The Philadelphia Phillies have reportedly been looking to unload their roster before Thursday's MLB non-waiver trade deadline and are frustrated over the way some trade talks have progressed while the St. Louis Cardinals have emerged as a potential landing spot for starting pitcher Cole Hamels.
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According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals could land Hamels since the left-hander's wife has ties to Missouri, but it could be difficult for both sides to agree on a deal.
Philadelphia has been very demanding in what it wants in return for Hamels and while the Cardinals' have perhaps the deepest farm system in all of baseball, the return of four or five top prospects that has been the rumored demands of the Phillies might even scare the mighty red birds off from making a deal.
The Cardinals (56-48) currently hold a wild-card spot in the National League and are 1.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL Central lead.
Hamels has a list of teams he can block a trade to, and though the Cardinals aren't on it the team may not take on the $96 million remaining on his deal, so a trade may not happen despite the Cardinals suffering a few injury blows to their starting rotation.
The Dodgers have also been linked to Hamels, who is 5-5 with a 2.72 ERA this season at 30-years-old, but the Phillies' demands could make it hard for a trade to occur by Thursday.
MLB.com reported that the Phillies are "frustrated" with their lack of success thus far on the trade market. Philadelphia has reportedly been open to trading Hamels, Cliff Lee, Jonathan Papelbon, A.J. Burnett, Ryan Howard, Marlon Byrd, Antonio Bastardo and possibly others at the deadline.
General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. traveled with the team to New York for its three-game set with the Mets, but manager Ryne Sandberg indicated there hasn't been much in the way of trade offers thus far for the team and if something does happen it may be closer to the deadline.
"Am I expecting any [trades]?" Sandberg asked rhetorically to reporters. "I don't know one way or another. Just from what I hear, if there is [a trade], it'll be very late in the process."
Amaro has been reluctant to re-build his team in the past few years, but now it appears as though he is willing to ship out some of his veterans in order to start getting younger.
The Phillies are in danger of finishing under .500 for the second straight year and missing the postseason for the third season in a row.
Philadelphia enters Tuesday at 46-60, 12.5 games behind the National League East-leading Washington Nationals and 11 games out of a wild-card spot, so they could very well make some moves at the deadline should their "frustration" turn into success.
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