2012 Hot Stove/ Trade Rumors...

[NYYFAN101]

Hamels would be a must get if the Phillies open him up for sale. He is a lefty in his prime who pitches consistently well year after year. We have Kuroda here on a 1 year deal, Andy is getting any younger, and Phil Hughes could blow up any second. He would stabilize the rotation for the future and give us 2 ace lefties.

[Yankee Fan in Boston]

Hamels would be a must get if the Phillies open him up for sale. He is a lefty in his prime who pitches consistently well year after year. We have Kuroda here on a 1 year deal, Andy is getting any younger, and Phil Hughes could blow up any second. He would stabilize the rotation for the future and give us 2 ace lefties.

We'd only be getting him for this year. I think the equation would be very different if the team acquiring him had multiple years of control

[False1]

Hamels would be a must get if the Phillies open him up for sale. He is a lefty in his prime who pitches consistently well year after year. We have Kuroda here on a 1 year deal, Andy is getting any younger, and Phil Hughes could blow up any second. He would stabilize the rotation for the future and give us 2 ace lefties.

if he would agree to an extension I'd agree with you. However I doubt he would unless the Yankees went batsh*t with an offer. I'd be really disappointed if they gutted the farm for a rental, even one as good as Hamels.

[Yankees1962]

if he would agree to an extension I'd agree with you. However I doubt he would unless the Yankees went batsh*t with an offer. I'd be really disappointed if they gutted the farm for a rental, even one as good as Hamels.

Right because you can't even get draft picks for him if he does't sign here. IMO, I think Hamels is determine to return to southern California and stay in the NL by going to the Dodgers.

[THEBOSS84]

I am going to try to not get caught up in any Hamels/Greinke/Upton dreams during this trade period.

Upton has immense potential but like some others have said, trading for him this year would likely hurt us if we need to give players off our current 25-man.

[35Knucklecurve]

It's funny because i remember during the 2009 WS one of Hamels teammates called him out. I believe he said Hamels was soft, or something like that.

Well, that might explain why he deliberately hit Bryce Harper - trying to prove he was as tough as the next guy. It only took him 3 years to get up the nerve.

I imagine it is difficult to seem like you mean business when your voice sounds like one of the Chipmunks - after you've inhaled helium.

[NelsonMuntz]

if he would agree to an extension I'd agree with you. However I doubt he would unless the Yankees went batsh*t with an offer. I'd be really disappointed if they gutted the farm for a rental, even one as good as Hamels.

Agree on all points. On the other hand, if I were Cashman I would be calling Amaro daily to check on the availability of Carlos Ruiz.

[grizy]

Carlos Ruiz would be incredibly awesome.

The way he's playing though... I don't know if Phillies can trade him.

[longtimeyankeefan]

Carlos Ruiz would be incredibly awesome.

The way he's playing though... I don't know if Phillies can trade him.

Ruiz is a lot older than I expected (33 y/o) and a free agent after the 2013 season - yes, he would be cost controlled for the next season, but what would the price be?

[coachtsurfing]

it makes no sense to trade/gut our minors to get hamels, grenkie or any other player that is in their last year or won't sign an extension. We have a decent team right now. Pitchers that we should go after are garza and wandy. both i think would do well enough to get us through petites injury and help if hughes decides to crap the bed again.

[Yankee Fan in Boston]

Ruiz is a lot older than I expected (33 y/o) and a free agent after the 2013 season - yes, he would be cost controlled for the next season, but what would the price be?

And the Phillies would have to figure out how to replace him -- and he's only making $5 million next year. Still, I can see the logic in trading a guy who will be 34 next year who has an OPS+ nearly 40 points above his career high if you can get the right pieces back

[teknetic]

it makes no sense to trade/gut our minors to get hamels, grenkie or any other player that is in their last year or won't sign an extension. We have a decent team right now. Pitchers that we should go after are garza and wandy. both i think would do well enough to get us through petites injury and help if hughes decides to crap the bed again.

I've been wanting Garza since last year. No thanks on Wandy, ever.

[longtimeyankeefan]

it makes no sense to trade/gut our minors to get hamels, grenkie or any other player that is in their last year or won't sign an extension. We have a decent team right now. Pitchers that we should go after are garza and wandy. both i think would do well enough to get us through petites injury and help if hughes decides to crap the bed again.

Rodriquez is going to cost you $13M next season and his team option for 2014 becomes a player option with a trade. Besides, he will be 34 next season and is a career .500 pitcher, admitted with the Astros.

