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The Phillies will probably trade Cole Hamels before the July 31 trade deadline. That’s not news. What is news is their sudden willingness to chip in some cash to help offset the remaining $88.5 million still owed to him over the next four years. Previously, Philadelphia was reported to want top-end prospects -- plural! -- as well as for the team acquiring Hamels to foot the entire bill. While the desire for a prospect package still exists (as it should), being willing to eat some of Hamels’ deal makes all kinds of sense for the Phillies, who are rich enough to make this happen in order to get the prospects they need and want.
It might be just what they need to do to convince the Red Sox part with whatever number of prospects the Phils’ deem appropriate. It might be the key to getting some mid-market teams, who previously weren’t able to acquire Hamels in the mix. It might just be Philly’s way of bringing Hamels back into the conversation two months before the deadline, at a time when he’s been pitching fantastically: Hamels began May with a 4.14 ERA thanks to a pair of shaky starts, but has allowed just seven runs over his last five, in which he’s also averaged nearly 7 2/3 innings per outing.
Now his season looks more like that of the Hamels that the Phillies were shopping this offseason, and with both Johnny Cueto and Scott Kazmir recently reminding suffering arm injuries -- Cueto his elbow and Kazmir his shoulder -- Hamels looks even better. It’s to be seen if taking on some of the deal helps the Phillies in negotiations at all, but it can’t hurt, especially not when Hamels might require his $20 million, 2019 option to be picked up in order to agree to a deal with 20 of the 29 possible destination teams.
- Justin Verlander made a rehab start on Sunday, and it did not go well, with the righthander’s command his main issue. Verlander has yet to pitch in the majors this season for the third-place Tigers.
- Pat Venditte pitches from the left and the right side. The A’s could use all the bullpen help they can get. So, why is Venditte still in Triple-A?
- Grant Brisbee has a message for Giants’ fans: Stop booing Juan Uribe, you weirdos. Hey, his words.
- Here’s a suggestion that the Cardinals eschew their normal draft strategy for an all-out spendathon, similar to what teams like the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays have done with the international market.
- Rangers prospect Joey Gallo has absurd power, and thanks to the wonders of video, you can see it in action with this dinger he nearly hit out of the stadium entirely.
- The Astros’ mascot, Orbit, celebrated his birthday this weekend, and possibly too hard: he went streaking and had to be stopped by his mascot friends.
- The Mets are rolling with a six-man rotation in order to keep Noah Syndergaard in the majors, but they have more pitching prospects on the way, so it’s time to think of places to trade Dillon Gee or Jon Niese.
- The Yankees front office can’t easily fix the team just yet, even if they want to.
- Whether you want to quote Sparky Anderson or Billy Beane, the idea is the same: the first two months of the season just tell you what a team has, not what they’ll eventually be, so what will the “real” 2015 season look like?
- Adrian Beltre will miss at least two weeks with a sprained thumb, so we won’t see him hit a homer from his knees until mid-June at the earliest. That’s just not fair.
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