They didn’t even have to play the X.
If it weren’t for that shiny no-trade clause that allowed Cole Hamels to have the final say in the case of 20 other teams, there would have been 29 of them interested in trading for the lefthander, especially with the Phillies willing to help pay for him to pitch somewhere else.
But there were 20 that had that added hurdle, and in at least one case — Houston — Hamels apparently exercised his right to kill a deal that his club was interested at some level in making.