Yankees: What would it take to acquire Cole Hamels?
The other tricky part is who the Yanks would trade from their highly touted farm system in any deal for Hamels. You would think that since Hamels isn’t the elite ace he once was and is more of a solid 2 or a 3 these days that certain prospects will be untouchable for the Rangers. That likely includes Estevan Florial, Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield and Albert Abreu. To add on to the obvious, Gleyerb Torres and Miguel Andujar aren’t going anywhere either.
If a deal is going to get done I think the Yankees would rather deal a pitcher like Chance Adams (#5 prospect per MLB.com), Frecier Perez (#7) or Domingo Acevedo (#8).
Tyler Wade and Brandon Drury are two more names who could be traded because right now they’re blocked by the rookies Torres and Andujar at the big league level. Wade is someone who has struggled with the Yankees but a change of scenery could do him some good and he still has a lot of tools that would peak the interest of many teams.
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Drury is a better player than Wade and, therefore, a better trade piece and even though the Yankees are still very high on him they might have to deal him. Right now it doesn’t look like a spot on their 25-man roster is opening up any time soon and if that continues in the coming weeks he could become expendable.
Depending on what the Yankees do when Greg Bird gets back Tyler Austin could also be in talks if the upcoming roster crunch forces him back to Triple-A. The Rangers have a need at first base and Austin has shown he can really produce at the big league level.
I’m sure the Yankees would love to hold on to Drury and Austin, but you have to give to get so if these are two guys whose talents are just going to be wasted in the minors you might as well trade one of them to improve the starting staff.
Next: Should the Yankees have sent down Clint Frazier?
We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out in the coming months, but there’s no doubt that Cole Hamels can help this Yankee team in their quest for championship #28. However, if a deal is going to get done it’s going to be on their terms and if the Rangers don’t meet their demands they should look elsewhere.