Philadelphia Phillies ace Cole Hamels is undoubtedly the leading man of the 2015 MLB trade deadline, with Hamels Watch 2015 set to dominate the headlines over a litany of lesser deals that will happen from here to July 31st. The biggest question coming out of HamelsGate? Who the heck actually has a chance to land him. Our answer comes in the form of The 5 Teams Most Likely To Trade For Cole Hamels.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The stipulations of Hamels' long-term deal with the Dodgers required him to provide the team a list of nine places he'd be willing to be dealt. Several media outlets believe Los Angeles is the de facto #1 on his list, perhaps mostly due to exposure (and potential endorsements) and the proximity to his hometown of San Diego. Hamels' $23.5 million tag for three years of team control is hefty by most teams' standards, but not the Dodgers. They have to be considered the frontrunner right now if in fact Hamels is moved at all (more on that later).
Chicago Cubs
The Phillies haven't yet bit on the notion of a Javier Baez/Starlin Castro-headed deal, but it would be awfully silly to discount the wheeling-and-dealing Theo Epstein and one of the deepest, most dynamic farm systems in baseball. By jumping on Hamels now it is plausible that the Cubs could approach it like as finding a complementary piece for Jon Lester without all the troublesome free agency courting stuff.
Texas Rangers
Advantage #1: The Rangers are one of two American Leagye teams not on Hamels' trade-veto list (the Yankees being the other.
Advantage #2: Philadelphia is reportedly enamored with the trade package combinations that could be built from the stock of slugger Joey Gallo, blue chip catcher Jorge Alfaro, and top-tier pitching prospects such as Jake Thompson and Chi Chi Gonzalez.
The Rangers could be destined for also-ran status in a logjammed American League this year, but a Hamels deal would give them a jumpstart on their way to a three-to-four season surge of legitimate World Series contention.
Boston Red Sox
The problem here for the Red Sox is that every team mentioned above is not listed on Hamels' trade-veto list. Boston is reportedly set to embark on a long-view trading spree in hopes of expediting their climb up the American League ladder in 2016. The Red Sox have more young, talented assets to offer the Phillies than the Cubs do (which is saying something), but the fact remains that Hamels will have to buy in before rumors can become reality.
Nowhere Fast
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The Phillies hired Andy McPhail as their team president-to-be, and McPhail's a noted turtle-over-the-hare executive who prefers to bide his time rather than shooting for the first blockbuster that comes across his desk. Also, it is very rare for such earth-shaking deals to take place when a front office is in flux, no matter how putrid the on-field product as become. GM Ruben Amaro is walking a tightrope towards a potential pink slip, so there is a chance that he makes one grand, fireworks gesture to save his job for 2016. Whether such an idea would work or not, we're still unsure that the rest of the front office will buy into what he's selling.
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