Thursday morning's baseball looks at Cole Hamels trade issues, Matt Harvey's excellence, and no one knowing anything about James Shields.
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There have been Cole Hamels trade rumors for almost the entire offseason, and they started much earlier than that. There have been specific teams involved, specific prospects targeted, and Phillies' general manager Ruben Amaro has even commented on the potential for a trade on numerous occasions. And yet, we're now less than a month out from pitchers and catchers reporting, and Cole Hamels is still on the Phillies. He might even stay there, as Amaro is standing firm in his belief that the trade return should include some of baseball's very best prospects.
Now, Amaro is not wrong: the Phillies should get some serious prospects back for Hamels, who is not only great but has a very reasonable four years and $96 million still owed him (five and $110 million should his option be picked up). Maybe it's time they give a little on their end to make that happen, though. The Phillies are richer than most teams thanks to their market, success that only feels like it happened forever ago, and a major television deal that involves the word "billions". If they want an incredible prospect return that will help reshape the franchise and turn it around, they might need to write a big check to whoever is giving them those prospects.
This isn't just a case of national writers telling the Phillies what they need to do, either. Teams have either found other means of acquiring pitching or would rather just stick it out sans Hamels instead of giving in to the current demands of the Phillies. Th result will be Philly retaining Hamels, who probably won't be Cole Hamels as we know him today by the time the Phillies are any good again. Lest you've forgotten how bad things are for the Phillies right now, they have their own quadrant in the win-now and win-later plot.
They need the prospects that Hamels will bring, and with the situation the team is in they likely need them more than they need Hamels. Amaro probably isn't being as unrealistic as he's been portrayed as, but at some point, the market is the market, and you need to adjust to that to get what you want, or take Hamels off the table. The latter seems to be the case for now, but as y'all know, that sort of thing can change with a single phone call.
- Some teams don't have their bullpens set yet, and that's a dangerous game to play this time of year. Someone should really sign poor Burke Badenhop, though.
- Baseball is looking to shorten the breaks in between innings to help shave some more time off of games. See, pitch clocks weren't the only thing they were going to do.
- Jurickson Profar and Matt Harrison both threw baseballs, and neither of them needed to undergo surgery as a result. Success!
- You might have forgotten about Matt Harvey while he was recovering from Tommy John surgery, so here are visual reminders of how filthy he is.
- If the Yankees didn't spend big because of the budget they already have in place, it's worth wondering if this means they won't spend big next year, either, since that year is already ridiculously expensive.
- No one knows who the favorite for James Shields is. The Padres are on the periphery, apparently, and would make sense in their park, but they aren't the most interested team. That would be the the mystery team.
- We know what the 2015 Red Sox rotation will look like, but what about the 2016 model? Their prospects have some work to do to fill the holes that will open, especially if the Sox aren't going to spend big on a free agent starter.
- Jung-Ho Kang signed a reasonable deal, and that's all to the good, but will he be a productive big-league shortstop?
- Don't forget that the Tigers are very, very rich, and don't mind spending their money. They let Max Scherzer walk and they're still likely paying the luxury tax in each of the next two seasons.
- Yeah, Chris Sale wasn't a free agent so it's not exactly the same, but his contract just keeps looking better and better.
- South Korea apparently knows something about Fernando Rodney that no one else does.