4:10pm: A few weeks ago the Phillies called around to suggest they might be open to discussing trades involving Hamels and Victorino, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (Twitter links). One executive says teams wouldn't have wanted to approach the Phillies about their star players at this time because it could be perceived as an insult.
8:04am: In anticipation of possible midseason trades, the Blue Jays have asked the Phillies about left-hander Cole Hamels and center fielder Shane Victorino, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. Though GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has said the Phillies could become sellers and Hamels and Victorino are on track for free agency this offseason, no deal is close or likely.
Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos asks about other teams’ star players regularly, but there’s a difference between due diligence and serious trade talks. The Blue Jays have reportedly inquired on Felix Hernandez, Michael Pineda, Gio Gonzalez, Jose Reyes, Alex Gordon and others under Anthopoulos without acquiring any of those players. Meanwhile, Amaro told Rosenthal that he needs to be mindful of the Phillies’ short and long-term goals.
“I can’t shut any doors down,” he said, without addressing specific trade scenarios. “You try to be creative. And there are a lot of creative GMs out there who have different goals.”
Amaro said he doesn’t expect to be a seller this summer. Yet he’s realistic and acknowledges he may have to take on a new role at the upcoming trade deadline. The Phillies have traded for Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence leading up to recent trade deadlines.
It's not surprising that Anthopoulos would inquire on Hamels and Victorino in my view. We know the Blue Jays check in on players routinely and there's no harm in starting dialogue early. This is a juicy rumor that tells us something about the respective styles of the GMs involved, but it doesn't mean a trade is brewing.
Hamels will not be traded, Lee, Halladay will get traded before Hamels does!
Hamels WILL be traded because he’s a FA at the end of the year. The Phillies would like to cash in before they lose him. IF they lose him.
I gotta agree, with alot of teams who are still in contention by AS break their all gonna inquire on Hamels and the phillies will take the best possible offer for him. their not going to risk not getting him back in the off season with out getting anything in return.
And if Lee gets traded, how much you expect them to eat of his contract? I’d assume they’d eat at least half, if not close to it, considering he’ll be making $25 million I think the next 3 years. Although if he continues to have an ERA int he 1’s and 2’s, maybe they only pay a porition of it, but with his age and past injuries, I still think they’d have to pay a good amount.
AA isn’t “starting dialogue early.” He’s testing for weakness.
AA lives vicariously through himself.
He is the most interesting GM in the world.
Wonder if Halladay would want to jump ship back to TO?
no lol
might have a better chance at the playoffs this year… haha
They could trade Hamels and re-sign him in the offseason
There is blood in the water and the sharks are starting to circle the Phillies…
“AA is testing for weakness”. I love how some of the Jays fans think every other GM is dumb. Not every one is Tony Reagins. How is Rasmus working out for you?
Better than Pujols this year, it’s a small sample size, I’m not worried about him still. And to get Rasmus we gave up 3 relief pitchers and a AAAA outfielder
Rasmus is doing just fine. The AL east has six or more top pitchers not like the AL west that has only Verlander.
Jays haven’t played their AL East rivals too much yet, though. That starts next week.
“He’s testing for weakness” I like how some Jay’s fans think AA is god and every other GM is stupid. Not every GM is Tony Reagins. How is Colby Rasmus working out?
Just fine actually. How’s Rios and Dunn working out for you? See what I did there?
Awesome!
you forgot zac stewart.
AA is checking in on these players because he wants to know the asking price for these players. AA likes to have a finger on the pulse at all times. This is no different than Walmart checking Taget’s price for a lawnmower.
Well, it IS different. Walmart isn’t checking Target’s price on a lawnmower because they need one and want to buy it.
Does calling a team about players mean a trade is going to happen? Of course not. The details have to match up too. But it does express interest in the player, it expresses a perceived need on the part of the calling team and possibly, depending on the response, interest in pursuing the deal on the other side.
It also says something about AA’s mindset: both of these players are due to be free agents, so he either has interest in signing them or he’s thinking about making a push for the division (or both).
All of this means something. Not that a trade is going to happen, but it’s surely not “I wonder how much a lawnmower is going for these days.”
They’ll trade him, if only to get something in return instead of letting him fold into free agency.
Or they will try to sign him like most teams would
* ring ring *
Ruben Amaro: “Hello?”
Alex Anthopolous: “Hey man.”
