The Phillies may be starting the slow and painful process of throwing in the towel. CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports that they have begun calling around to gauge interest in Cole Hamels.
Heyman tweets:
Phillies have begun calling to see about trade interest in Cole Hamels. Possible Phillies are only gauging early interest in Hamels, just in case. But with their calls, trade chance seems real now.
It sure does. And it’s a terrible idea.
Unless Ruben Amaro can strike a wink-and-a-nod deal with Hamels to revisit contract negations after the season, trading Cole would be foolish. The Phillies would lose any negotiating advantage they had over other teams, if Hamels were to go to a desirable location, such as New York or Los Angeles (just examples), and enjoy a positive experience. The Phillies would no longer be the only team he’s ever played for. Philly would no longer be his home. And a change would no longer seem like that big of a deal to him.
Heyman later wrote that Amaro declined comment.
As it stands now, even if a contract agreement isn’t reached before the end of the season, the Phillies would still have an upper-hand in negotiating, because Cole likes it here. But, if he goes elsewhere and realizes that a move isn’t all that bad, the Phils are screwed. They likely won’t be able to afford his market value without a slight hometown discount.
We’re getting dangerously close to the End of Days here… and Rube better know what he’s doing. He better be damn sure the Phils have no shot with Hamels before he sells a homegrown, 28-year-old, All-Star, World Series MVP.
Source: CBS Sports
24 Responses
They Trade Hamels, they’d better get King’s ransom. I’m talking what we paid for Doc and more.
they should of signed him when they had the chance, instead of dicking around!
So we sign 35 and 33 year old pitchers to combined contracts approaching $200M, but we let our 28 year old stud walk over a few million?
Folks, Hamels already makes $15 million, giving him a raise to $20 or $25 would not really matter, especially with Utley, Halladay, Victorino and (hopefully) Pence coming off the books soon.
This is classic Rube Amaro. If he were any more short sighted, he would need binoculars to see his dick when he pisses.
FIRE THIS MAN. GET HIS DICK OUT OF YOUR MOUTH KYLE YOU HOMO!!!
Chris Wheeler just referred to this slump (sometimes called a “season”) as a “team effort of futility” on the post-game show. I, for one, think this would make a great slogan for a Phillies t-shirt right now.
We can always try and re-sign him after the season is over, since he’ll be entertaining all offers then anyway. Might as well send him out as a rental until the end of the season and get the value out of it to go toward the rebuilding, then give it our best shot to sign him back after the season is over (after other moves, such as trading Lee and covering a portion of his contract just to get out from under neath it). Our farm system has been habitually depleted to make this 5 year run, and the prospects we kept have been less than stellar (see Dom Brown).
The window of opportunity is closing fast, we have to rely on the free agent market and not prospects to win in the next few years. If we’re going to be the third highest payroll/market in MLB, we’re going to have to rebuild like Boston and NYC do (by mostly signing proven talent) and start paying the luxury tax. A little financial investment by the owners now (sticking their necks and money out and taking less profit) could push this franchise permanently into the upper echelon.
The shrewd move to start that process is trading Cole now for talent, then open the wallet to get him back in the off-season. If he doesn’t come back because he gets an insane, record-setting contract, then it just wasn’t meant to be and he would have walked anyway even if we had held onto him through this garbage season.
Chad Qualls just got traded…
Everyone is demanding trades for players who have literally no value whatsoever. You couldn’t get a bag of balls for Victorino or Blanton right now. What’s done is done, they should ride Lee and Halladay out and trade Hamels to reload the farm system. I don’t want to trade him, and I’m one of Hamels’ biggest fans, but this team is terrible right now. There is no point in keeping him if the team isn’t going to make the playoffs. Trade him to a team that knows they can sign him long term and get 3 stud prospects in return. Last year was their year to win it all. Too many injuries and too inconsistent this year, Ruben has to do it. Last in the division with a top 3 payroll in the league.
How is trading Hamels a bad idea? What makes you think he would resign with an ageing offense that struggles to score more than 3 runs a game? Trade him now so you can get something for him rather than just letting him leave at the end of the season for nothing.
I you want proof they’ve given up on the season, just observe any game they play from here on out where Charlie has to make a managerial decision
The Yankees aren’t the Brewers, they won’t trade for Hamels without having a deal in place to sign him long term.
Just sign him already Rube. He deserves it. You guys are printing money down there. Get it done and lets get healthy and go on a tear the second half of the season.
Rube is a pos
The quicker Amaro pulls the plug, the quicker they return to prominence. I’d hate to lose Hamels too, but they have to get younger. There are simply too many holes in this lineup that cannot be ignored any longer. And throwing $26 million at (another) pitcher is foolish at this point. Gotta think with your head, not your heart.
