It’s already happened once this season – a team rolls into Dodger Stadium and when they leave town, an across-the-diamond trade has taken place and both teams have a different 25-man roster.

Could it happen again this week with the projected biggest prize of this year’s July 31 trade deadline – 31-year-old Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels? According to Fox Sports baseball analyst Jon Paul Morosi, it not only can happen but it quite possibly will happen.

Trading away top prospects is always a difficult decision, but adding a guy like Hamels to their starting rotation could be the difference between the Dodgers making it to the World Series or not.
(Photo credit – Hunter Martin)

While pinch-hitting for Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio’s Inside Pitch on Monday, Morosi said that the Dodgers are the most likely landing spot for the highly coveted Southern California native – not just because they have the deepest pockets in all of baseball but because they have something even more valuable to the Phillies – top tier prospects.

It goes without saying that top Dodgers prospects Corey Seager (who earlier on Monday was named as the number one Best Midseason Prospect by Baseball Prospectus) and 18-year-old left-handed phenom Julio Urias (ranked number four) are untouchable, but according to Morosi, 22-year-old right-hander Jose De Leon, soon-to-be (Monday) 20-year-old first baseman Cody Bellinger and 19-year-old right hander Grant Holmes – the Dodgers 2014 first round draft pick – are more than enough to land Hamels. De Leon, who currently leads all of Minor League Baseball with his 112 strikeouts, is assigned to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers, Bellinger to the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and Holmes to the Low-A Great Lakes Loons.

Obviously, it is difficult – if not painful – to even think about trading away three of your best prospects, but in the words of former Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti: “Prospects are just that, they’re prospects,” and the thought of landing Hamels – an absolute game-changer right now – is intoxicating. Through 17 starts this season, Hamels is 5-6 with a 3.02 ERA. But given the fact that he plays on the team with the worst record in all of baseball, he could easily be 8-3 or even 9-2 – or even better.

As of this writing Hamels has faced more batters than any other pitcher in the league and has struck out 119 – seventh-most in all of baseball – while walking only 35. He owns a career record of 113-89 and would instantly become the Dodgers number three starter behind Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke and perhaps their number two starter should Greinke opt out of his current six-year / $147 million contract at the end of this season, as he is expected to do. This alone should be incentive enough for Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi to aggressive pursue Hamels.

Although the Dodgers do not have a very good track record when it comes to trading away their blue chip prospects for current MLB players, it’s hard to believe that doing so to acquire Cole Hamels (and his existing six-year / $144 million contract through the 2018 season with an incentive-laden $24 million option for 2019) would not immediately give them the best top-three starters in the game today and make them the immediate favorite in a best-of-five League Division Series and a best-of-seven League Championship Series  – not to mention the World Series.

If current Dodgers shortstop and longtime Cole Hamels teammate Jimmy Rollins had any say in the matter, acquiring the hard-throwing left-hander would be a no-brainer.

“That would be nice… that would be nice,” Rollins said before Monday night’s series opener against his former team. “Cole would be close to home and we know what type of a pitcher he is, especially in big games – he wants those games. Two big-game pitchers that are already here, that would be three. That’s one heck of a combination.”

Having played with some of the best pitchers in the game – guys like Hamels, Pedro Martinez, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and currently with Kershaw and Greinke – who does Rollins consider the best?

“I played with Cole the most so I’m kind of biased in that answer, but watching Greinke from this side is a lot more impressive than on the other side,” Rollins said. “When you’re facing him, you never can give anyone too much credit, but now I’m on this side. He’s a doctor out there. It’s almost like he just makes up pitches… he doesn’t make up pitches, he makes up at which speed he wants to throw certain pitches and it’s pretty amazing to watch him go out there. I think he hasn’t given up a run in his last four starts, he’s just been dealing. Similarly, like Cole, he doesn’t get a lot of wins in those games but he’s been very impressive.

“But I’ve played with Cole the most. I’ve watched him grow, I’ve watched him compete, so he’s my favorite,” added Rollins. “Who’s the best? I don’t know, but he’s definitely my favorite.”

Although Dodgers shortstop Jimmy Rollins wouldn’t say who he thinks the best pitcher is, he said that Cole Hamels is his favorite pitcher. (Photo credit – David Vassegh)

Will a trade for Cole Hamels happen? Who knows. But with all of the principals currently at the same place at the same time at Dodger Stadium, it is impossible to think that there isn’t at least some negotiations taking place – perhaps even at this very moment.

Stay tuned…