Phillies

Report: Phillies Calling Around to Gauge Interest in Cole Hamels

By Kyle Scott

Published: Jul 1st, 2012 · 3:23 PM EDT

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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