Red Sox trade rumors: Cole Hamels drawing interest from Boston
By Josh Hill
With the MLB trade deadline so close, we’re starting to hear bigger and bigger deals spun put of the rumor mill as the trade winds are blowing hard down the stretch of July.
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One name that has been kicked around, despite there being major resistance from his current club to trade him, is Cole Hamels from the Philadelphia Phillies. Not everyone is kicking the tires on Hamels, but the Boston Red Sox are a surprise team to have been mentioned in trade rumors for Hamels.
While there may indeed be real interest from the Red Sox in Cole Hamels, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman believes that one of the reasons there is reported interest is so that Boston can restart negotiations with their own ace pitcher — Jon Lester.
"And of course, it’s also possible the Red Sox are at least partly viewing the reported Hamels play as a way to restart things with Lester — who’s said all along he wants to stay in Boston badly enough to give them a hometown discount. And maybe the Red Sox are just concerned they might not get Lester back now that he’s tabled talks, and are just covering their bases.And maybe the Red Sox would like to have both Lester and Hamels. But that still begs the question as to why they might like to absorb a contract that is twice as high as their starting point with Lester."
Hamels is being viewed as a fall back option for teams who get into hot pursuit of Tampa Bay Rays ace David Price but lose out. That doesn’t mean the Phillies are interested in trading Hamels, but the Red Sox interest in him is coming from somewhere and this will be an interesting situation to watch play out.
Be sure to stay glued to FanSided’s MLB Rumors page to stay up to date with the latest action and rumbling from the baseball hot stove this trade season.