The Phillies entered the 2015 season with a dearth of starting rotation depth and thus no reason not to gamble on a starting pitcher or two. And so that’s what they did in signing Aaron Harang and Chad Billingsley in January. The hope was that Billingsley would be able to recover from last year’s flexor tendon surgery and turn in a healthy and productive season on a one-year, $1.5 million contract, which would allow the Phillies to trade him to a contending team at the July 31 trade deadline.
Billingsley was only able to make three starts including his season debut on May 5 — his first start since April 15, 2013.