In what may be the answer to the question of the San Diego Padres’ imbalanced outfield buildup, they have reportedly discussed a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies for lefty ace Cole Hamels.
That Philly.com report indicates that the primary return piece the Padres would try and use to get Hamels is none other than one of the outfielders they picked up in the last week: Wil Myers.
Myers likely wouldn’t be the only piece heading to the Phillies in this kind of deal – and, let’s be clear, this report is merely indicating that the Padres have talked about such a trade, not that they’ve discussed a deal directly with the Phillies yet – but he’s the kind of player the Phillies would probably like to pick up, given his age and upside. The real question, for me, is whether the Padres could pick up Hamels’ entire remaining salary given their already-aggressive offseason.
As with everything the Padres have done this offseason, this will be interesting to follow. At last check, the Cubs were still being mentioned as a possible suitor for Hamels, even after signing Jon Lester and Jason Hammel, but I am deeply skeptical.
(Ryan Lawrence, the author of the piece, also points out that the Padres now have Kemp and Upton jerseys available in the official team shop at Petco, but not yet any Myers jerseys. That could mean something, or absolutely nothing.)