The Red Sox are one of the 20 teams on Cole Hamels’ no-trade list, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). As Rosenthal notes, Hamels wouldn’t necessarily block a trade to Boston, but he may want a team to pick up his 2019 vesting option ($20MM) in order to waive the clause. That would take Hamels’ total guarantee from four years and $90MM to five years and $110MM, likely making him a bit less attractive as  a trade target. Boston has been an oft-rumored potential trade partner should the Phillies decide to move their ace.
More from baseball’s Eastern divisions…
- Yasmany Tomas isn’t close to a deal of any sort, but Andy Martino of the New York Daily News tweets that Tomas’ agent, Jay Alou, had a one-on-one meeting with Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. at today’s GM Meetings in Phoenix.
- The Mets saw Tomas, but their scouts didn’t love him and they’re not likely to go near the $100MM range to sign him, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. He does note that the Mets are looking at outfielders on the trade market and willing to listen on Daniel Murphy again. However, the Mets have been underwhelmed by past offers for Murphy and may just hang onto him, as they’re comfortable giving Dilson Herrera more time to develop in the minors.
- Sherman also reports that the Yankees are “intrigued” by Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus. The Yankees are trying to get younger and are hopeful of acquiring youthful players that may not have had their best season yet, and Andrus could fit that bill. However, they’re also wary of Andrus’ huge $120MM contract extension, which doesn’t even kick in until next season.
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos tells Sportsnet’s Jeff Blair that he won’t allow other teams to dictate his offseason. What he means by that, Blair explains, is that the Jays won’t wait to see where a certain player signs before pursuing another. Blair recalls the 2006 Winter Meetings, when Anthopoulos was an assistant GM to J.P. Ricciardi. Toronto was hamstrung at the Winter Meetings waiting to hear back from free agents Ted Lilly and Gil Meche, both of whom signed elsewhere in the end. According to Blair, there was some stark internal criticism about how the other team’s plans were held up by other clubs. Toronto’s priority is re-signing Melky Cabrera, Blair writes, but the Blue Jays are aware that his QO and past ties to PEDs could lead to a slow-developing market.
I’d rather the Red Sox sign Lester for ca. 6/$150M than take on Hamels for 5/$110M. With the presumably serious prospects going to the Phils in any deal for Hamels, it looks less and less like there’s any savings to be had there.
Same here, it just doesn’t make any sense why the Red Sox should even consider pursuing Hamels at Amaro’s asking price. And chances are, Amaro’s asking price isn’t gonna get much lower.
I concur. I think $25M/year for five years with incentives of up to $5M/year as well as an easily attainable vesting option for year six would be fair and better than dealing three of Betts, Margot, Bogaerts, Swihart, Owens, and Rodriguez for Hamels.
I like the incentives idea but he’s going to want the guaranteed 145-150 million for 6 years. Still I want him back.
Committing 100 million to an unknown player is a very frightening commitment. Not saying Tomas will be a bust… but one of these days one of these 100million dollar international players will tank in the MLB and it is going to kill a teams payroll
Let me guess the 9 teams not on Hammels no trade list are the: Marlins, Rays, Pirates, Indians, A’s, Padres, Twins, Mets and Angels (aka the 9 teams least likely to trade for Hamels)
Last year the teams that he left off his no trade list were teams where he wouldn’t mind playing. Allegedly, the 9 teams left off his NTC for 2014 season were: Braves, BoSox, Angels, Dodgers, Yankees, Cardinals, Padres, Rangers, and Nationals. Obviously, the Braves and Nats are there because of the inter-divisional issues. And the Padres are there because its his home town team. But everyone else is pretty much people that can afford him and were thought to be contenders.
No, the Red Sox were confirmed not on the list of teams he was willing to go to last year after an initial report said that he had the Red Sox off his NTC, he had the Cubs on there surprisingly. I remember because people were making a big deal about it.
Possible. I’m just going by Cot’s contract info. All of these things are supposed to be private, so anything that comes out about it is volunteered or leaked.
Still, the point I was making was that last season, he NTC was more about where he wanted to play than it was about getting the option guaranteed.
Yeah, well he’s obviously had enough of the 9-9/8-14 records when he’s pitching.
If Hamels wants to use his no trade clause to leverage teams into guarantying his option, as the article suggests, he will have place the 20 teams most likely to deal for him on his no trade list.
I get what the article says – I just think he’s structured his NTC for comfort and ability to win over money (based on his teams that were on it last year).
At 5 years and $110 Million, Hamels is a better deal than any arm on the market… in a vacuum. The cost of young talent, however, I suspect would be significant.
From reports from last years trade deadline Amaro was asking for multiple top tier prospects from teams. A trade that will completely gut a farm. Not sure if he’s worth the price in prospects compiled with the remainder of his contract.
He should take note of what the Dodgers are doing (or trying to do). They are at least willing to eat salary from their surplus of OFers.
For the Sox to get Hamels, they’d likely have to deal Betts, Swihart, and Owens a long with some other prospects. Hamels is a great pitcher but giving up that much for him a long with the 110M contract is crazy considering there are decent pitchers on the market (Lester, Max and Shields). I’d rather pay that extra 30-40 Million to get Lester so we don’t have to gut our farm system.
Phillies asking for ALL THREE of Betts/Swihart/Owens would be a non-starter. That’s the foundation of a Stanton package. I don’t even think Sox would be willing to part with 2 of the 3 if they were taking on all of Hamels’ 90 or 110 million contract.
I agree but the Phillies will ask for the moon even if the other team is taking on Hamels contract. Amaro likely wont budge.
