The Philadelphia Phillies placed starting pitcher Cliff Lee on the 60-day disabled list on Monday as the left-hander will attempt to rehab the tear in his flexor tendon. While the injury is likely to keep him out for the rest of the season, general manager Ruben Amaro should be shifting his attention elsewhere.
And that is towards starting pitcher Cole Hamels.
Lee's injury has already sounded the alarm in Philadelphia because it has now made trading Cole Hamels the team's top priority. Hamels has been involved in trade discussions since the middle of last season, but Amaro has been stubborn in his demands for the left-hander. As a result, it was believed the team could wait on a deal for Hamels and instead trade Lee if he proved he was healthy in spring training.
With that option out the window, the clock is ticking for Amaro to get the best deal he can for Hamels. The left-hander was knocked around in his third spring training start against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday after surrendering five runs on six hits and two walks in just two innings of work. That outing now has Hamels sitting at a 9.00 ERA and 1.86 WHIP this spring, which cannot be helping his trade value. Granted, spring training isn't an indication of how one will perform in the regular season, but many scouts have been on hand for Hamels' starts thus far and one can only imagine what kind of notes they're taking.
However, Amaro doesn't seem fazed in regards to the current state of affairs.
"Nope," Amaro said when asked if his stance on Hamels changed following Lee's injury, via ESPN's Jayson Stark. "Why would it change? No reason to change it."
"Our 'stance' is that we're open-minded. And that hasn't changed one bit."
Many have been suggesting that should Amaro pull the trigger on Hamels before something unlikely were to happen that would affect his trade value, such as an injury or a slow start to the 2015 season. After all, the 31-year-old has tossed over 1,800 innings in nine MLB seasons and he'll be kicking off the year with one of the worst teams in baseball - two things that could certainly affect his trade value once the regular season begins.
Lee entered last season with 2,074 2/3 innings pitched before suffering the strain his in elbow, which is now a tear and could threaten his career. Hamels isn't too far off from that number and he isn't getting any younger. But Amaro still doesn't care.
"There's no lesson there," Amaro answered when Stark asked if there was a lesson to learn following Lee's injury, in regards to a history of durability. "Everybody knows that. It's apples and oranges. We have a guy who was actually hurt last year. We don't have a player who's hurt in Cole. ... There's no lesson learned from Lee's situation because it's a totally different situation. One guy is hurt. The other guy is completely healthy."
Hamels is the last hope the Phillies have to expedite their rebuilding process because the contracts of Ryan Howard, Jonathan Papelbon and Chase Utley have proven to be undesirable to other clubs.
The veteran starter is owed $96 million over the next four seasons, which probably wouldn't be an issue to many teams if they didn't have to surrender three top prospects (Amaro's demands) on top of inheriting that financial commitment.
"So far some of the deals that we've discussed with some of our players have not yielded what we've wanted to do," Amaro told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. "And in some cases, we feel like we're better off staying with the players that we have for a variety of different reasons. We'll move forward accordingly."
Assuming "move forward accordingly" is Amaro's way of saying he's going to make the best decision, it would hopefully mean he's not going to keep a pitcher that costs him $24 million per season during a time when the Phillies aren't expected to contend in the next few years.
