Yankees: Sportswriters pose trades for pitcher Cole Hamels

Veteran sportswriters Richard Justice and Jon Heyman recently weighed in on what it could take for the Yankees to acquire Cole Hamels from the Rangers.

Still 57 days until the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, it’s never too early for sportswriters to speculate about blockbuster trades. The absence of Yankees baseball due to persistent rain outs only adds to the void of on-field news.

As of Monday, just hours from the start of the MLB Amateur Draft, in which Mike Axisa of CBSSports.com predicts the Yanks to select shortstop Bryce Turang, out of Santiago High School in Southern California, most fans are still more concerned with the big league team acquiring a front-line starting pitcher.

And the name at the top of the wish list is 34-year-old Cole Hamels of the Texas Rangers.

Perhaps because Hamels is making a gigantic salary ($22.5 million) on a team that is in desperate need of a rebuild, the 13-year veteran could be had without fleecing much of the Yankees farm system, which is currently ranked No. 6 in baseball by MLB Pipeline.

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Taking Hamels’ no-trade provision out of the equation (often players use it as a tactic to secure a contract extension) and his 2019 guaranteed option that is likely to kick in if he stays healthy for the remainder of the season, Jon Heyman of Fanragsports.com and Richard Justice of MLB.com recently wrote about what they feel it would take for the Yankees to bring Hamels to the Bronx.

For me, the more attractive of the two trade proposals (for the Bombers’ sake) is Heyman’s. He believes that a package of right-handed pitcher Chance Adams and middle infielder Thairo Estrada is sufficient enough for the Rangers to part with Hamels and enough cash so that the Yanks wouldn’t incur the luxury tax threshold.

Hamels is still due some $12 million throughout the rest of the season.

Just a few days ago I detailed Adams, the Yankees No. 5 prospect. At 23, the Texas-native is having a disappointing season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he is currently 2-2 with a 4.89 ERA and 51:20 K:BB ratio in 46 innings pitched.

As for the 22-year-old Estrada, who has since recovered from an offseason gunshot wound while home in Venezuela, only to hit the DL on May 7 with a wrist injury — he too has yet to find his groove.

Estrada, the Yankees No. 9 prospect has played in 18 games to-date (10 at High-A Tampa and eight at Triple-A Scranton) and is slashing .192/.201/.231 with zero home runs, eight RBI and 17:0 K:BB ratio in 83 at-bats. Estrada’s pedigree is far better than his numbers suggest.

Since Adams is the organization’s third-best pitching prospect behind Justus Sheffield and Albert Abreu — and Estrada is way down the middle infield totem pole (even Tyler Wade is considered more major league ready), both seem expendable for the time being.

Adams would slide nicely into the back-end of the Rangers’ rotation or come out of the bullpen — while eventually, Estrada could push a struggling Rougned Odor out of the lineup altogether.

However, it is Justice’s trade proposal that has me shaking my head. Understandably, the Yankees would be acquiring Hamels to both win the AL East (thereby avoiding the dreaded wild-card play-in game) and act as a secure No. 2 behind Luis Severino during the postseason (Hamels’ 3.48 ERA in 16 playoff starts, suggests as much).

Justice feels the Rangers would begin discussions by asking for some combination of Sheffield, Abreu and Freicer Perez (Yankees No. 7 prospect).

Though Justice states that general manager Brian Cashman would likely deny the inclusion of Sheffield, instead, taking on more salary — giving up on the pair of highly-touted right-handers, Abreu and Perez, is still asking a lot.

Dan Federico of EliteSportsNY recently took to Twitter to say:

A scout told me Abreu can make an impact late ’18/early ’19 & Perez has the ability to be the best SP in the system.

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Although Abreu and Perez have both battled injuries and less than stellar performances to begin the 2018 season, trading away young starters with top of the rotation-like stuff for a guy in his mid-30s, that once avoided the Yankees like the plague back in 2015, should come with a bit of caution.

Swinging a deal for Hamels could very well happen, but let’s hope it’s for prospects the Yankees won’t regret trading away anytime soon.