I’d rather see A-Rod at SS the next 3 years than Andrus at SS the next 8.
Arod would make Hanley Ramirez look like a defensive master, not to mention NYY is so concerned about his health they don’t think he can even play 3B in 2015. Andrus’ contract is horrible but doesn’t that make him a better trade target for the Yankees? Elvis is 26, 15MM AAV isn’t going to cripple the Yankees like it would other teams and because of his contract the Rangers wont be asking for significant prospects in return.
A better trade target with worse production. It’s not about the money with they Yanks, as we all know/jest. They need production. Not a 5m discount.
I would say 15m AAV + prospects is more expensive than 20m AAV, for Hanley, to the Yanks.
I think you’re missing my point. It’s not about wanting A-Rod to play SS. It’s about Not wanting Andrus at all.
Who do you want? Hanley? A. Cabrera? Realistically NYY needs a SS for 2015 and Andrus is better than any of the options they currently have under contract.
I’d rather have Lowrie or Cabrera (on a pillow contract) then Hanley at SS. But if the Yanks signed Hanley he’s playing 3B not SS.
There’s also Drew, Cabrera, and Lowrie. And there have been other trade candidates in the past like Gregorious.
The Yanks could pull of a trade for Alexi which I he shouldn’t cost too much.
Alexi will be pretty expensive in trade, he is outperforming his contract currently and the White Sox are not desperate to trade him.
Well there were no reports that he was available. All that last thing said was that teams are interested.
Right, but he is owed $120MM still, and his offense and defense are declining. At this point he doesn’t even look like a better player than Asdrubal who would require way less money.
His hip flexor(s) would tear the first time he went into the hole to make a “Jetarian” jump throw to first. I fully understand your apprehension about taking on Andrus and his pig of a contract though.
What does anyone this about Ian Desmond or starlin Castro potential trade? Price wise and talent?
The word on the ‘street’ is the Yankees are simply going to buy another team and then merge.
LOL – I wouldnt put it past em!
Mariners and Yankees might be a trade partner. Yanks have always loved Dustin Ackley and M’s have a few short stops. Pay all A-Rods contract and send him over.
In a heartbeat!
No one, and I mean no one in the entire world, wants Arod associated with their team. The guy is a PR nightmare.
Swing and a miss. Arod has negative value. Eating 100% of his contract and the Yankees send some prospects to Seattle…. Yankees get a signed Ken Griffy Jr. poster and a bag of balls. Those are the only realistic Arod trade proposals at this point.
No one would take A-rod… maybe the Yankees if he were playing for another team.
But i do see this as an offseason with the potential to have so many trades compared to years past. My phone seems to have a notification every hour.
I don’t think Andrus gets moved, at least not until Profar proves he is healthy. Nobody will take Andrus without eating a ton of money. Still don’t get why they didn’t trade Andrus when Profar came on the scene.
A team desperate enough would take Andrus contract and all. The Rangers wouldn’t get much back except some risky prospects and salary relief. As they have proven this season, they have guys to handle the middle if Profar isn’t ready yet. They kept Andrus because they had some dream of having Andrus and Profar in the middle and moving Kinsler to 1B, but we know how that turned out. Now they wished they’d traded Andrus to AZ for Upton. The bigger question is when the Rangers are going to learn to stop handing out 5 year deals to “fan favorites”, but not worth the money guys like they did with Young, Kinsler & Andrus?
One on one meeting = Amaro offered 10 years 150 mil no trade clause.
As a Mets fan I enjoy having a GM that is patient and not prone to knee jerk reactions that will cost the team in the long run. However, based on just about everything I have heard so far this offseason it sounds like they will essentially have the same team next year. They are reluctant to move their biggest trade chips and are unlikely to spend big on free agency, so where are these impact players coming from?
Well, I’m an idiot.
All this does is force the Phillies to eat money in the deal. Phillies could eat about 30 million making it a 5/80 deal which would certainly be a bargain. Not saying Phillies will, but if teams aren’t interested in that contract, I’m not sure what would interest them.
Yea, the thought of eating money on a Hamels trade makes me kind of sick because he’s been right on par, ERA and IP at least, with the other top pitchers in this class. He already has quite a favorable contract if you look at the market value for a top-tier guy. But when you talk about a trade you have to factor in the movement of prospect talent, which of course brings down the overall value of Hamels and, as you mention, might require eating some money or including another player in addition to Hamels
1. Betts, JBJ and Henry Owens for Hamels.
2. Pederson, Zach Lee, Pedro Baez and Matt MaGill for Hamels
3. Russell, McKinney, Mike Olt and Justin Grimm for Hamels and Papelbon.
4. Jorge Alfaro, Alex Gonzalez, Jake Thompson and Matt West for Hamels and Byrd.
Thoughts?
All are mostly overpays, but for RAJ to pull the trigger, hes going to need an overpay plus this is the “3 top guy” packages.
I think this is about what Amaro is going to demand. Hence why Hamels will be in Philly next year.
Lester is the best deal out there this winter, with no QA, he will get some big offers more than the Sox want to pay him. Lester would have to be motivated to go back to the Sox and give them a discount!
If Hamels requires a team to pick up his 5th year option, his value goes down the pipe. Who wants to pay Hamels 110mil AND give up their best young guys over giving up 150mil to Lester? Heck, I would rather give Scherzer 190 mil and keep my young guys over giving Hamels 110mil and giving them away
Completely agree. As a sox fan I don’t get all of this trade talk for Hamels considering we could pay 30 extra million to sign Lester which will allow us to keep out farm. Unless a team becomes desperate I don’t see Hamels being traded.