As the July 31st trade deadline approaches it appears a dark horse team is emerging in an attempt to pry away Cole Hamels from Philadelphia. According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com, the Arizona Diamondbacks have put themselves in the market for acquiring the Phillies ace.
The Diamondbacks interest does come as a bit of a surprise considering their current record (46-51). Then again it would be a similar situation to the Red Sox and Rangers as Hamels is more than just a rental coming with three more years of control beyond 2015. Then again unlike the Sox and Rangers, Arizona likely isn’t contenders in 2016 either after years of making poor decisions.
While Philadelphia is in need of an obvious rebuild it’s hard to argue that there is a more dysfunctional team in baseball than the Diamondbacks. Coming off a year in which they had the first pick in the Amateur baseball draft combined with lopsided trades makes Arizona a weird destination for Hamels. Arizona is one of 20 teams Hamels can block a trade to so there is not guarantee Cole Hamels would accept a move to Arizona even if a deal was struck. Nevertheless the Diamondbacks do have some pieces that could intrigue Philadelphia in a possible deal.
Top prospect Archie Bradley and infielder Chris Owings could be a good starting point. Bradley is Arizona’s top youngster although he comes with major risk as he has struggled mightily during his major league tenure (5.80 ERA over 35 innings). A deal involving 19 year old Touki Toussaint would have likely intrigued Philadelphia a whole lot more but he was dealt to Atlanta earlier this year in an odd, lopsided salary dump trade involving Bronson Arroyo. A trade to Arizona is probably unlikely but weirder things have happened in baseball, Phillies fans remember all to well getting burned in the Hunter Pence trade.
