Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. expects to discuss a possible extension with left-hander Cole Hamels at some point this offseason, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Here are more notes on Hamels and the Phillies via Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Daily News:
- "I have got no indication that Cole wants to go anywhere and I think Cole knows we want to keep him," Amaro said, according to Berman. Hamels, 27, posted a 2.79 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 and a 52.3% ground ball rate in 215 innings this past season. The John Boggs & Associates client is set to hit free agency after the 2012 season (MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $14MM salary for Hamels in his final season of arbitration eligibility).
- Amaro re-signed Jimmy Rollins recently, but he still thinks 22-year-old shortstop prospect Freddy Galvis is a “very, very good quality prospect.”
- Ryan Howard seems to be recovering well from his ruptured Achilles' tendon, Amaro said. The first baseman will likely go to Florida to continue his rehab at some point in the relatively near future.
Sounds like Ruben is actually hoping for Cole in his stocking this Christmas
Where exactly will the Phillies find $100M+ to pay Cole? They’re pretty much maxed out as it is with the deals for Halladay, Lee, Howard, Rollins, & Papelbon. They have guys coming off deals in 2012, but they’ll need to replace those guys and that isn’t free.
What are you talking about? It’s not like they have to pay him all $100 million at once. He’s still under contract for this season so any new deal wouldn’t take affect til 2012. That said, now in 2011 they have about $20 million to spend before they get to the luxury tax and this includes Rollins’ new deal. They have room to make a big move this offseason and have the room to make a deal at the trade deadline. Then in 2012 you then factor the likes of Blanton coming off and some other contracts. One thing the Phillies don’t have to worry about is finding money to play players. This ain’t the Dodgers or Mets we’re talking about here.
SILENCE! He will be a Yankee
Finally….your cap lock key is fixed!
That’s not him.
There’s a lot of useless money off the books in the next year or two.
I’m surprised Cole hasn’t hired Scott Boras
He’s not Tommy Hanson.
I imagine, barring some injury or disappointing season, he’ll break C.C. Sabathia’s record $161 million dollar contract, given his age (28), performance, and the salary inflation since 2008.
No. He’s just not that good. 120 mil seems plausible.
CC is not that good. He’s younger and not fat
Cc is not that good?
lol what?
Are we talking about the same CC?
Fat aside, I’d consider Sabathia the best lefty in the game.
I think Hamels will come close to or possibly eclipsing that contract simply because of his potential suitors: The Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees, Nationals, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Giants (if they lose out on Linceccum or Cain possibly?), Miami, etc.
How does CC do in the postseason? Seems to come up a little short. He’s good but not any better than Cole. The weight he carries will do him in eventually.
It’ll do him in eventually but it hasn’t. I love Cole Hamels (obviously he’s my favorite player) but Sabathia’s been one of the most consistent pitchers in the league since 2001. He’s up there with Halladay in a lot of categories. He’s not lights out in the post season, but you have to pitch well in the regular season to get there.
I don’t think he’s that far off from CC Sabathia’s level, I think he has better stuff than Sabathia. CC Sabathia was also coming off one of the most dominant stretches of any pitcher.
He was out pitching Verlander in the post season before the game was postponed. He looked the best he had all year, but… you probably weren’t watching it, or just don’t know what you’re talking about.
Either way verlanders stats in the postseason sucked.
Who cares about postseason stats
I do. Who cares about piling up stats against lousy teams in the reg season. Gotta beat good teams when it counts
Well Cliff Lee was brought in to Philadelphia to win in the post season… that didn’t work out too well.
You need to win in the regular season to get to the post season and CC Sabathia is one of the few pitchers that comes close to being as consistent as Roy Halladay.
He proved in 2009 he could win in the post season. He proved in 2008 he could carry a team on his back to get them into the post season.
Cliff didn’t do too bad in 2009.
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Well it didn’t work out in the post season last year. That’s why you don’t pay a guy to dominate in the post season, you pay him to dominate in the regular season…
… which Cliff Lee did so it’s kind of a bad example.
Hamels has better numbers the past two years. Problem is he gets NO run support costing him many wins and he is overshadowed by Halladay and Lee. When Hamels is on he is unhittable. CC lets up less HRs, but has a higher Whip, ERA, H/9, K/9, and a bunch of other stats that are worse than Cole. Cole is also the better playoff pitcher. Take away the 2009 season for Cole and it isn’t even close IMO.
Don’t get me wrong CC has been a fantastic pitcher over his career. I just see Cole as much more deserving of a huge contract. The fact he will be younger than CC was when he became rich is more reason to think he will get more money.
If Cole does hit FA, I strongly believe he will remain in the NL because the boy likes to hit. I think that was a huge factor for Cliff Lee as well.
Give it up for the Cardinals fan to say something so ridiculous.
Hmmm ok. People were throwing around the idea of 100 mil for CJ. Yeah, 120 is high, but if he can match last year’s production someone will bite. I see the Yanks being in heavy for him.
Damn, what would Kershaw get? 10/300?
Kershaw isn’t 180m better than Hamels…not even close
I am thinking Hamels gets 5 years, $100 M which is well worth it. With Hamels’ increasing salary, Blanton’s contract coming off of the books, and the non-tendering of Kyle Kendrick, the salary should pay for itself. It also gives Trevor May a full year to be ready to assume the fifth starter role.
If Hamels hits free agency and has another strong year, the most I can see the Phillies offering is in the range of 5/125-135, with options/vesting options. If that’s the case, I’m sure the Yankees will make a more significant guaranteed offer over six or seven years and he’d need to take a decent guaranteed money discount to stay in Philly.
They only believed in giving pitchers three years guaranteed until Lee’s signing. Even Halladay only had three years guaranteed, with two vesting options. I don’t see them guaranteeing more than 5 years.
If they can extend him this offseason, it’s safe to say he’s going to strive for more than Weaver. I would like to see RAJ make an offer of 5/95 (12.5, 17.5, 20×3, w/6th year option at $25m w/$5m buyout)
Its imperative to lock up Cole before he hits the market. He’ll take a discount for the guaranteed money upfront. As a pitcher, you’re one bad injury away from retirement.
I’m not sure about that. He told one of the local papers that he’s not worried about getting hurt because of his injury history and is confident in his ability to bounce back.
He said something to the degree of “They told me I’d never pitch again [after he broke his elbow in highschool] and if I can come back from that, I believe I can come back from aynthing.” or something really close to it.