The Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies have been trying to negotiate a trade for starting pitcher Cole Hamels since last July. Still nothing. But now it looks like five Arizona State graduate students that competed in the Diamond Dollars Case Competition at March's Society for American Baseball Research Analytics Conference have the solution.
Philadelphia's general manager Ruben Amaro has been stubborn in regards to what he wants in return for the left-hander. Rumors previously suggested the only way a deal would get done with Boston is if they included prospects Mookie Betts or Blake Swihart in a deal, but the Red Sox have refused to do that for obvious reasons.
Considering such an offer is pretty much off the table because Betts is now the team's starting center fielder and Swihart (the organization's No. 1 prospect) could get significant time in the big leagues this year with the injury to fellow catcher Christian Vazquez, these ASU graduate students were intent on finding a realistic deal that would make sense for both sides.
And it only took 60 hours over the course of five days, as opposed to the 10-plus months it has taken Boston and Philadelphia.
"Their winning proposal, selected from among all those formulated by 21 teams of collegians, had Boston sending Philadelphia pitchers Henry Owens and Eduardo Rodriquez, plus outfielder Manuel Margot," writes Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"[The Phillies would] add two quality arms and a promising outfielder, all of which are Baseball Prospectus Top 101 prospects," said Cody Callahan, 22, who captained the winners. "However, the most significant reason we chose this trade is because of the value it will bring the Red Sox. . . . The Red Sox have the most to gain by adding Hamels."
And the Red Sox have been the team most involved in the trade talks, once positioning themselves as Hamels' top suitors. The trade talks have died down, however, and not much has been reported or rumored for quite some time.
Check out the proposed prospects' stats from last season:
Henry Owens, SP - 17-5 with a 2.94 ERA, 1.132 WHIP and 170 strikeouts in 26 starts (159 innings) with Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket
Eduardo Rodriguez, SP - 6-8 with a 3.60 ERA, 1.308 WHIP and 108 strikeouts in 22 starts with Double-A Bowie (Baltimore) and Double-A Portland (Boston).
Manuel Margot, OF - .293/.356/.462 with 65 runs scored, 12 home runs, 59 RBIs and 42 stolen bases in 115 games with Class A Greenville and High Class A Salem
We'll see if the Phillies and/or Red Sox take the advice provided by these stats gurus. You can read more about how they arrived at their results here.
