Photo Credit: Bill Streicher - USA Today Sports

Photo Credit: Bill Streicher – USA Today Sports

The biggest move for the Phillies at the trade deadline – if there is going to be a move – would be to trade Cole Hamels. He could bring a decent return, and trading him would signal that the Phils are all-in on moving forward with a rebuild. But there are three voices in the room, and they might not all agree.

Pat Gillick, Ruben Amaro, and Andy MacPhail are a linear progression of Phillies decision makers, and they’re all here at one time. According to Jayson Stark, that could be an issue:

With Amaro on the endangered-GM list, MacPhail waiting to take charge and legendary former GM Pat Gillick serving as the temporary team president, the Phillies might have the most complicated management structure in baseball. So who actually makes this trade?

Amaro makes the phone calls. Gillick makes the ultimate decision. But it’s MacPhail who has to live with the consequences. So while MacPhail, from all accounts, has no intention of meddling in names or details, his voice will be heard on this, loud and clear.

According to Todd Zolecki, Ruben Amaro said “there’s nothing weird about this situation.” He doth protest so very, very much.

Stark puts the Dodgers, Cubs, Rangers, and Red Sox down as Hamels’ most likely landing spots (if he moves), but it’s a lot more complex than just seeing who puts the best offer out there. Stark says that there are quite a few teams that agree in saying the Phillies “want yesteryear’s prices, and teams don’t make those deals anymore.” Amaro doesn’t think his asking price is too high though, and denies he ever told anyone he needs to “win” a Hamels trade, “even though an exec of one club that kicked the tires reiterated this week that he “definitely” said that last winter.”

“It’s people speculating, I guess, about things they probably don’t know much about,” Amaro told Zolecki. “We fully expect teams to be aggressive, because we’ve opened the doors to allow them to discuss it. We’ve been open-minded from last October on.”

Many people expected a trade to happen last year. Now, Ruben’s job is even more on the line, the team has softly committed to a rebuild, and there are two more experienced voices in the room. We’ll find out in eight days if that’s actually a good thing

And Papelbon?

stark pap

Right. That makes sense.