Amaro Open to Trading Hamels to Rebuild Phillies

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said on his show this morning that he’d be willing to trade pitcher Cole Hamels to rebuild the team … but would prefer not to.

“I have to keep my mind open on everything,” Amaro Jr. told Angelo Cataldi and the WIP Morning Show on Monday. “Again, some of these guys have limited no-trade clauses. Clearly, we’d like to keep Cole Hamels because I think he’s going to be a part of any transition we might have to make.”

The discussion came after Sunday’s Inky column by Bob Brookover.

“I can’t say there are any untouchables,” (Amaro) said. “We talked about this before. Some guys are less touchable than others, so to speak.”

You’d have to think that Hamels is the most untouchable of all, but one baseball executive suggested it would be the fastest way for the Phillies to restructure their roster with younger players should Amaro decide to be a seller at the trade deadline.

“If I were in their boat, I’d really hate to move him,” the executive said. “But if you go back to question about which player is going to bring you the most value, you’re going to get the most for that guy. You have to get the most you can for a guy like that. If you don’t, you keep him. But you’re only going to get 11/2 pieces for someone else when you could get a lot more than that for him. It’s a tough boat to be in.”

But the rebuilding’s gotta begin somewhere … right?