The Philadelphia Phillies and Cole Hamels' agent, John Boggs, have intensified contract discussions in recent days and sources are now saying the Phillies have started a major push to sign Hamels before the July 31 trade deadline.
Clubs who've been speaking with the Phillies say that trade talks have been essentially put on hold and there is more focus to signing the 28-year-old than making a deal for him before the deadline.
"They want to sign him, and that's their priority," said an official of one club who spoke with the Phillies' brass this week. "They're really not even entertaining (trade) offers at this point."
Other sources are saying the Phillies are now willing to sign Hamels to a six-year contract, a first for any starting pitcher in club history. One official of one team put it, the Phillies are "not in a hurry to do anything right now-except sign Cole Hamels."
The Phillies initially offered Hamels a four-year extension last offseason, but they came to the conclusion they had no alternative but to soften that stance as Hamels draws closer to becoming a free agent this fall.
Although the market for Hamels has been shaped in the past few months, in the $120 million range, the Phillies still believe they can find a way to sign Hamels to stay beyond 2013 even with their payroll approaching the $178 million luxury-tax threshold.
To do so, the Phillies likely would have to trade away at least one veteran player and possibly more.
Other teams say they've been significantly more attracted to discussing potential deals for players such as Shane Victorino, Joe Blanton, Placido Polanco and even Jimmy Rollins than they have for Hamels.