RA: “Hey, Alex. What is it?”
AA: “Hamels or Victorino?”
RA: “Huh?”
AA: “Just saying. Last place.”
RA: “What?”
AA: “Hamels or Victorino?”
RA: “We’re less than six games out.”
AA: “Sure, sure.”
RA: “It’s May. EARLY May.”
AA: “Yep. Gotcha. Talk to you later.”
* click *
meh
Lunchbox! Take down that “Meh”.
I picture it something closer to;
Ruben Amaro: “Hello?”
Alex Anthopolous: “Hey man.”
RA: What’s up?
AA: These are not the droids you are looking for
RA: Huh?
AA: Hamels & Victorino
RA: Who?
AA: You will trade them to me
RA: Yes, I will trade them to you
AA: Future considerations is all you want
RA: Yes, future considerations…
AA: And you will eat their salaries
RA: Yes, tastes good
If Amaro was willing to unload Hamels and Victorino for their contracts it would have happened already, considering MLB players get paid like most people weekly.
You do know a joke when you see it dont you?
Most people get paid weekly?
Actually, MLB players get paid monthly.
It only works on the weak minded……But he definitely has that mind trick. He got the Angels to take Vernon Wells….
No one is gonna say how HILARIOUS this is?? Outstanding humor, jaysbooster.
Thanks NJ, appreciate the support 🙂
“Schschshc” Brian Cashman cuts in BC: DOOM!
Considering Lee and Halladay are signed to huge paydays, It’s safe to say Hamels can be had if a team is willing to part with enough to lure him away. That said, if the Blue Jays are serious about Hamels, I’d have to think Rickey Romero would be what the Phillies are looking for. He’s young, left handed and under contract for much much less than Hamels. As far as Victorino, the Phillies would be selling low, and I think if you cloned Rasmus, you’d have to make 2 (better) Rasmuses to acquire Victorino.
lol . yah a few months of hamels for 4 years of romero.
Well done sir. well done.
Funny that your low end comment recieved a ‘like’. But anyways I was saying that’s what it would take IMO for Amaro to trade Hamels. Never said it was fair.
you couldn’t be more wrong. seriously
Lol…his “low end” comment has 31 likes as of right now. Your original comment has 0. What does that tell you…
The biggest thing here is that AA is going to realize that trading for Hamels is futile, because Cole will not want to resign with Toronto when southern California teams will be gunning for him as well as Boston/NY etc.
if the jays are ready to pony up money, I don’t see why he wouldn’t choose toronto as a destination
You could be right. I’m thinking though that if the Dodgers’ offer is in the ballpark of the Jays’ offer, which it most likely will be, he would rather go to back to California.
I would think the dodgers would first want to ink kershaw up and then worry about bringing in another pitcher.
haha, you seem to not understand that Romero under contract is worth more than Hamels in a walk year.
Hamels is better, but trading romero for pretty much any pitcher is a pretty lateral move, regardless of contract status.
I’ve got to think the Phillies #1 priority in any of these deals is to bring back a third baseman of the future.
Obviously Lawrie’s off the table.
Clearly not becoming a GM anytime soon. I suspect, however, that any trade involving Cole Hamels will require the Jays to part with Travis D’arnaud.
Ok, hypotheticals are fun, right? That said, this is purely hypothetical.
Blue Jays Acquire SP Cole Hamels and OF Shane Victorino
Phillies Acquire SP Rickey Romero, OF Colby Rasmus, SP Kyle Drabek and cash
Sound crazy? Because it is. Neither team gets better. Pointless.
Obviously philly would get high end prospects back…
wow.
How do the phillies not get better in that situation? Even Tony Reagins wouldn’t make that trade. just please stop.
The pointless part is you thinking that “if” and thats a big if, a trade would happen, none of those players from the Jays would be involved. Especially Romero.
Think something along the lines of a Hutchinson or Norris, plus a Jacob Anderson or Marisnick + another 1 or 2 high Ceiling prospects. Remember what Halladay was traded for? Think along those same lines, if not less considering Halladay was a lock to extend his contract, while Hamels is not.
Wouldnt be the same as Halladay unless the Jays can extend him, then the price goes WAYY up! In a walk year, the price comes down.
Barring extension, Ricky Romero alone would be enough to net Cole Hamels because of years left and numbers. Besides I would rather have Ricky and Hamels than Ricky for Cole. Plus Ricky is at least proven to pitch in the AL East, who knows with Hamels.
