The Phillies won last night but are still in fourth place in the NL East, eight games out of first and 4.5 back of the wild card spots. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said he could be a seller if his team doesn't improve back in May, but in today's Insider-only blog post, ESPN's Buster Olney says Philadelphia has yet to put Cole Hamels or Shane Victorino on the market.
Olney says contending teams are monitoring the Phillies — as well as the Brewers — to see if they become sellers in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline. The Blue Jays have already inquired on both Hamels and Victorino, and you have to think almost every team in the league will check-in on those two at some point. Amaro could also market Juan Pierre, Ty Wigginton, and Joe Blanton at the deadline, though that is just my speculation.
Milwaukee could offer Shaun Marcum, though his recent elbow injury is throwing a wrench into those plans. He tried to play catch yesterday but things did not go well according to Todd Rosiak of The Journal Sentinel. The Brewers also have trade candidates in Zack Greinke, Randy Wolf, and Francisco Rodriguez.
Cole Hamels would look good in an Orioles uniform.
if they trade anything substantial for a rental player the front office really is as bad as people have claimed.
Amaro Jr. is an easy GM to fleece. Xavier Avery and Chris Tillman might be enough to get the job done (or swap Tillman with Michael Gonzalez.)
but its a seller’s market.
if an ace gets made available, there will be plenty of lavish offers, especially from other AL East teams.
There would be a ton of offers made, Hamels could be a real game changer to every team.
Amaro may strike out in free agency, but his trades have actually been very good.
Not the Pence deal..I can live with the otherss
The pence deal wasn’t the best, but he knew what he was getting, it hasn’t been because pence has regressed.
The Halladay, Lee, and Oswalt trades worked out very good for the phillies. They gave up barely anything looking back.
They gave up a top 15 prospect in all of baseball in D’Arnaud for Halladay, a top 40 prospect in Gose for Oswalt, a top 100 prospect in Jonathon Villar,and a very good OF in Michael Taylor…hardly nothing.
The only deal that was a clear win for the Phillies is the first Lee deal.
D’Arnaud tore his ACL I think I saw somewhere…
In hindsight, in the Halladay deal, I might have included Brown instead of D’Arnaud… but that’s it. (not a knock on Domonic but Franchise catchers are hard to find).
Tell that to the Indians GM (the only trade he was patient with). He’s made some good trades and bad trades like every GM.
The only aspect of being a GM he’s not great at is free agency… much too aggressive.
He wouldnt do that. He knows cole would be a hot commodity for a team that needs a push for the playoffs….Wouldnt listen to any offers unless it included pedro strop or darren o day
That was the old front office
-3 run diff means they should be hovering around .500, maybe a game under, and this is without utley, howard, and halladay.
there is no reason whatsoever they should be selling before very very late july, if at all.
5 games under, and that was with halladay only missing 1 month. Lee is still winless. I think they might be better off trading some of their more valuable pieces and competing in a couple years. They really have no good hitters, pence is their only middle of the order hitter, and he hits 25 tops. And howard and utley will keep them from signing anyone of value.
And fg has them at #20 in minor league system, so they don’t have a whole lotta value to get that middle of order hitter.
agree, but i’d take calls on hamels. someone might offer something crazy and if they do, you have to take it
No need to market them now – the deadline is 5 weeks away, there are some guys coming back off the DL and it’s tough to be out of a playoff race to begin with.
The potential haul could be bigger if they trade anyone now
There is ~8 weeks of regular season after the deadline, if they can get a player 5 weeks earlier then the haul should be bigger, and if you are out of the race it doesnt matter.
Exactly…. However, I do think the Phillies are convinced they need a change and will market guys, such as Wigginton, Blanton, Victorino for some bullpen help or offense. That’s not including minor leaguers who will be available, as always with Amaro. I don’t see them trading Hamels, and I’d be shocked to see them not re-sign him since they’ve got money to spend, especially heading to this offseason.
