ESPN's Buster Olney and the cast of Baseball Tonight have their podcast in full force now since the 2015 season will begin in less than a week. On today's episode, the team discussed an interesting scenario regarding Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels.
The show fields questions from fans via Twitter and they were hit with a provoking question on Wednesday: Is it possible Cole Hamels ends up with the San Francisco Giants?
That's an excellent question being that the Giants are faced with starting rotation issues after the 2015 season when Tim Lincecum, Tim Hudson and Ryan Vogelsong hit free agency. Additionally, it's unknown how effective Matt Cain will be following his elbow surgery from last year (he's been roughed up this spring with a 8.22 ERA and 1.70 WHIP in three starts, totaling 7 2/3 innings).
Here's what Olney had to say about the possible trade:
"I gotta believe it's very unlikely the Giants would get Cole Hamels, but if they were able to structure a deal, one of the guys in that deal would be Tyler Beede. He went to Vanderbilt and he's looked great this spring. So I'm guessing that if the Phillies were looking for anybody, it would be Vanderbilt product Tyler Beede. Again, that's total speculation and I don't think there's any chance the Giants would be trading for Cole Hamels."
Beede was the team's first round pick in 2014 and he made six starts between the Rookie league and Low Class A Salem-Keizer last season. He finished 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 1.533 WHIP in 15 innings of work and the Giants are excited to watch him develop as the organization's No. 2 overall prospect, according to Baseball America.
"He's coming from a great program in Vanderbilt and we have high hopes from him in San Jose," said Giants vice president and assistant general manager Bobby Evans, via Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com. "We start a lot of college pitchers, especially high Draft picks, there. His fastball gets up to 95 [mph], and if he can get it to the point where he can command it consistently, we would like to see him face a higher level of competition."
It's unknown if San Francisco would part ways with Beede, but we do know the Phillies are looking for three top prospects in exchange for Hamels, including one that can make an immediate impact. The Giants do not have a deep farm system, but a deal involving Beede and top prospect Andrew Susac may appeal to Philadelphia, especially since it's clear they won't be getting what they want from the Boston Red Sox (Blake Swihart and/or Mookie Betts). Talks with other suitors have fell through as well.
However, the Giants may want to keep Susac so they can use him at catcher if they were to transition Buster Posey to first base in the future.
Depending on how the season goes for World Series champs, this could become a realistic option, but right now it's nothing but speculation.
