Earlier in the offseason it was reported the St. Louis Cardinals were going to explore trades for another elite pitcher, and Cole Hamels was one of those names. Is such a trade more likely with starter Adam Wainwright to be limited in 2015?
Cardinals' manager Mike Matheny said on Friday that Wainwright is likely to be limited during spring training because of his workload over the past three seasons (average of 222 innings per year) coupled with his recent surgery in October to remove bone chips from his elbow. The Associated Press noted the limitation could continue "perhaps into the season."
"It will just be him continuing to get the work, but it just might not be work on the game field," Matheny said.
With concerns looming over Wainwright as well as starter Michael Wacha - who missed over two months in 2014 due to a stress reaction in his throwing shoulder and didn't at all return to form when he came off the disabled list - has general manager John Mozeliak ramped up efforts to acquire Hamels from the Philadelphia Phillies?
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, there appears only one way that can happen: if the Cardinals include pitcher Carlos Martinez in a trade package.
FOX Sports reported something similar earlier in the offseason and provided more possibilities:
"To secure Hamels, the Cardinals likely would need to part with (Carlos) Martinez or (Marco) Gonzales as well as an outfielder such as Randal Grichuk or Stephen Piscotty (the Phillies have long coveted Peter Bourjos as well, sources say)."
The Phillies are not budging with their demands. General manager Ruben Amaro wants three top prospects in exchange for Hamels, who has a minimum of four years and $100 million remaining on his contract, and that could increase to five years and $120 million if he requires the recipient of his services to pick up his vesting option for 2019.
St. Louis is in a tough position because they don't have much talent in the higher levels of their farm system, but injury concerns surrounding Wainwright and Wacha can significantly affect their chances of making the postseason in the competitive NL Central division.
"You'd have to go down to rookie ball to find a potential star in the system -- they lost one, Oscar Taveras, to tragedy last autumn -- yet the Cardinals can run 15 or more names who project to have significant, major league roles as average regulars or quality extra guys," writes ESPN's Keith Law.
Hamels wants to go to a place where he can win, and St. Louis is a dream destination since it's one of his desired spots, but are the Cardinals willing to part with a talent they view so highly of in Martinez?
We'll see how Wainwright and Wacha fare in spring training because that will be telling of the team's future motives.
This article was updated to correct a quote used from the original AP article.