You are proposing “Winter Meeting” trade scenarios. Keep in mind, we are speculating on “Trade Deadline” scenarios between a “Buyer” (Blue Jays) and a “Seller” (Phillies). Typically, a buyer only moves a 25-man roster player because he is scuffling, in his arb years, and out of options. As a result, you can only consider players in the “Adam Lind” bin.
They would be smart to think about trading them. Remember, they traded their top pitching and hitting prospects and others for Hunter Pence last year. If they truly do become sellers, I would suggest doing it to have for the future.
whatever Phillies give up in pitchers the Jays will have to compete financially with the Yanks who are desperate for pitching and winning. The jays not so much as they only expected to finish 3-4th. Our future success will be based on surprisingly good rooks not over the hill expensive vets.
IMO
Inquire all you want.But do not trade Lawrie !!!
Trust me.
Lawrie is as untouchable as it gets.
any quality pitchers coming available will be immediately picked up by the desperate Yanks. Our future will not be based on old over paid vets but rooks who will become old overpaid vets in time, if we are lucky.
Wow, it would be awesome to see something like this happen. Though I don’t see any of them signing long term if they get dealt right away, Hamels looks like he wants to test the market. I’m all for different teams being active buyers at the deadline though, and it would be glorious to see the Phils waving the white flag.
Cole Hamels is basically Brett Cecil. Same guy!
Is that you Wilner?
Phillies could be up to some tricks. Say they trade Hamels and Victorino for nice prospect packages at the deadline to contenders… Neither will sign deals with new teams so they still hit free agency. Phillies resign them on pre-agreed deals that are already done up. Phillies retain both their stars, same way they would have if they did in season signings, but now they have the prospects from the other teams also… Hey, it could happen?
Send Roy back to Toronto. The National figured him out like the American league did his last two years there. They finally stop swinging at his bad pitches forcing hit to throw his hittable strikes and he is getting rocked like the last 2 years in T O.
What are you talking about? Other than that game against Atlanta, he’s been phenomenal this year (minus his k/bb ratio).
pfft, he’s got a better than 3:1 K/BB ratio. That might not be typical Roy Halladay good, but it’s still a good K/BB ratio.
Absolutely, just saying it was really the only aspect of his game that’s out of the ordinary.
I know. I mostly just had to comment because I found it funny that you can legitimately call a 3:1 K/BB ratio “bad” with Halladay.
Wait, what? He has a 3.28 ERA (2.54 FIP) and he’s “getting rocked?” His last two years in Toronto were two of the best years of his career (2.78 ERA and 3.03 FIP; and 2.79 ERA and 3.06 FIP respectively) and he was getting rocked then too?
Roy was NOT getting rocked in Toronto. Far from it, actually.
Blue Jays Acquire: Cole Hamels, Shane Victorino (If they sign extensions)
Phillies Acquire: Bret Lawrie, Kyle Drabek, Travis D’ Arnaud, Deck McGuire, and Anthony Gose
Phillies Acquire: Jordan Walden, Jerome Williams
Angels Acquire: Dominic Brown, Chad Qualls, Jose Contreas
Phillies Acquire: Al Albuquerque
Tigers Acquire: Placido Polanco, Deck McGuire
Phillies Lineup:
1. SS Jimmy Rollins
2. 3B Brett Lawrie
3. LF Chase Utley
4. 1B Ryan Howard
5. RF Hunter Pence
6. C Carlos Ruiz
7. CF Anthony Gose/ Juan Pierre
8. 2B Freddy Galvis
9. Pitcher
(Hypothetical Trades)
Why would the Blue Jays do that? Lawrie alone would be enough for me to pull the trigger and Hamels is my favorite player.
Not a chance the Blue Jays trade Brett Lawrie.
More realistically it could be something like Drabek and Gose for Hamels.
Then Victorino to Texas for Mike Olt (wishfully). (also… obviously part of a package from both sides).
Thank you. Sincerely.
This isn’t MLB The Show with cheats on.
*facepalm*
You make a joke about video games just because I have a custom Hunter Pence cover as my profile picture? Very clever. By the way, last time I checked, the Tigers need a second baseman, and the Phils need some relief help. If the Angels trade Borjous (not likely) and they want somebody to replace Tori Hunter, they can get Dom Brown!