Trade him for cheap, young talent. Use the salary savings to sign two free agent bats. And tank this season for the top draft pick next summer. There is still enough talent here to bounce right back next season, provided that prudent moves are made between now and then.
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i think howard is going to be a DH with his ankle. i dont think hes going to play like he used to, but still able to bat. you could probably get a good outfielder to replace vic for him, and hopefully mayberry stands up straight eventually and gets some real swings
Gabe, you are retarded.
If Howard’s ankle is fucked, it means his power is gone, since that is the ankle he pushes off of.
WHO? are you trading to get the good outfielder to replace Vic?
John Mayberry is the longest running joke in this town, now that JVR is gone. Every year he looks like the real deal for a few weeks, and everyone starts stroking their shaft because he is tall, and black, and hits long HR’s. The fact is, he is a first round BUST who the Rangers gave away for nothing. Fuck him.
All of those terrible contracts Amaro handed out are finally catching up to him. Hamels wants to play for a winner…and The Phils don’t resemble a winner now and down the line. They’re made up of very old players with unmovable contracts. Cliff Lee’s deal might one of the worst in the league in hindsight.
If you can trade Hamels to Texas for Mike Olt (3B Prospect) and Martin Perez ++ you do it.
Hamels would have signed by now had he wanted to return..that or Amaro is truly offering him a bullshit deal. Hamels deserves 7 years considering his age…how can you give Lee 5-6 at his age and Not give Hamels 7 at age 28?
Amaro has sent this team in a downward spiral since taking over for Gillick, and completely undone all the good.
Lee ain’t going anywhere because this is where he wants to be. All you fucking Philly fans clamored for him and you guys got him.
The guy hasn’t won because he’s been the product of bad run support and bad luck (as I like to call it, “Cole-itis”). Lest we forget his amazing 10 inning shut out that our fucking team lost for him? Huh? Did we forget? Some asshole actually said it was Lee’s fault.
Lee is an amazing pitching talent and the Lee family has no intention of moving anywhere and neither does RAJ, Braunecker and Proefrock; the Lee’s are here to stay and I’m okay with that. Lee will come around like he always does…he’s got an inordinate amount of talent that doesn’t come by often.
Has he had a shitty month? Okay, sure…it’s crappy right now. But don’t berate him…the guy isn’t going out there and intentionally losing fucking ball games…he’s just in a funk. He could have a potentially serious family matter at hand…and if that’s the case then it’s his business. We have him for many years to come and he will come around…no doubt in my mind. Weather this storm and you will see what Cliff and the rest of the starters will bring to the table.
As for Hamels….I don’t know what the motive behind the announcement of a possible trade would be. I do know, however, that RAJ will lie and about go about his usual business. That man has plans up his sleeve and no one in Philadelphia has a clue what’s going on behind the scenes.
What I do know though is Hamels has every intention of staying on the East Coast. He has stated that the West Coast is not ideal:
Hamels: “Now I know there is nothing better than pitching in Philadelphia in front of sell out crowds, there aren’t too many sellouts on the West Coast. There’s just so much to do out there. The East Coast is the ultimate baseball experience.”—-April 2011.
Take away what you will from that statement.
Heartbreaking but necessary this era of Phillies baseball is over we gotta replenish the farm system and getting return for some of the names remaining on this roster.
This team was doomed the day Pat Gillick handed the keys over to Reuben Amaro.
The last comment is so true Ruben has to get top top prospects call LA and see if we can trade Shane and Cole and dom for Mike Trout give up a kings ransom to get him.
Why would we not trade Hamels? The only reason to keep him would be if you were still holding out hope for the playoffs (which I’m not). Trade Hamels for a power-hitting 3B prospect (Olt) and a few mid level pitching prospects. Then, if you really want him back, make a push for him once he hits the market. IT would be incredibly short-sighted to keep him around for the remainder of the season when they are playing this poor and he has no contract in place.
While they are at it, I would take a look at the market for Papelbon in an attempt to clear some salary for next year. If you can get some nice prospects in return for Paps and Hamels then you can cut your rebuilding time from three seasons to possibly one season.
Rhea is spittin TRUTH! Trade Hamels for talent, then sign him when he’s a FA. Let Vic walk (preferably run) and get younger all around. Get rid of the dead weight. Do your thing Rube. It’s not the Phils time, it’s YOUR time.
rhea – shut up idiot
If Cole Hamels wants to play for a winner,then he should demand a trade to the greatest team in professional sports history,the NEW YORK YANKEES.
BTW,great season the Phillies are having(LOL).
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