Shocked to see them not resign him… seriously? They have two other $20mil+ pitchers on the staff, and an aging lineup at virtually every position. Not only do they need to put the $25mil+/yr it will take to sign him into other positions like 3B and OF, but he’ll probably get a 7-year offer in free agency. That comes with huge risk for any pitcher, even one in the prime of his career. And then what do they do with Ruiz shortly when he enters the last year of his deal as another aging mid-30’s veteran. I don’t see them trading Hamels either, but I’d be shocked to see them resign him over other more pressing needs.
This team has a license to print money. They’ve sold out every home game since 2009, with increasing ticket prices. They’re playing catch with Hamels and his agent. No doubt he’ll be a Phillie.
And adding to that, just because they ship someone besides Hamels doesn’t necessarily mean they’re folding. They traded Abreau in the mid 2000’s and nearly made the playoffs after they dealt him. I think the front office is convinced they need a change. And their bench has depth and expendable guys who are starters.
“and expendable guys who are starters.”
who?
If Domonic Brown comes back from his sprained Knee soon enough and continues the hot streak he was on prior to his injury, Victorino could be the expendable starter.
I’ve always been a big believer in Domonic Brown. I think his plate discipline is needed in our line up. Utley can’t be the only guy willing to take a walk.
Give it up already, D-Brown stinks.
No he doesn’t. He was fine last year besides his lack of power.
Well said
Victorino, Wigginton, Polonco.
I still never really saw them trading Cole Hamels, given their desire to resign him to a long term deal. (I don’t think he wants to pitch in LA). It’d take a slight overpayment.
Phillies could really use a RHP reliever as Contreras/Stutes/Herndon/DeFratus all got hurt. I can see them swapping Wigginton or Pierre.. or even Mayberry if Dom Brown comes back soon and shows he’s ready.
The problem is, every team in baseball wants a right handed relief pitcher. Given the few sellers on the market, it’s going to be near impossible to acquire a bullpen arm without completely overpaying.
I don’t believe LA is really as flush with cash as many people believe.
payroll is at $105M No reason to think that they can’t afford to take on more salary. They have a huge market.
Oh how the mighty hath Phallen…How’s it Pheel? jk jk. In all seriousness, it’s not really all that funny when a team with such high expectations bombs like this. I can’t imagine how rough it’s gotta be on their team, the front office and the fans.
Amaro made some poor moves
poor moves? as in what? right now we’re struggling but this is still a team that won 102 games last year. and once the middle of our order is back our bench will be stronger and i’m sure we’ll add some bullpen help and then the division should look out!
As a baseball fan…definitely not. Utley is past his prime and Howard is losing is bound to lose his step (no pun intended) with all this serious time off.
Seriously? Name one of RAJ’s moves that the local sports media was actually critical of when he made it? Not a single one!
Cliff Lee to Seattle.
The Missanelli’s of the world called the Hunter Pence trade “a steal.”
Really? I would not be too quick to celebrate just yet.
The double header on Sunday was pretty painful.
I can’t speak for the rest of the fan base, but the team’s played to my expectations to this point, for the most part. The only disapointing thing is the veterans like Shane Victorino, Hunter Pence, Cliff Lee, and Antonio Bastardo, who continue to underachieve this year based on their past history. If we got normal performances out of all those guys, we’d probably at least be .500.
Agreed. They’re still only a handful of games out of a playoff spot.
still have a ways to go. do your takin in sept when the braves, mets, and nats fold!
Wouldn’t count on that this year. It’s a pretty solid division. The Mets were vastly underrated by the national media when the season began. With a healthy Chris Young and Johan Santana they have one of the best rotations in baseball. All five of these teams should win between 80-90 games.
The only way trading Hamels (perhaps the least likely Phillie to be traded, of all the ones other teams might possibly have interest in) makes any sense to me is if Amaro is absolutely, without question, 100% dead to rights convinced that nothing he does will ever persuade Hamels to sign with the Phils for terms Amaro can talk management into letting him offer. Even then, he probably trades him to a team he knows Hamels won’t want to resign with, so as to get a second chance at him on the open market.
Other players would make sense to deal. Victorino tops that list, as he’s quite useful to the right contender, we do have some potential CFs in our system already, starting with Dom Brown in AAA, and Vic is definitely going to want a longer-term deal than we’re comfortable with. However, I fully expect Amaro to convince himself that we can catch lightning in a bottle with $60+ million coming off the DL in the next month or two, and end up buying an overpriced middle reliever at the deadline, instead of selling.