Blue jays trade a joke?
I’m jost saying what I believe the Phils would be asking for if they would send BOTH Hamels and Victorino to the Jays. Yeah, it sure is a hell of a package for two players, but if the Phils would want to give up arguably two of their top players, they would be asking for an arm and a leg.
so you just said jays get cole hamels for roy halladay (gose,d’arnaud and drabek) and shane victirino for brett lawrie and deck mcguire…do you even think before you post…how old are you my friend….please let the elders discuss some baseball here.
First off, I can post what I want to post. I’m entitled to my own opinion, an so are you. Secondly, I’m just posting what I think the Phils would ask from the Blue Jays for BOTH, yes BOTH Hamels and Victorino. Many teams would want to have an ace like Hamels atop of their rotation, and a team leader like Shane Victorino patrolling the outfield. I guarantee you, if the Phils would do a deal that involves BOTH Hamels and Victorino, they would ask for a lot. It’s not like we are talking about John Lannan or Xavier Nady here.
you are entitled to an opinion… but try to think twice in your head before you post my friend…. You just said blue jays should trade their absolute top 5 prospects for renting out cole hamels and vicarino so that they can play one extra wild card game at end of this year…..do you think that makes sense?
Not really, but if you read my post completely, I said that the deal would only happen if they only reached extensions with the Jays.
that line up would stink
This is probably the worst trade I’ve ever seen the only team that wins are the Phillies. Oh wait I see you got a Phillie as your avatar…
i know you cant be expected to know about another teams young players as well as your own but this is so off its not even funny. shame on shane.
Jays giving up way to much, both players are free agents at the end of the year, since I like creating fake trades, I’ll make one of my own.
Cole Hamels, Shane Victorino for Justin Nicolino, Anthony Gose/Jake Marisnick, Deck McGuire, A.J. Jiminez, Jesse Hernandez
jake marisnick is a 5 tool player already in minors and AJ jiminez is one of the top catchers in minors…sorry jays are not atlanta braves who give away future all stars for one year rentals.
I would trade this for hamels(signed to contract) and victirino(signed to contract) if i was AA….justin nicolino, Deck Mcguire/Chad Jenkins, Adam Lind and Sean Ochinko as a throw in if they need a catcher.
Too little for them signed, the Phillies gave up Drabek, Taylor and D’Arnaud for Halladay alone.
you should realize that cole hamels has not won more than 15 games/year untill now and I think victarino is on a decline based on his numbers along with being FA….so you get 2 top prospects and 1 decent power hitting first baseman who is still young, along with a backup cathcer thrown in. amaro can negotiate for bit more but this should be the basic trade.
wins, eh?
but the Phillies also got a full season of Halladay before his contract was up. If Hamels goes mid year, the Phillies would get better prospects than what they gave up to get Lee from the Indians. If they wait until trade deadline, they would get guys in the same boat as Dom Brown.
wow, that wouldn’t even be close if they were in fact given a contract extension window.
Sure, I could buy they inquired on those two, especially Hamels. However, I can’t see the Jays acquiring Hamels without coming with an extension.
Exactly! that is the ONLY way AA makes the deal. It will be the same thing that happened with Halladay or nothing.
Well then his value goes up and they better be willing to pony up some prospects.
jays think of brett lawrie as the better version of george brett….please have a look at george brett’s stats before you post.
Also deck mcguire have 4 above average pitches in AA and he is controllable for many years…i hate it when people post without any knowledge.
bring back pat gillick!
jays or phillie?
If its Phillies, Pat Gillick never really left.
The Phillies need to keep Hamels! He’s our future, and irreplaceable. Trade Doc, Lee or Victorino and sign Hamels for 6/140 in the offseason
Buster reporting Phillies started all this
People are SO wrong in here with their trade speculations between TOR and PHI. First, forget about the Jays giving up either Lawrie or Romero for Hamels and/or Victorino. Romero is a #1 pitcher with a 4-year contract left to a very team-friendly contract. Lawrie is not only the best prospect Toronto has, but is one of the best hitter of the team since last season. Projected to be a monster.
Why on Earth would the Jays trade 2 very good, controlable, 5-stars players AND many other prospects as most of you proposed for half a year of 2 very good ballplayer. This is just ridiculous.
