Courtesy: CBS Sports
If there ever was a time for the Philadelphia Phillies to trade star All Star pitcher Cole Hamels, it is now. The projected 2015 salary for the team is 175,996,256 which is 3rd highest in the major league this season. The two other teams that are ahead of them are the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Yet this team is nowhere near the talent level of those two storied franchises.
On the projected team salaries list the division rival Washington Nationals are 10th at 125,615,337 and they are a general consensus for making it to the World Series this season. The Philadelphia Phillies have no hope for major contention this season and the foreseeable future.
Six players this season will have an annual salary above $10 million. The list includes: Ryan Howard at $25 million, Cliff Lee at $25 million Cole Hamels at $23.5 million, Chase Utley at $15 million, Jonathan Papelbon at $13 million and Chad Billingsley at $12 million. Cole Hamels is the only player on this list that they could trade and get a suitable return for.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
He is an All Star Ace that could propel a potential contender into the playoffs. He could take a contender and make them a World Series team. The other five on this list could be traded, but the Phillies would most likely have to eat some, if not most, of the money and get little in return in regards to prospects.
Cole Hamels has a career win loss record of 108/83. He has an ERA of 3.27, 13 complete games, 6 shut outs, 1707 strikeouts and he has allowed a .238 average to hitters faced. These stats should have prospective trade partners salivating. The Philadelphia Phillies could get at least four (and up to six) players in return for Cole Hamels, that includes high level prospects.
Cole Hamels is 31 years old and he can’t help the Phillies too much longer with their equally aging team. He is still in his pitching prime and if the they want to improve their overall team they need to get a lot younger and do it quickly. The only issue is finding a partner that will give up the prospects and take on his salary.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
Bovada, which is a Las Vegas sports betting book, projects the Philadelphia Phillies to have a league worst 68.5 wins. This does bode well for them to get the first pick in next year’s draft which could help them start to get highly talented players to improve their team. The Tampa Bay Rays, Washington Nationals and Kansas City Royals have built their recent teams (with moderate success) through the draft by grabbing top level talent several years in a row.
They should clear a lot of salary that is tied up to aging unproductive players and use the few tradable pieces to get as many young players that they can. In essence they should relish the basement of the National League East for a few years and come back strong in a few years. This may not please fans (especially the Philadelphia faithful), but it is necessary if they want to get back to relevance in the future. The Houston Astros have basically been doing this for the last few years and now they are finally showing some dividends.
