The Boston Red Sox faced the man who could be their teammate in the near future. Or not.
On Opening Day the Red Sox traveled to Philadelphia to face the Phillies and Cole Hamels, who has been involved in trade talks between the two clubs since last July. Boston won the game 8-0 and Hamels was charged with four earned runs over five innings of work. Four of the five hits he surrendered were home runs and he also walked three batters.
Perhaps more importantly, Clay Buchholz proved for the time being that he's capable of assuming the No. 1 starter role in the rotation. The right-hander tossed seven scoreless innings and gave up only three hits and one walk while striking out nine. Buchholz's effectiveness was called into question last season when he finished 8-11 with a 5.34 ERA and 1.386 WHIP in 28 starts.
After Monday's games Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com wrote his "15 overreactions after Opening Day" and one of his overreactions dealt with the relations between Boston and Philadelphia.
"The Red Sox, with Clay Buchholz atop the rotation, have absolutely, positively no need for Cole Hamels. Especially if he's going to pitch like he did against Boston," he writes.
While that is indeed an overreaction, it can be said Boston may at least have the upper hand in trade talks (if they're still ongoing). Hamels got rocked by the Red Sox, and if he were to be traded to Boston he would be facing American League lineups like theirs, which is certainly an aspect of the talks that would be in their favor.
However, at this point the Red Sox may have moved on from the idea of trading for Hamels, considering Phillies' general manager Ruben Amaro wants either prospect Blake Swihart or starting center fielder Mookie Betts, both of whom Boston has been unwilling to surrender.
When asked about the trade rumors, here's what Red Sox assistant general manager Mike Hazen told WEEI's "Middays with MFB":
"It's just that, speculation. There hasn't been anything that's been overly hot and heavy here recently. For the first couple of weeks or first month, everybody's kind of figuring out what they have. And then that talk will start to pick back up as we all go through the season."
So maybe after Opening Day the Red Sox aren't entirely infatuated with the idea of trading for Hamels. It's either that, or they're attempting to gain leverage in trade talks, and they have some now after giving the left-hander a rough outing on Opening Day.
We at least know the Red Sox are intent on building their starting rotation after they signed Rick Porcello to a four-year, $82.5 million extension on Monday. We'll see if they still work on acquiring Hamels.
