Email a copy of 'Free Agent Profile: Jason Hammel' to a friend
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By Jeff Todd | at
Email a copy of 'Free Agent Profile: Jason Hammel' to a friend
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Seamaholic
Hammel’s going to be a big bargain for someone. Solid middle of the rotation pitcher who is always healthy. That’s a huge plus.
Edouble86
Always is a bit of a stretch. He had injury issues in both of his years in Baltimore.
Damon Bowman
Always healthy? Hammel missed time in 2013 and 2014 and didn’t always tell the team he was hurting until it got so bad he needed to stop throwing the ball. You have no way of knowing if Hammel will be a true bargain or not.
Damon Bowman
He’ll be relatively inexpensive compared to other starters on the market and could be surprisingly good like he was in Chicago or be completely useless like he was in Oakland. (That was very strange considering Oakland had way better defense and a pitcher’s park compared to the Cubbies.)
UltimateYankeeFan
Three years $30MM seems a bit high for Hammel who is already 32 years old. I see him getting closer to a Phil Hughes type deal 3 years / $8MM per.
CandyMaldonadoLand
Agreed. I think the 3/30 numbers are a bit inflated. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a reunion with the Cubs.
ChiefIlliniwek
I think they’re aiming higher.
CandyMaldonadoLand
I never understand these sorts of comments. Of course they’re aiming higher in the grand scheme of things. Of course they’re bigger priority is to sign a top of the rotation guy. You do need a 5 man rotation, though. Hammel would fit in perfectly in the 4-5 slot.
ChiefIlliniwek
For what it’s worth, the Cubs finished with the 6th best FIP in baseball (3.51), not too far behind the Indians’ 3.42 (good for #2 in baseball).
I’d say that speak favorably to the depth of the staff. Finding a usable piece for 4 or 5 in the rotation for less than $10 million a year should be pretty easy and not that big of a priority. Somebody at the top is the priority; throwing cash at Hammel to fill a role they don’t need filled will hinder them in achieving the priority signing.
jb226 2
There has been a lot of speculation that the Cubs are after two starters this winter, so Hammel as a second would make decent sense.
Obviously Lester is the #1 target, and a previous story suggested that Shields would be the fallback on the top-end.
ChiefIlliniwek
Just my own belief, but if the second starter isn’t a TOR guy (to not count on Arrieta to be more than the #3 in theory), I don’t think they’re going to be dropping $10 million a year on the second guy to round out the back of the rotation for three years. That just seems cost prohibitive for a marginal improvement (if any) on the pile of guys they can throw at it already.
I’d be more of the mind that if they’re getting any veteran for the back end that it’d be more like a guy with warts on a one year make-good deal where he’s got an opportunity to bounce back and get paid (like Feldman, Hammel did).
Again, just my feeling.
Melvin Mendoza, Jr.
I’ve never really understood why Hammel always seems to be such the hot trade/free agent commodity. He’s had one and a half good years and has been pretty below average-to-bad the rest of his career. If someone told you 3/$30MM was a possibility for anybody else with his career line, you’d think they were insane.
Stonehands
In the grand scheme of things, He would be a solid number 4/5 for about 20 teams in the Majors. With that being said, with names like McCarthy, Volquez, Maeda, Kuroda, Peavy, Santana, Liriano, Masterson, Harang etc. I only take Hammel over Peavy and Harang on this particular list. IF my Sox can pick out an arm from the upper middle tier (Santana, Mccarthy, Liriano, and Maeda for upside sake) on a reasonable contract and trade for an ace, I think it fits in with their new philosophy with large contracts, and makes us competitive in 2015 while keeping payroll open for 3B.
Scott Berlin
I would consider Kuroda more of a 2 or 3, maybe even an ace by some measure more then a back-end starter but I think Kuroda either signs with the Yankees, retires or goes back to pitch in Japan. The only team besides the Yankees he might sign for is the Dodgers IMO unless someone outbid both of them which I can’t see happening. .
Stonehands
Kuroda is superior to the majority of this tier, but he is also old and selective, so I tend to leave him off my wish lists based on his vocalized desire for NY, retirement, or Japan (or west coast)
Seamaholic
He’s easily better than Volquez and Masterson (unless the latter finds his FB again).
Stonehands
I disagree with you on the Masterson point completely, and I have Volquez ahead of him based on sheer upside. But either way, my point is he is on the lower end of the middle tier and I am not all that interested in him unless he falls through the cracks and can be had on a 2/18 or 3/21 type deal, which I see being his absolute floor
SwingtimeInTheRockies
Wouldn’t at all mind a return to Colorado. There’s always the problem that if Hammel can get similar money to pitch in a friendlier park…well, you know.