The trade rumors surrounding the Philadelphia Phillies for much of the past year involved Cole Hamels. However, starter Aaron Harang has entered the discussion and it's possible the club seeks value for him in order to make room for one of their top prospects.
The 37-year-old Harang is off to an impressive start in 2015, even as a member of one of the worst teams in the MLB. He's 3-3 with a 2.38 ERA, 1.015 WHIP and 31 strikeouts in seven starts (45 1/3 innings). He received two out of his three losses in outings where he gave up two earned runs or fewer while pitching at least six innings.
A number of MLB teams are dealing with back-end rotation issues right now and the right-hander could help out in that department. He has much major league experience and is only owed $5 million this season, which makes him an attractive trade candidate especially if he can keep up the consistency over the next couple of months.
Hamels looks like he'll be much tougher to trade because no club has yet to give in to the "excessive" demands of Amaro on top of assuming the remaining $96-plus million on the left-hander's contract.
"We've mentioned Harang as another possible fit for a contending team," writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. "According to a major league source, inquiries on him have picked up and teams are scouting him as a possible solution. Obviously not an ace, but he fits the back end of a lot of rotations. 'He gives you a steady, dependable performance,' said one NL scout. 'You don't give up a lot for him, but if you can get him for a second-level prospect, you do it.'"
Philadelphia is in rebuilding mode. They have no use for Harang. General manager Ruben Amaro is looking to build the club's farm system and promote from within to compete for years to come. He's already working on moving up some names this season, as third baseman Maikel Franco is expected to get the call soon while outfielder Odubel Herrera started the season with the Phillies. Amaro has already worked in third baseman Cody Asche and shortstop Freddy Galvis over the past couple of seasons.
Might he consider trading Harang to promote one of the club's top pitching prospects?
Aaron Nola was the Phillies' first-round pick in the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft and he has excelled through the organization's farm system ever since. The right-hander is already 4-2 with a 2.04 ERA, 0.832 WHIP and 29 strikeouts in six starts (39 2/3 innings) this season at Double-A Reading and he could be promoted to Triple-A relatively soon.
Next up: the big leagues.
"We believe in what we've seen the last few years out of Aaron that he's a guy that has an aptitude to pitch, he's got pretty darn good command of his fastball, which is tantamount to be able to pitch here in the big leagues and he's not afraid to use it. So those are important elements. It's possible he could be a quick mover. We think he could be a candidate, but that'll be up to him," Amaro told John Finger of CSN Philly last year.
However, Amaro backtracked earlier this month when speaking to Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly.
"We don't want to rush any of our guys at Double A," he said. "Some of them have pitched very, very well. Certain circumstances may create difficult decisions but that's not our goal right now. Our goal is to let those guys continue to develop."
Amaro didn't really define "rush" and he's likely keeping his plans a secret anyway. One thing we do know is that it'll be hard to keep Nola in Double-A if he keeps throwing well this month. If the GM ends up trading both Hamels and Harang (those "certain circumstances"), there will be vacancies in the starting rotation. Unless he gets other MLB-ready pitchers in return for those two veterans, he'll have to fill the spots internally.
"For now, Nola is the undeniable ace at Reading, but [Double-A manager Dusty] Wathan knows that isn't going to last much longer and he's just fine with that, because his objective is to help build a better tomorrow in Philadelphia," writes Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Keep an eye on the rebuilding Phillies in the coming months. Big changes are expected and that could begin with a notable youth movement.