The latest from Buster Olney of ESPN.com..
- There's still no conversation between the Phillies and left-hander Cole Hamels on a new contract, Olney tweets. A high profile agent who doesn't know Hamels told Olney (Twitter link) that between the Cubs, Dodgers, and other major players, the lefty will get a six-year offer as free agent. Other agents presume that at some point this season Hamels will be so close to free agency that he'll test the market rather than sign with the Phillies, tweets Olney.
- In today's column (Insider sub. req'd), Olney suggests that A's pitcher Bartolo Colon could be traded sooner rather than later. With the A's building the team for 2015-16, they could be motivated to move Colon when they perceive his value is at its highest, rather than waiting until later in the year. Colon's base salary for this season is just $2MM, making him more affordable than the alternatives that will pop up on the market.
I know it’s nothing more than a pipe dream at this point, and fans of all 30 teams would say the same thing, but man I’d like to see Hamels in a Sox uni next year.
Agreed. Money will be too much. Of all the top tiered possible FA SP.. Hamels, Grienke, Sanchez.. Anibel is the only one whom has a remote chance of fitting into a possible Sox budget and if boston goes looking for another SP, it probably will come via trade if they do not find that young Alex Wilson can hold them over until either Ranaudo, or Barnes can help out.
I don’t think it’s about the money as much as it is about the years. Also, they are going to have too many pitchers as it is next year (not that that is a reason not to get more pitching because obviously you can never have “too much” pitching, especially a pitcher of Hamels’ caliber, but I think it does become a consideration when you add it to the amount of money and years it would take to get a pitcher).
Well, we do have a decent amount of money coming off the books next year…$14.575MM from Ortiz, $12MM from Youkilis minus a $1MM buyout if they decline his option or trade him, $10MM from Dice-K, $6MM from Jenks, $3MM from Ross, $1.5MM from Padilla, $1.35 from Shoppach, and $1.04MM from Miller, as far as guys who make more than $1MM per year. I doubt they’d sink more money into a rotation with Buchholz, Beckett, Lackey, and Lester all signed to deals, but we can hope, right?
Nothing better than a quick and painless movement from the Colon.
This isn’t another “Screaming Jay” Hawkins song is it?
Did it put a spell on you?
That one also..
Thought some of us needed a comedy break from the hammering we have
gotten from a few not named posters today here who have been coming in
from waaaaayyy out in LF you know???
Screaming Jay has another song (besides the one you are thinking of) that fits those… People… very well…
Better be kidding about Colon..
no, i hope not, if we can somehow manage a good prospect for him, then i’m all for trading him. he’s just a stop gap for parker/peacock and at this point, after a couple strong season, aj griffin and dan straily
edit: Brad Peacock might be coming up on wednesday to pitch, but the one thing is, even though he’s put up some pretty impressive, his fastball is still straight enough that i think he needs more time. Jarrod parker needs more seasoning regardless of how he looks right now.
This. Colon’s 39. He arguably got worse as the season progressed last year after his awesome resurgence (fewer Ks, more HRs, lower average velocity). If someone gets desperate for pitching, make it happen.
Also—Parker shouldn’t be up until September at the earliest and I’d rather *not* see Peacock until midseason/later this season. No reason to bring up top prospects in a noncontending year for them to get lit up/struggle.
one thing i’m even more interested in is if someone from midland gets called up to sacramento while one of them is in Oakland. I would LOVE for straily to be a rivercat, he has some nasty stuff from what i’ve read. Also last year and this year he’s put up some pretty solid numbers
edit: it might actually be someone from stockton since they wouldn’t need much of a ride up to sacramento or wherever they’re playing
i think its gonna be parker
Hamels has to realize it’s time to leave that sinking ship.
Phillies need either to trade Hamels now or trade Lee or Halladay to make room for his contract/replenish the farm. If you trade Hamels its either got to be Boston, New York or Dodgers. Preferably (and yes this is a preference so its what I would LIKE to happen) if we are forced to trade hamels I would like it to be to the Red Sox for a package of Daniel Bard, Will Middlebrooks and another midlevel or top prospect. You can compare Hamels with what C.C. Sabthia or Johan Santana was worth when they were traded.
Look the offense needs a boost and Middlelbrooks looks like a solid young 3B. With Bard you can plug him in as a starter or allow him to go back to the role as a bullpen guy. Phillies would still have Halladay, Lee and Worely and all their pitching prospects. Even if this year is a down one, we come back strong in 2013. Howard and Utley will be (hopefully) fully healthy then, we can hit free agency with the money we’ll save and maybe get a guy like Anibal Sanchez, Marcum or Grienke to replace Hamels.
Point is trading Hamels doesn’t have to be the end of the world as many make it out to be. But sigining him to a 140 million deal is going to kill this club finiacially considering we’re already paying Lee and Halladay 25 and 20 million a year respectively.
I don’t think you trade lee, he was already crushed when he was traded the first time then took less money to be a phillie. If you move hamels sure you lose hamels but you could get a pretty good haul of young talent which philly needs as they are getting a little old. i think your idea of trading him then signing someone would be the best thing for the phillies
The Red Sox would be CRAZY to give up both Will Middlebrooks and Daniel Bard for Cole Hamels…
I don’t think you can trade Cole unless we’re way behind in the standings come the All Star Break. If they get hot when Howard/Utley come back and can at least take a Wild Card spot, they could do some damage if they just get in.