Amaro on Hamels: 'I don't really foresee him being moved'

READING, Pa. -- Ruben Amaro Jr. certainly isn't ruling it out, but on Tuesday the Phillies general manager said he thinks Cole Hamels will open the season pitching against the Boston Red Sox at Citizens Bank Park.

"I think Cole Hamels is going to be in our uniform, frankly," Amaro said before the annual winter banquet hosted by the Phillies' double A affiliate in Reading. "I don't really foresee him being moved. It is possible because we're literally keeping our minds and eyes and ears open on every player that we have on our roster.

"That said, he's one of the best pitchers in baseball. And so, if we were to move him, we're going to have to get some of the best prospects in baseball back."

Amaro said there's no pressure to move Hamels.

"In fact, the ownership group I think would rather keep him than not. But we have to be good listeners and I think we owe it to the franchise and the organization to listen on possible opportunities, and there have been some clubs that have been aggressive. Not aggressive enough, obviously, because we haven't done anything.

"If I was going to handicap it, I would probably say that he'd be in our pinstripes on opening day and pitching against Boston."

Discussions regarding Hamels, Amaro said, hadn't necessarily escalated as a trickle-down effect of the Washington Nationals signing Max Scherzer late Sunday and the Texas Rangers trading for Yovani Gallardo on Monday.