National League GM says Phillies’ asking price for Cole Hamels hasn’t dropped “one bit”

By Drew SilvaApr 19, 2015, 2:52 PM EDT
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Cole Hamels was lit up for five earned runs by the Nationals in his last turn through the Phillies’ starting rotation and he stands 0-2 with a 5.00 ERA through three starts this season. But that doesn’t mean the 31-year-old left-hander is suddenly going to come at a discount for teams looking to trade for him.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe spoke to a National League general manager who has been inquiring about Hamels for his big Sunday notes column and asked whether the Phillies’ sky-high winter and spring asking price has dropped in recent weeks. The general manager’s response: “Not one bit.”

And why should it? You can include Hamel’s poor start to the 2015 season and he still boasts a 3.03 ERA (126 ERA+) over his last 874 major league innings. Trust the larger sample size. And his remaining contract (four years, $94 million) is a bargain in a market where Max Scherzer can command a $210 million deal.

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. will be hoping Hamels stays healthy and teams get more desperate.

It’s imperative to the rebuild in Philly that the ace fetches a significant package of talent.

Brewers have 3 positive COVID tests at alternate site

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Associated PressSep 19, 2020, 9:56 PM EDT
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MILWAUKEE — The Brewers had two players and a staff member test positive for the coronavirus at their alternate training site in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Milwaukee president of baseball operations David Stearns confirmed the positive results Saturday and said they shouldn’t impact the major league team. Teams are using alternate training sites this season to keep reserve players sharp because the minor league season was canceled due to the pandemic.

Stearns said the positive tests came Monday and did not name the two players or the staff member. Players must give their permission for their names to be revealed after positive tests.

The entire camp was placed in quarantine.

“We have gone through contact tracing,” Stearns said. “We do not believe it will have any impact at all on our major league team. We’ve been fortunate to get through this season relatively unscathed in this area. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get all the way there at our alternate site.”

Milwaukee entered Saturday one game behind the Reds and Cardinals for second place in the NL Central, with the top two teams qualifying for the postseason.

The Brewers still will be able to take taxi squad players with them on the team’s trip to Cincinnati and St. Louis in the final week of the season. He said those players have had repeated negative tests and the team is “confident” there would be no possible spread of the virus.

“Because of the nature of who these individuals were, it’s really not going to affect the quarantine group at all,” Stearns said. “We’re very fortunate that the group of players who could potentially be on a postseason roster for us aren’t interacting all that much with the individuals that tested positive.”