Yes, the trade market for Cole Hamels may be on its way to becoming more advantageous for the Philadelphia Phillies, but those of fellow veterans Chase Utley and Ryan Howard certainly are not.
Heading into the 2015 season general manager Ruben Amaro likely thought he was in a good position to get value for Utley and Howard if the two veterans were to experience at least a semi-fast start to the year. Well, aside from Howard's weekend performance against the Atlanta Braves, neither has been able to display any significant offensive production.
Utley is batting .121/.206/.224 with four runs scored, two home runs and nine RBIs in 18 games (68 plate appearances) and Howard is slashing .193/.246/.404 with four runs scored, three home runs and nine RBIs in 16 games (62 plate appearances). Howard's stats take into account the team's weekend series against Atlanta, during which he belted two home runs and five RBIs.
While Amaro at least has some luck in being able to deal Hamels as well as veteran closer Jonathan Papelbon, it doesn't appear as if he'll have any such success working out trade Utley and/or Howard - at least not to his liking.
"What's unfortunate for the Phillies is that the position players they want to deal are off to bad starts. Utley recently broke an 0-for-21 skid and just doesn't look good at the plate. Ryan Howard, who struck out 17 times in his first 46 at-bats, looks like a shell of his former self, and the $60 million left on his contract is a killer," writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
What's even more concerning is that rumors previously suggested the Phillies were willing to pay $50 million of Howard's salary to get rid of him and they have yet to find any takers. Utley's story is a bit different because he must approve any trade the team manages to work out and he has $15 million vesting options for the next three seasons that kick in if he makes 500 plate appearances each preceding year.
Even on a potential two-year, $10 million deal, it appears MLB clubs are not interested in acquiring Howard due to his inability to say on the field and provide efficiency on the offensive side of the ball. It's unknown if Philadelphia is willing to cover any of Utley's salary, but it's highly unlikely teams are potentially willing to gamble on the second baseman becoming a three-year, $45 million investment based on his production through the month of April.
So unless we see a slew of injuries to first and second basemen around the MLB, don't expect to see Howard or Utley traded anytime soon.