Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has waved Cole Hamels around for sale all offseason and has had no luck selling him anywhere.
In a way, the Phillies have new Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer to blame and to thank for all of this.
Every team in Major League Baseball has been waiting to see where Max Scherzer goes before dealing with any other pitcher. On Sunday, Scherzer went to the Nats for $210 million over seven years, giving Washington something the Phillies used to have: a super-rotation.
The Nationals rotation of Scherzer, Jordan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg has drawn many similarities to the 2011 Phillies rotation that featured Hamels, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay.
But that was then and this is now for the Phillies who, just three years later, are looking to sell that super-rotation that gave them a fun, quick run.
“Probably, if somebody’s interested in adding a pitcher, certainly you couldn’t do any better than Cole Hamels,” Phillies interim president Pat Gillick said on Monday. “You’ve got a No. 1 starter. I think any organization would be happy to add Cole.
“Anyone would be crazy, the other 29 clubs, if they weren’t interested in somebody like Cole Hamels. That doesn’t mean we have to trade him. But if I’m on the other side of the fence and looking at the Phillies, certainly Cole Hamels is an attractive pitcher for me.”
Hamels has shown in the past that he can be the ace at the top of any team’s rotation, however his decline the last two seasons have proven otherwise.
After recording double-digit win totals for six-straight seasons from 2007 through 2012, Hamels has won just 17 combined games in his last 63 starts throughout the last two seasons, posting combined 3.06 ERA during the span with a combined 400 strikeouts. Hamels didn’t make his first start until April 23 last season due to left biceps tendinitis, but still made 30 starts last year and pitched 204.2 innings.
While there are many questions as to if Hamels is still an ace-quality pitcher given his lack of production as a No. 1 pitcher the last two years, the biggest issue to moving Hamels to a team needed an ace has been his contract and what the Phillies want in return.
Because of that, it seems as if the Phillies are stuck with Hamels going into the 2015 campaign. Amaro Jr. told Jake Kaplan of the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“I think Cole Hamels is going to be in our uniform, frankly. I don’t really foresee him being moved. It is possible because we’re literally keeping our minds and eyes and ears open on every player that we have on our roster. That said, he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball. And so, if we were to move him, we’re going to have to get some of the best prospects in baseball back.”
Amaro Jr. has also been reported to only be accepting his particular bid of requiring a team’s top prospects in his package for Hamels along with other, lesser-regarded pieces.
San Diego, Boston and St. Louis still appear to be the front runners in the Hamels sweepstakes and all of which are teams who need a quality pitcher at the top of their respective rotations.
The entire world knows that the Red Sox are in the need of an ace after losing Jon Lester to the Chicago Cubs this offseason. However, the Red Sox aren’t willing to sell out for Hamels and aren’t willing to meet Amaro Jr’s expectations for a deal.
The Cardinals are in the market for a top-flight pitcher, however their interest in Hamels is not as advanced as it’s been said to be. Despite signing Lance Lynn to a three-year, $22 million deal to cover his remaining arbitration years, the Cards could go after Hamels during the summer if Adam Wainwright can’t perform up to par coming off cleanup surgery on his elbow and with John Lackey becoming a free agent after 2015.
The Padres, well, they could be a solid option especially after acquiring high-priced outfielders Matt Kemp and Justin Upton and given the fact that Hamels is a San Diego product. The only thing that would hold this deal back is if the Phillies are unwilling to help finances the trade.
Hamels is owed $96 million over the next four years to the teams on his no-trade list and to the other 20 on his trade-list, he’ll have his fifth-year option picked up, bumping his price up to $110 million over five years. While that doesn’t seem bad given what Lester and Scherzer signed for, it doesn’t seem to match the price for his production and doesn’t seem like a price, overall that other teams want to pay for him.
Whether or not Hamels gets moved is to be seen as we are now just within weeks of pitchers and catchers reporting, let alone the beginning of spring training games. The Hamels story is going to continue and possibly progress as spring training goes on and the season gets underway.
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