Cleveland Indians: Could Cole Hamels be traded to Cleveland in 2018?

It’s been a quiet offseason for the Cleveland Indians, but could the Tribe be in the market for another ace at the 2018 trade deadline?

The Cleveland Indians are very clearly a team facing payroll constraints. They’ve had to watch several key components of the 2017 squad sign elsewhere this winter, and despite being linked to outfielder Lorenzo Cain, could not match the five-year, $80-million offer he took from the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Indians may well surprise us all with a trade or opportunistic free agent signing before springtime, but the overarching theme of their dormant offseason is two-fold: the Indians don’t have the flexibility to pull off high-profile signings at the moment, but they have enough talent returning from a 102-win team that they don’t need to.

Cleveland’s hand will not be forced in the winter. Playing in a division that projects to be the softest in the American League affords the Indians the luxury of letting the season unfold and then making moves as necessary in the summer.

The Cleveland Indians may be one of the least active teams so far this offseason, but I expect the 2018 trade deadline to be a different story. And there is one player I find to be a particularly intriguing potential target: Cole Hamels of the Texas Rangers.

Here’s why.

The stacked American League West

The Rangers have the unenviable task of competing for a playoff spot against the defending World Series champion Houston Astros, the markedly improved Los Angeles Angels, and a Seattle Mariners team that appears on the cusp of true contention.

Whether the Rangers’ front office wants to admit it to the fan base now or not, the team is facing one heck of an uphill battle in 2018.

Texas boasts a high-scoring offense, but their pitching staff leaves something to be desired. In 2017, they put forth a team ERA of 4.66, ranked dead last in the Majors in strikeouts, and allowed the seventh-most walks in the league. Some of that can be attributed to the departure of Yu Darvish at the trade deadline, but not all of it.

It remains to be seen where Darvish signs this offseason, but if he doesn’t return to Texas, the Rangers hardly have a championship-caliber rotation. They’ve addressed this problem by adding Matt Moore and Doug Fister, neither of whom has posted an ERA under 4.00 since 2014.

Hamels figures to be the lone bright spot among Rangers’ starters. Despite an up-and-down 2017 campaign that featured a two-month DL stint, Hamels forged his way through 148 innings in 24 starts, and if not for two rough outings to end the season, would have posted an ERA under 4.00 for the eighth straight year.

With the lone exception of 2017, Hamels has thrown at least 200 innings every year since 2010, boasts a career ERA of 3.37, and has 16 postseason starts under his belt. If the Rangers find themselves out of playoff contention near the deadline, they will field many an inquiry as to his availability.