Also, if you take a look at all the trades AA made, he loves getting players who are under-control for a lot of years.
okay, let’s not get too carried away here. Lawrie is clearly off limits, you are right about that. Romero though is not as good of a pitcher as Hamels. He might be more valuable given his contract, but let’s not pretend like he is more legitimately a #1 than Hamels.
if hamels and romero were signed to the same contract 10 out of 10 people would take hamels. but they’re not. romero has a very team friendly contract for the next 4 years and by the end of this year hamels will be making 15-20mil for the next 7 years at least. therefore romero is worth more than hamels
Never said Romero was better than Hamels. I said Romero was a #1, which is true, and I said his contract was a team-friendly one, which is also true. Don’t get me wrong on that. However, AT THE MOMENT, is Romero worth more than Hamels ? Absolutely. Everyone knows Hamels will test the market. I rather want a Romero at this price than a Hamels who’ll get paid around 17 millions/year for more than 5 years, for a team to be known at the end of the season.
I’d say Romero is more of a solid #2.
Even if Hamels is better than Romero, I don’t think AA trades Romero. Even if it’s an upgrade, it’s not enough of one to warrant the trade. AA would want to add Hamels to a rotation with Romero and Morrow.
It’s possible the Phillies could still be high on Drabek, and though Drabek hasn’t been brilliant yet, he’s grown by leaps and bounds this year in the intangibles (composure, etc.). And he’s young, his future isn’t set yet.
Lind and Thames, maybe Escobar, I think, are really the only big league positional players AA would move right now, and I don’t see Amaro being interested in either of them. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Snider included, though that would hurt me personally.
The fact is, if Amaro asks about Romero or Lawrie, as many on here have suggested, he’s essentially saying he doesn’t want to make the trade. He knows they’re not moving, so if he wants to do a deal, he wouldn’t even ask about them.
The prudent thing is to add role players without subtracting from the roster or from the big picture of being a perenial contender…..and its going to happen soooner than later for the jays.
Phillies wont get anything for either of them IF they become sellers (it’s way too early. Many of us had the Cards dead and buried last year.) When is the last time a team got anything worthwhile in a midseason trade? They might as well just hang on if they are not in first place and see if they can grab a wild card.
Astros got a great return for Pence and a decent return for Oswalt.
Zach Wheeler for Beltran isn’t a good return?
At the time, CC fetched a great prospect as well.
Jays do not need to give up a lot for Hamels. They have pretty well the best farm system right now. NONE of their top five minor league players for Hamels. Jays will offer a major league ready player at a position the Phils need. Travis Snider or maybe Marcus Thames will do it
Marcus Thames? Really? If the Jays can trade Marcus Thames for ANYTHING it will make the Vernon Wells trade look good for the Angels.
Is Marcus Thames a new player ? I know Eric, but Marcus doesn’t sound familiar at all… 🙂
That being said, I doubt the Jays would give major league players actually. Their farm is so deep, they can throw good prospects and still don’t affect their MLB roster.
Marcus Thames was the guy that Tigers fans went insane about when Dmitri Young got the opening day LF nod over him.
Aren’t the Jays waiting until Pujols is on the block? LOL
jays should go get allen craig. wheres he gonna go when berkman comes back…
Am I the only one who sees some upside to this? Hear me out
here before the thumbs down start raining upon me. Both Hamels and Victorino
and are under team control for this season only till they hit free agency, this
makes them both prime candidates to be traded because it is highly unlikely the
Phillies will offer Victorino something long term (age) and Hamels what he
wants (money). The best possible thing for Ruben Amaro to do is to trade them
for something to prevent getting short changed. All this is a back story for
the next section here and why I think the Jays would have looked into this even
if it is kicking tires. A possible trade would include Thames, Lind, Cordero
another bullpen arm (Villanueva?) plus one B grade prospect (something the
Phillies lack even one of). Thames is young, won’t require a large contract,
and can produce modestly with some upside as opposed to Victorino who is only
getting older. Lind on the other hand would be a good fit for them as their
everyday first basemen till Ryan Howard comes back; perhaps a switch to the NL
would do him some good. Everyone else listed is either unwanted or unnecessary.
