Report: Yankees Closest to Landing Hamels
According to one Phillies source, the Yankees have come the closest to landing Hamels, offering a package of prospects that at least has given the Phillies a baseline for future talks.
Hamels, who pitched two strong innings in his spring training debut Friday against the Yankees, has stopped talking about a trade. He said before camp that he was looking forward to pitching for a contender again, and that he would welcome a deal to Boston.
It is hard to speculate what the Yankees may have offered for Hamels but they do have a handful of intriguing prospects. With it rumored that the Phillies were interested in Boston middle infielder/center fielder Mookie Betts and catcher Blake Swihart, the Phillies may be interested in 22-year old, 6’7″ power hitting outfielder Aaron Judge (.308/.419/.486 with 17 homers across two A-ball levels last season) or 22-year old catcher Gary Sanchez (.270/.338/.406 with 13 homers in Double-A in 2014). A deal for Hamels may be able to net them one of these upper-tier prospects but likely not both as the Phillies are insistent any team trading for Hamels pays his entire remaining salary (four years, $94 million plus a $20 million team option or $24 million vesting option for 2019).