Garza is arb-eligible next season. With any decent stats, he will be due a significant raise from his $9.5M this season - probably in the neighborhood of the same $13M that Wandy is due. At least he is only 28, but another career .500 pitcher makings unrealistic money?

I will pass on both, thank you. We could get the same production from within for a lot less.

[RenoHightower]

Funny.

In all seriousness, can it even be argued that Hughes wasn't overhyped?

[bmxstreetrider86]

In all seriousness, can it even be argued that Hughes wasn't overhyped?

Yes, he is a completely different pitcher than he was in the minors. When he was in AA he threw a tick harder and threw a much more strikeout prone curve. He also went from an extreme GB pitcher to an extreme FB pitcher

[teknetic]

His control also didn't suck.

[35Knucklecurve]

I've been wanting Garza since last year. No thanks on Wandy, ever.

The Cubs are supposedly making Garza available to teams willing to take Soriano (Alfonso) as part of the deal.....also per Buster Olney. I'd re-sign Swish before I'd take Soriano, but not at the price he's asking right now.

[False1]

The Cubs are supposedly making Garza available to teams willing to take Soriano (Alfonso) as part of the deal.....also per Buster Olney. I'd re-sign Swish before I'd take Soriano, but not at the price he's asking right now.

Good luck Theo. Unless they eat a BOATLOAD of $$ and lower their asking price in terms of talent, I'd be shocked if any team takes on Soriano's $18MM AAV for the next 2.5 years just to get Garza.

[pleasepassthesoup]

it makes no sense to trade/gut our minors to get hamels, grenkie or any other player that is in their last year or won't sign an extension. We have a decent team right now. Pitchers that we should go after are garza and wandy. both i think would do well enough to get us through petites injury and help if hughes decides to crap the bed again.

Matt Garza's really not that good. He's not worth giving up much for.

[coachtsurfing]

Garza hasn't been that great his past 3 or 4 starts. he had a bad one against the braves. But i would take him for a decent trade. if theo is intent on packaging him and alfonso, they have to know no one is going to give up a lot and take on that huge contract. i do think wanda would be fine here, he would be a consolation trade if we can't get someone better. and I wouldn't mind letting someone else from our own system try if wandy is the best we could get. i also hear that demps is going to cost a lot less then garza. On a different note, I keep hearing stuff about clevelands outfielder shin cho? anyone got any info on him?

[JohnnyDamonfan]

I don't know about Garza if we have to have Soriano too. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but can he even play RF any more or would he be more of a DH type now? We got enough DH types. I would much rather trade for a serviceable Right Fielder if we have to take Sori with Garza.

[GimeMoMuny]

Yes, he is a completely different pitcher than he was in the minors. When he was in AA he threw a tick harder and threw a much more strikeout prone curve. He also went from an extreme GB pitcher to an extreme FB pitcher

I always wonder just how much that hamstring (knee hyper-extension) that happened while taking a no-hitter deep into his second ML start had to do with things, since his mechanical flaws have been largely bottom-half related at the ML level.

He deserved all the hype that he had up until then, imo.

[NerfBall55]

I don't know about Garza if we have to have Soriano too. .

I do - the answer is no. And I'm not really interested in adding Garza by himself either, and even less so in Rodriguez.

[False1]

I don't know about Garza if we have to have Soriano too. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but can he even play RF any more or would he be more of a DH type now? We got enough DH types. I would much rather trade for a serviceable Right Fielder if we have to take Sori with Garza.

He's never played in RF. He's tried to play LF, and he's been pretty terrible at that. He is not a baserunning threat any longer either. I'd say he'd be almost completely redundant with Jones at this point, and Jones is actually mashing right now, so...

I'd be shocked if the Yankees got Garza if Soriano is anchored to him, even if the Cubs ate half his deal and took very little else in return.

[Yankee Fan in Boston]

He's never played in RF. He's tried to play LF, and he's been pretty terrible at that. He is not a baserunning threat any longer either. I'd say he'd be almost completely redundant with Jones at this point, and Jones is actually mashing right now, so...

I'd be shocked if the Yankees got Garza if Soriano is anchored to him, even if the Cubs ate half his deal and took very little else in return.

If I was a Cubs fan, I'd much rather see them trade Garza for a solid pool of prospects than package him with Soriano and get nothing of value in return. They're a bad baseball team, and it's going to take them a while to get better -- they might as well bite the bullet and overpay him while sowing the seeds for a better future.