Now let’s say the Jays did go through with the trade and had both Hamels and
Victorino. What would change exactly? Our rotation would be near top tier with
Romero, Morrow, Hamels, Alvarez and Drabek. I would Hutch down in AAA working
on his stuff for one more year than punish him through a MLB season. It would
serve him well and make our rotation much stronger. Also we’d have Victorino in
left field that has a much stronger presence than Thames and (wait for it) Vladimir
Guerrero play first base. Knock on me all you want for this idea but if Vladdy
can hit .290, 16 HR and 60 RBI like last year for the time being in a Jays
uniform, I’ll take that over Lind who’s hitting under the Mendoza line. Now
look at that, we have a nice Jays line-up with some pop in the bats and a
rotation to be reckoned with. This would be a great short term solution as the
Jays would surely make a mark in the AL east then. However in the long term,
this is how I see it, AA lets Hamels and Victorino both walk after the season
is over. There’s no way we can afford a $20m/y salary for a pitcher and a
$15m/y salary for an old temporary player. It’s the best possible thing to
happen because next year then we bring BACK Hutch from a dominant AAA outing
and (fingers crossed for this one) Travis Snider is finally able to be
consistently good in left field to replace Victorino. We’d also let Vladdy walk
too but that would mean next season, all the Jays need are a new first basemen.
One piece missing rather than 20 certainly looks good.
Um, so u are getting an Ace and a very solid CF for nothing. The Phillies objective in trading those two would be either 1) get younger, or 2) get better. Objective FAIL. You sure you do’t have any other sunk cost players to throw in there? But hey, you were kind enough to throw in a grade B prospect. LOL
Quality comment, Ruben Amaro is really going to let both of them walk for nothing. If you were a GM and were offered this, you’d have to look at all options available. He isn’t going to sign Hamels for 20 million+ a year and Victorino for his money either. He either trades now or gets nothing. Amaro doesn’t have the gift of getting better or getting younger but here he is given the opportunity of it. Thames is hitting just as well as Victorino is and he’s MUCH younger with tremendous upside. The rest of the deal is just for Hamels because he will walk anyways. There aren’t many other teams willing to take in such a risk. I don’t think you quite understand what a grade B prospect is exactly. Let’s say we upped the offer to one of the Jays better prospects which we have boatloads of, certainly Amaro would be paying more attention then no? He’s getting something for nothing. You have to make the most out of a sinking ship.
Tremendous upside? Like about to be replaced with Snider kind of upside? LOL. No worries. Victorino may has similar slugging ptc. and average while being totally different players. Victorino is a Gold Glove quality CF who is also a table setter batting leadoff. Thames is a fledgling left fielder who bats like 7th with no power nor speed. Sounds pretty similar to me. U live in a fantasy world where making a trade will send your beloved Jays to the World Series. Take off the blinders. All of the players in your offer suck. U seem to like thames, but he is being replaced with Victorino so it fits your total upside and no loss trade. The others in ur offer, even you want to unload. Is lind batting above the mendoza line? I don’t think he is but haven’t looked. Is cordero’s era under 10? They have already given up on the train wreck decision to make him the closer. Bottom line, ur offer makes zero sense to the Phillies. That is all I was pointing out. Made up of players that you as a fan want to get rid of. I actually thought it was kind of funny. Which was why I asked if you were sure you couldn’t think of any other scrubs to include for a World Series MVP ACE and Victorino. Have a good one dude.
Eric Thames is 25, has PLENTY of time to work on his stuff. He’s not the greatest sure but neither is Victorino, who isn’t a gold glove quality CF anymore. He’s getting older, he has some of the lowest range percentages right now. It’d be foolish to resign him and to unload him for Thames would be for a temporary solution. Your team is tanking and you need to take off your blinders, Phillys are going nowhere in that division for a while with Washington and Atlanta there now. Like I said, being a GM, you have to keep your options open for everything as Amaro already said. The trade makes sense, you just can’t fathom it because you think the Phillies are in charge here when they know ANY suitors including the Blue Jays or any other team are the ones who wear the pants in the decision making now. Both Hamels and Victorino are not going to resign, that’s close to being a fact. Any offers including these hypothetical ones are only possible because of the unique situation that both those players put you in. If you can’t acknowledge the prospect part as one of the main focal points then I’m not sure if you understand what I’m getting at. These aren’t ANY prospects, these are near MLB ready stars in the making. Amaro already lost Drabek, D’arnaud and the flipped prospect Gose. Any of those back would be enticing to him because he knows they’re top tier players. He didn’t even want to trade them for Halladay but got desperate, just as he is now.
We should get somebody really good for Hamels, but we won’t get SQUAT!