Phillies rumors: Could Cole Hamels be a trade deadline target?
By John Town
The Phillies are exempt from Cole Hamels’ no-trade clause with the Rangers. Could he be a target for the team at this year’s trade deadline?
There’s nothing Phillies fans love more than reunions with their favorite players. You only have to look at the reactions fans had when Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Carlos Ruiz returned to Philadelphia in recent years to prove that. While the Rangers and Phillies will not play this year, there is still a chance Philadelphia will get to reunite with Cole Hamels.
Hamels is in the last guaranteed year of his contract with the Rangers that he originally signed with the Phils in 2012. The Rangers are in a competitive AL West with the reigning World Series champion Astros as well as a budding Angels team. By midseason, Texas could be in the market to trade some of their assets, one of whom would be Hamels.
Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported the nine teams who Hamels can’t block a trade to, one of whom is Philadelphia:
Source: Cole Hamels can block trades to all teams except Mariners, Cardinals, Nationals, Astros, Cubs, Phillies, Braves, Royals, and Rays. He earns $22.5M this season in final year of contract, followed by $20M club option ($6M buyout) for 2019. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) April 3, 2018
The Phils could very well be in the market for Hamels when the trade deadline rolls around. Their starting pitching has been inconsistent at best so far this season. If the team is serious about pursuing a playoff spot this season, bringing back the pitcher who was a core part of the last playoff team in this city would certainly help.
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Hamels would certainly be an upgrade over the pitchers in the back end of the rotation. In two starts so far this year, he has struck out 18 batters while giving up just four runs in 10.2 innings. His playoff experience, along with Jake Arrieta’s, would be quite valuable.
His contract would also be no issue for this team. According to Spotrac, Philadelphia has the seventh-lowest payroll of all teams at about $97.4 million.
Even if you add Hamels’ contract, they would still have the ninth-lowest payroll. If they decide to pick up his option for next year, they will still be well under the luxury-tax threshold.
Since Hamels is on the last year of his deal, it certainly wouldn’t require the kind of package to trade for him the Rangers gave up to acquire him three years ago. Rather than giving up three above-average value prospects plus other peripheral pieces, Philadelphia may only have to give up one top prospect and maybe another lower-level one.
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Before we completely jump on the Hamels bandwagon, not everything is hunky-dory. 2017 was the first time Hamels showed his age. He posted the highest ERA of his career since 2009 at 4.20, as well as the highest careers fielding-independent pitching and expected FIP. After being worth at least three, if not four, wins above replacement his entire career, Hamels was worth 1.5 fWAR last year.
Hamels was also not the paragon of health he usually is. After making 30-plus starts every year since 2008, Hamels missed a month and a half due to an oblique strain. Health is an obvious concern for any pitcher, especially one that is 34 years old this season.
How Hamels fares between now and July – both in terms of performance and injury – will determine how hot of a commodity he will be.
Next: Observations from a sluggish Phillies start
If Philadelphia is in position to make a playoff push when July rolls around, expect to see them linked to Hamels heavily. Even if a trade doesn’t go through, Hamels could be a target in free agency if the Rangers deny his club option.