Dodgers Like Cole Hamels, But Phillies May Ruin Dodger’s Fun With High Demands

The Phillies have finally begrudgingly made left handed starter Cole Hamels available for trade. But according to sources the asking price is sky-high.

Jon Morosi is reporting that the Dodgers and Cardinals are both interested in the 30-year old lefty. The Phillies are pretty awful this year and with their aging roster are looking to dump anyone and everyone and go into a full rebuilding mode. Or they should. I mean I complain about the Dodgers being old, but really the only guys I want DFA’d are a few of the relievers. But Philadelphia’s entire roster is old. Like crotchety Angela Lansbury old.

Cole Hamels wants to come to LA, but Ruben Amaro won’t let him- Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Cliff Lee will probably be available too, but Hamels is the better get. He’s younger, under contract, and still in his peak. He’s going to demand a high return though. Are the Dodgers ready to cough up some of their prospects for him?

So what would the Phillies need? Everything. Yup, they need everything. But if we could dangle a couple of lower level prospects in front of them, would they bite?

It would probably be someone like Chris Anderson, or Tom Windle. Heck we could throw in Chris Perez too. He’s super available Philadelphia! So would the Phillies make that deal? Probably not. I mean this is all just conjecture on my part. Of course they’re going to want Joc Pederson. Or Julio Urias, or Zach Lee.

There’s really not much we can give the Phillies. Anderson and Windle. That’s it. It seems unlikely the Dodgers would want to part with Alex Guerrero, or Erisbel Arruebarrena. We do have a Chone Figgins available. He’s a great mentor Philadelphia!

Obviously the Phillie’s asking price is going to be ridiculous. Probably in the fort knox range. Apparently Hamels can block trades to 20 teams. But guess what? The Dodgers are NOT one of those teams. But neither are the Angels, Nationals, Yankees, Braves, Red Sox, and ughhh the Cardinals.

So I’m pretty sure those teams will all want Hamels. Although we don’t want Hamels going to the Cardinals. That would be bad. Those sneaky screws will try to get him, I know they will.

You see Hamles is having another fine season. The three-time all-star is 5-5 but has a 2.72 ERA in 18 starts. He’s whiffed 125 and walked 39 in 122.1 frames. He’s posted a 9.2 whiff per nine rate, and an FIP of 3.02. He’s had three 200+ whiff seasons, and five seasons of 200 or more innings pitched. He’s good.

Another thing that would help him fit in well with the Dodgers is that he also looks like a bird. Yup, we would have another bird like pitcher to pair with Zack Greinke. But Hamels looks more like a regular bird, and Greinke has more of an angry bird look. Either way, I think it’s a fit.

Plus Hamels has a nick name of Hollywood. It’s perfect. Why would Amaro want to ruin this for him by asking for too much in return? You can’t have that nickname and not pitch for the Dodgers right?

The Dodgers would also have to pay a good portion of his contract in order to get him. Hamels is owed 90 million dollars from 2015 through 2018. Then he has a 20 million dollar club option for 2019  that can vest if he pitches 400 innings from 2017-2018, or 200 innings in 2018. It would actually vest at 24 million of he reaches that. He’s got about 7.87 million remaining on this year’s salary. Not like the Dodgers couldn’t afford him.

But yeah the Phillies aren’t going to do it unless we give them Joc Pederson. Damn it. Damn their exorbitant asking price. Maybe if Ned asks real nice like, they’ll just give him to us. Tell you what Philadelphia, if you give us Hamels, we’ll make sure to knock Washington, and Atlanta out of the playoffs. It’s a win-win for everyone.