The Phillies appear ready to trade ace pitcher Cole Hamels – provided that the deal is right for a rebuilding team. The Cubs do not appear willing to trade anybody, and the team with the next amount of minor league depth would be the Boston Red Sox, who seem primed to contend as early as next year with plenty of young talent. At least for now, the Red Sox do not seem inclined to give it up.
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says that the right offer for Hamels simply has not come yet:
The Phillies just want a fair package for Hamels, one of the best pitchers in baseball, and they haven’t heard one. GM Ruben Amaro is often criticized for holding out for too much, but some of the offers presented to him are really not good deals for a team that needs to rebuild. It would hurt the Red Sox to part with at least one among Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Henry Owens, and Blake Swihart to get a deal done, let alone two. So they’d rather steer the conversation toward Matt Barnes, Anthony Ranaudo, and a young positional player
A couple weeks ago I suggested Blake Swihart could be a centerpiece in a Hamels deal.
The Red Sox would be foolish not to at least try a lesser package for Hamels, especially after seeing what the Phillies settled for in exchange for ace Cliff Lee just a few years ago. The Red Sox already once insulted ace Jon Lester with last year's contract offer, and this offseason's offer to Lester appears to be underwhelming. At six years and $110 to $120 million, the average annual value would be much lower than Hamels' current deal, which seems to be reasonable given the marketplace.
I would expect the Chicago Cubs or St. Louis Cardinals to outbid the Red Sox for Lester. At that point, the Red Sox may be willing to give up one of those players to make a deal with the Phillies.
