With less than two weeks to go until pitchers and catchers report for spring training, there is nothing to suggest that left-hander Cole Hamels will not be wearing a Philadelphia Phillies uniform in 2015 – this in spite of constant trade rumors throughout the entire off-season.

Hamels will be entering the third year of his six-year/$144 million contract with the Phillies in 2015 – a contract that guarantees him $22.5 million per year through the 2018 season with a $20 million club option for 2019 or a $6 million buyout. In other words, it would take one heck of a sweetheart trade package for Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. to even think about trading the 31-year-old San Diego native.

But make no mistake about it, Cole Hamels wants to be traded from the Phillies regardless of his lofty contract. He wants to join a team that is already poised to win a world championship and not be the centerpiece around which one is built for ‘down the road.’

As most Dodger fans know, right-hander Zack Greinke is also entering the third year of his six-year/$147 million contract which also runs through the 2018 season. But there is a difference in Greinke’s contract – a huge difference. Greinke can opt out of his contract at the conclusion of this season and, quite frankly, he would be foolish not to.

If the Dodgers wait too long to begin contract extension talks with Zack Greinke, 2015 might be his final season in a Dodgers uniform. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although it may seem ludicrous that Greinke would even consider opting out of his contract with a guaranteed $71 million still on the table, the truth of the matter is that with the price for top-of-the-rotation starters now exceeding $25 million per year, Greinke could be looking for (and will probably get) a new five or six-year deal that could top the $200 million mark. That being said, should the 31-year-old Orlando, Florida native have an uncharacteristic off year in 2015, that guaranteed $71 million would be pretty tough to walk away from.

For sake of argument, let’s say that Greinke has yet another great season with the Dodgers through the first half of 2015 – a first half that has him at or above 10 wins with an ERA at or below 3.00. This would indeed make opting out of his current contract at the end of the season a no-brainer. It could also and in fact it better force the Dodgers to abandon their thoughts of waiting until the end of the season to begin negotiating a contract extension with Greinke and instead push them to the table before to the July 31 trade deadline.

Why? Because if it even remotely looks like Greinke will opt out, the Dodgers are going to need a top-of-the-rotation replacement for him and, as it stands right now, there is no better replacement for Greinke than Cole Hamels.

But herein lies the problem. Even though the Guggenheim Baseball Management group (aka: Dodgers ownership) has the money to assume the guaranteed $73.5 million still owed to Hamels through 2018 (not counting the $20 million club option for 2019) in lieu of trading away several of their top prospects, this is counterproductive to what the Phillies are trying to accomplish – getting younger. As such, a straight contract buyout is extremely unlikely. That being said, it is difficult to believe that Hamels (and Greinke for that matter) will not start showing signs of wear and tear as they enter their mid-thirties, thus reducing their overall value – trade or otherwise. And while Greinke might still be able to land a five or six year deal at the end of this season as a 31-year old, Hamels will undoubtedly have far more difficulty doing so when his contract expires after the 2018 season when he will be pushing 35.

With this in mind and should the Phillies find themselves out of the race by mid-July, Amaro would be foolish not to trade Hamels at the trade deadline. And although such a trade would undoubtedly cost interested teams a boatload in prospects, the Phillies would probably have to eat a pretty good chunk of Hamels’s remaining contract as well. The good news is that Hamels would not be a two-month rental for the team that lands him, which is why the Dodgers should pursue him if it appears that Greinke will exercise his opt-out clause.

Although it has been widely reported that Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi and Zack Greinke (and his agent) have not had any contract extension/opt-out discussions yet, it might be a good idea to at lease initiate negotiations in the near future before both Greinke and Hamels become unavailable.

If there is one positive note to all of this it is that Zack Greinke absolutely loves being a Dodger. But the biggest mistake that Farhan Zaidi could make is confusing Zack’s love of being a Dodger with a willingness to give them a hometown discount. In fact, there’s probably a good chance that those words don’t even exist in Greinke’s vocabulary.

Mistaking Greinke’s love of being a Dodger as consideration for giving them a hometown discount could prove disastrous for the Dodgers. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Don’t blow this one, Farhan.