A fiery topic of contention this offseason has been how much trade value Cole Hamels actually has. The Phillies reportedly think he’s worth a bundle of a team’s best young talents, while many of us around here happen to think he’s worth quite a bit less than that, due to the fact that his contract absorbs a good amount of his value. Once Jon Lester signs, we’ll probably find out just exactly what Hamels trade value really is, though my guess is that the Phillies will pay down enough of his salary to get several significant pieces back in return.

But as we wait for Lester and Hamels, the Jeff Samardzija trade has happened. The A’s swapped their ace for four players, with Marcus Semien as the headline piece coming back to Oakland in the deal. I think Semien’s probably good enough to justify the swap, but it’s based on the same kind of logic that thinks Hamels isn’t really a top-tier trade chip, and I’m well aware of the fact that many people disagree with that sentiment.

So, I figured I’ll put this to a poll. We’ve seen what Samardzija went for, with one year of control at $10 million in salary. Hamels has either four years at $96 million or five years at $109 million left on his contract, depending on whether he can use his no-trade to force the fifth year option to be picked up as part of the terms of the deal. In other words, a team is either acquiring an additional three years at $86 million, or an additional four years at $100 million, by trading for Hamels instead of Samardzija.

Given that fact, and Hamels longer track record of success, do you think Hamels is worth more or less than what Samardzija just went for?