, Red Sox among teams scouting Pat Neshek

By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor

Next week, Pat Neshek will be the Philadelphia Phillies lone representative in Miami for the MLB All-Star Game. While he's enjoying his second career trip to the Midsummer Classic, general manager Matt Klentak will no doubt be busy fielding calls for the 36-year-old. 

According to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe, three American League contenders are among those scouting the veterans righty: 

Neshek, an NL All-Star, has been scouted by a number of teams, including the Royals, Red Sox, and Yankees.

These three teams, who Cafardo says are among a "number of teams," examining Neshek, aren't the only teams that have been connected to the All-Star. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported last month that the bullpen-needy Washington Nationals have "shown interest" in Neshek. Rosenthal also mentioned that there were multiple teams interested in Neshek. 

Though the Yankees bullpen hasn't been the dominant unit that some expected it could be, adding Neshek to Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances would set the Yankees up well to compete with bullpen-rich contenders like the Cleveland Indians and Houston Astros. The same goes for the Boston Red Sox, who have gotten excellent performances from Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly in 2017. Should the Kansas City Royals remain buyers, Neshek would make sense because he would bring a stabilizing force to their bullpen, and probably wouldn't cost what's likely to be a rebuilding team in a year a ton. 

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After the Phillies acquired Neshek from the Houston Astros last November, the free-agent-to-be has posted a 1.31 ERA and a 2.37 FIP over 37 games in 2017. In a bullpen that's otherwise been a disaster in 2017, Neshek has been about as reliable as any reliever in the league. 

Though he's spoken highly of Philadelphia, Neshek told Jim Salisbury of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia last month that he's "sure" he will be traded before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. 

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