Phillies may look to bring back Cole Hamels at the deadline
Cole Hamels is available and the Phillies could use a starter, so a reunion could be coming.
Under first year manager Gabe Kapler, the Philadelphia Phillies are 2.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East entering Wednesday’s action. The starting rotation has been very good, with Aaron Nola looking like an ace and Jake Arrieta out-pitching his advanced metrics thus far. But recent injuries to Vince Velasquez (arm) and Zach Eflin (blister) has thinned things a bit, if only in the short-term, and Cole Hamels is available on the trade market pitching for the last-place Texas Rangers.
Hamels overall results this season are solid, with a 4.05 ERA, a 9.1 K/9 and a 3.3 BB/9 over 17 starts (102.1 innings). But he has struggled at home, in a very hitter-friendly Globe Life Park, with a 5.83 ERA and he has allowed 11 runs over 10 innings in his last two home outings.
Citizen Bank Park is also very hitter-friendly, but Hamels has a solid, pretty extensive history there (3.26 ERA over 143 starts). He was obviously a younger pitcher over that previous nine-plus season stretch with the Phillies to start his career, but Hamels’ struggles in Arlington points to something mental being in play.
Hamels was a key part of Philadelphia’s World Series run in 2008, winning three postseason games and World Series MVP that fall. So a reunion could be a nostalgic fit, even beyond a current functional one.
Hearing some chatter about a Cole Hamels possible reunion with phillies. It’s early, and unsure how serious the chatter is. But they love him. He loved it there (obvs) and has a home there so presumably he’d approve. Has control with no-trade list covering two-thirds the teams)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 3, 2018
Hamels has a pretty extensive no-trade clause that allows to block a move to many teams. The Phillies are among the nine teams he can be sent to without specific consent, but even if they were on his 20-team no-trade list, as Heyman cited, he’d probably approve the move.
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Hamels is not the top of the rotation ace he was during his previous run with the Phillies. But they don’t need him to be this time around even if he’d be a pretty expensive mid-rotation starter, with what’s left of his $23.5 million salary for this year and a significant option ($20 million, $6 million buyout) for 2019.