There is no reasion for Jays trading Hamels or Victorino. Hamels will be gone after the season. Hamels will be looking a large contract that Jays can’t afford. Victorino will not be a upgrade to Rasmas. Jays already have Snider waiting for LF. If Phillies can’t keep three pitchers (Halladay, Lee, and Hamels) with over 20M contract per year, then they should trade Lee to Jays for d’Arnord and a SP.
Lee, Victorino and Jesse biddle for Brandon morrow, Colby rasmus and casey jansen
Ha ha! In your dreams. Slight age discrepancies there, plus I have been extremely impressed with Rasmus this year and Janssen as well. Casey has really stepped up for the closer role after Santos got hurt and CoCo decided he forgot how to pitch.
They traded lee and later signed him.
Victorino would look quite nice atop the Reds lineup and in CF.
billy hamilton in return would look nice atop ours
That wouldn’t happen.
Nobody’s giving up a top prospect for a struggling Victorino. Especially one two months away from free agency.
hahahahahaha
I would take anyone of the reds bullpen guys…anybody is better then ours right now
anyone that can get on base in front of votto would look nice. He seems like the only reds hitter than can take a walk aside from bruce.
Take him
Absolutely no chance of this happening, but Hamels, and Ty Wigginton would look good on a Braves uniform
I can’t imagine the load it would take to land him, definitely not worth it for a team that will not be able to resign him
Exactly
You’re right, it’s not happening
Will impending free agent Hunter Pence be shopped?
Only problem is that he’s not an impending free agent.
He is already getting high in salary too for one year left, he is over 10M.
He has one last year of arbitration, and I have always thought it’s a possibility because he has more value than a guy like Victorino because of that extra year under team control.
If anything they should be listening to offers for cliff lee if they do become sellers….I think the blue jays would bite on lee or hamels and victorino and i would want colby rasmus or travis snider in the minors and casey janseen or jason frasor. But time will tell and those things i want are no too realistic
we get victorino you get rasmus.
seems legit
Rasmus is on a tear! Hopefully he is breaking out and this is not just another tease from him.
I would take Rasmus over Victorino any day. Rasmus is way younger, and has a much higher ceiling. More power too. He is starting to figure out this hitting thing and I think he’ll be a perennial beast soon…
I’d do that.
obviously lol, but jays wouldn’t
AA’s got to make a bad trade at some point.
The Napoli trade doesn’t look very good.
True. Completely forgot he was a Blue Jay.
Depends, if they think they will only need .5-1.5 years to retool then they should keep him, but if it will be longer they may want to “listen”. He really won’t bring that much in trade because his contract is already paying him 25M. So unless they eat salary it will more likely be a salary dump, and if that they are better off just keeping him and hoping for the best.
the best trade chip the Phillies have is Hunter Pence. they can get good talent for him. Dom Brown is not considered a prospect anymore…i’d give you Brandon Lyon and a bag of skittles for him…thats it.
He’s not considered a prospect because he doesn’t have rookie status.
or because he sucks and has Never produced.
Hamels struggled when he came up, Utley struggled when he came up, among others.
He never got a true chance.
I’m not a huge DBrown fan but in all honesty, people expected him to come up and already show a groomed veterans skills, which is difficult for a 21 to live up to and with no breathing room considering the Phillies are a contending team. However, when he’s been called up he’s been aloof at best on the bases, and shows the lack to judge a line drive. His swing, when on is impressive.
I’d like to see the Jays swing for Hamels if they have permission to talk to him about an extension first.
Clifton Phifer Lee will get his first win of the year in Yankee Pinstripes. Where he rightfully belongs.
He belongs with a team that he never started a game for?
a team that he didn’t sign with while he was a free agent
Time to change your handle to Phillies_Ace35.
Yea that’s not happening, especially since Cashmann is trimming payroll
How exciting! Phillies bandwagoners will finally leave MLBTR.
Have fun in last place come seasons end