On July 26, 2000 the Philadelphia Phillies traded 33-year old Curt Schilling to the Arizona Cardinals. In return the Phillies received Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa, Vicente Padilla and Travis Lee. Schilling went on to appear in three All-Star Games, win 20 games three times and win the World Series with two different teams. The Phillies got two seasons out of Daal, Figueroa was picked off waivers in his first season with the Phillies, and Travis Lee played through three mediocre seasons before the Phillies managed to bring in Jim Thome. Padilla turned out to be serviceable for the most part, but that was the best the Phillies got in return for Schilling, a pitcher still with good years in front of him.
Times may be different, but it seems there are plenty of baseball people who feel the Phillies should rush into making a similar move with Cole Hamels. At this point it appears the Phillies are set to open the 2015 baseball season with Hamels at the top of the starting rotation, yet noted baseball people are suggesting this would be the worst possible thing to happen in Philadelphia since nobody on the Eagles let Joe Jurevicius run 71 yards downfield on third and two.
Buster Olney of ESPN wrote earlier this month the Phillies must trade Hamels soon. In it, Olney says rival GMs have suggested the Phillies saw the best possible trade proposal go off the board already, prior to the trade deadline last season. From an earlier Olney ESPN Insider column dated February 5;
Maybe it’s public relations. Maybe it’s in an Ahab-like search for the ultimate slam-dunk trade for big-name prospects. Maybe it’s just difficult to swap a player who has meant so much to the Phillies’ franchise.
But keeping him makes absolutely no sense within the Phillies’ current context, and beyond the risk of injury, it’s very possible that market forces will continue to cut more deeply into his value in the market, as they have for James Shields.
Shields, 33 years old (two years older than Hamels), signed a four-year contract worth $75 million with the San Diego Padres after Olney’s post. Hamels is currently locked in through 2019 including one optional year for $23.5 million per season. Like many pitfalls the Phillies must clear to move any key names, the contract carries some weight that prevents potential trade partners from jumping all the way in the trading pool. The Boston Red Sox appear to be the most likely potential trade partner, but the Red Sox are standing firm not giving up any top prospects. Instead, the Red Sox want to make a move more comparable to the move the Phillies made in 2000 when trading Schilling to Arizona. The Phillies should not accept that offer if the focus is on rebuilding with quality talent that may lead to building a potential contender moving forward. Yet the Phillies get ripped for not accepting a second-rate offer just to make a move.
The market for Hamels is not going anywhere so long as Hamels stays healthy and continues to pitch at the same level he has in recent seasons. Is it a risk to hold on to him and expect the same kind of production up until the trade deadline? It sure is. However, Hamels has a pretty solid track record with a couple of small blips along the way and it is not illogical to expect Hamels will be as marketable in June and July as he is right now. And closer to the trade deadline the Phillies could be in a more favorable position to move Hamels and get a better return. The team may still have to give in a little bit to make a move, but potential playoff contenders might be more willing to increase their offers to land Hamels.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Phillies went into the offseason with the wrong plan.
The Phillies’ plan should have been to trade Hamels this offseason, then Lee at the deadline. Club officials can muse about keeping both, then signing a big free-agent starter next winter to accelerate their rebuilding program. But they still would need offense, and they would be banking on both Hamels and Lee remaining healthy and productive — not a great bet with Lee turning 37 on Aug. 30.
What was the Phillies’ apparent goal at the start of the offseason? To trade as many veterans and collect as much young talent as possible. The team is not anywhere close to accomplishing that mission. Get ready for the parade of awkward news conferences.
Personally, I think the Phillies had that plan all along, but the right offers and the inability to be freed from hefty price tags were not there to make. They did move Jimmy Rollins and Marlon Byrd, so it is not as though the offseason was a complete mess. Making moves just to make moves is not necessarily the right course of action.
We will have to wait and see what happens, but the time to criticize Amaro for the handling of Hamels does not deserve criticism at this point in time. We have plenty more to criticize Amaro for right now anyway.
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