The Phillies may look at a Cole Hamel trade this offseason and it comes as teams like the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, LA Dodgers, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants and Houston Astros are interested in making a deal, as Philadelphia has already traded Jimmy Rollins and now Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon and Ryan Howard could be next to go.
According to Hardball Talk, the Boston Globe reports that the Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers, Padres, and Rangers have shown interest in Hamels along with the Houston Astros. Nick Cafardo writes that the Giants are an option after the team missed out on Jon Lester, as they are interested in adding a strong starting pitcher with Madison Bumgarner in the rotation. James Shields remains a target for the Giants, but if he signs elsewhere San Francisco could go after Hamels.
The report speculated that the Red Sox could pick up Hamels' $20 million option in 2019 to get the deal to go and he currently is on a five year deal worth over $100 million. Hamels is 30-years-old and has a 2.46 ERA on the season with 198 strikeouts while going 9-9. Hamels has been healthy over the majority of his career and he has averaged 200 innings pitched in his eight years in the league, going for at least 204 in each of the past five seasons.
The Phillies have been shopping a deal for Hamels this offseason and the teams that missed out on Jon Lester in free agency could be interested in trading for him. The Phillies have been reluctant to part ways with Hamels without getting a decent prospect in return and that is one reason teams have not pulled the trigger yet. The Phillies went 73-89 last season and Hamels was the team leader in ERA and strikeouts, while the team finished ranked 20th in overall earned run average.
Lester signed a massive deal with the Cubs and they could look at adding another power pitcher, while the Rangers have prospects if they want to make a move. The Dodgers were in on Lester at the end of things and they could look at Shields on the market or a pitcher in a trade. The Red Sox are basically set with their rotation, as they have Clay Buchholz, Joe Kelly along with the newly acquired Justin Masterson, Wade Miley and Rick Porcello, but they could always push someone into the bullpen if they make a move.
