When Cole Hamels told USA Today earlier this week that he\u2019s a competitor and wants to win and it wasn\u2019t going to happen in Philadelphia, the writing was on the wall: he didn\u2019t want to be in Philadelphia anymore. Actually the writing on the wall has been there for a while; Amaro and the Philadelphia front office just need better reading glasses. As a Phillies fan since he moved with his family from Egypt in 2006, Hussain al Nowais, a finance student at Penn, has a deep respect for Cole Hamels. He was 14 when Hamels led the team to the pennant and a World Series Championship, but all good things must come to an end. Here are three reasons why Cole Hamels should be traded today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019ll Be a Distraction until the Deal is Done:<\/strong> First Jonathan Papelbon was asked about the trade first. Then it was Cliff Lee. Ruben Amaro gets asked about it constantly. The clubhouse will be asked about the Hamels situation until it isn\u2019t a situation anymore. After a while, this will wear thin on the clubhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hamels Has a Trade-Friendly Contract<\/strong>: How often can you find a pitcher at the prime of his career that is available in a trade? A few, right? How many of those pitchers will have a contract that still has years on it with a salary that isn\u2019t absurd? The truth is that Hamels has a very friendly contract for prospective teams, and the Phillies need to trade him while this is the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re Rebuilding<\/strong>: Although Amaro might say that there isn\u2019t a rush to trade Hamels and he can wait until he finds the right deal, the Phillies fans aren\u2019t going to stay onboard forever. If we\u2019re in a rebuilding stage then we need to blow up the nucleus and start over again. Hamels is in this strange purgatory that he doesn\u2019t want to be part of, and more time is being wasted in not grooming new talent. 2015 must have a purpose. If Hamels is traded, bringing in new talent and developing it becomes that purpose. Right now, there is no purpose as the Phillies have no chance of winning anything and we\u2019re not moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hussain al Nowais is a Phillies fan for life, but he would love to see the Phillies back in the World Series one day as he did when he was a teenager. Trading Cole Hamels is the only way we can move in this direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Cole Hamels told USA Today earlier this week that he\u2019s a competitor and wants to win and it wasn\u2019t going to happen in Philadelphia, the writing was on the wall: he didn\u2019t want to be in Philadelphia anymore. Actually the writing on the wall has been there for a while; Amaro and the Philadelphia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n