It turns out that Jim Duquette's hunch that the Padres were a frontrunner for Cole Hamels, wasn't just a hunch. Philly.com says that the Padres and Phillies have indeed discussed a trade for Hamels and they're using newly acquired outfielder Wil Myers as bait.
Source: San Diego has talked about Hamels trade
The Padres have had discussions about trading for San Diego native Cole Hamels with new outfielder Wil Myers as potential bait, according to a baseball source.
Philly is in dire need of outfielders and the Padres have butt loads of them. Butt. Loads. If you haven't picked it up by now Padres GM A.J. Preller is unorthodox, he'll flip a player like I flip a U-turn on a one way street. We're bad boys.
Hamels doesn't have San Diego listed as a team in his no-trade clause in his contract and is under team control for as many as five years.
@Padres don't have Myers jerseys on sale in the team store. We should all pay close attention this week.
— Mike Ursery (@MikeUrsery) December 22, 2014