Cole Hamels is not demanding a trade from the Phillies, but he would like them to send him to a contender.
Hamels has been the subject of trade speculation all offseason but still remains with Philly. On Wednesday he spoke with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and expressed a desire to be dealt.
“I just want to win,” Hamels told Nightengale. “That’s all. That’s all any competitor wants.
“And I know it’s not going to happen here. This isn’t what I expected. It’s not what the Phillies expected, either. But it’s reality.”
The Phillies are dismantling their team and in the middle of a rebuild. They traded Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers and Marlon Byrd to the Reds. They also had trade talks involving Ryan Howard and Jonathan Papelbon, though they still are holding onto those players.
The Phillies made the playoffs for five straight years from 2007-2011 and reached the World Series two years in a row, but that was over five years ago. GM Ruben Amaro made the mistake of trying to lock up an aging core that helped the team achieve so much success during that span and didn’t recognize that it was a bad strategy for the future. The result has been the Phillies have had an aging, overpaid core and only won 73 games each of the last two seasons.
The rebuilding process is coming a little late, but at least it is finally happening. Now Amaro just needs to find the best deals possible for his players.
