Cole Hamels became the latest Philadelphia Phillies player to top $20 million per season when he signed a six-year contract extension with the club Wednesday. It certainly gets expensive to keep a dynasty running.
The five-time National League East champions probably aren’t winning the crown again this season. It seems unlikely they can catch the wild-card leaders well ahead of them in the standings let alone the first-place Nationals. But this move was about the future for Philadelphia, which still has veterans Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay in the rotation and can reasonably hope for better health and better performance from its veteran batters next season. Add in a quick rebuild of what has been the major leagues’ fourth-worst bullpen and there might still be life yet in this proud, aging team.
But it all started with convincing Hamels to sign on. The 28-year-old was set to become a free agent after the season and would have fielded interest from multiple teams on the open market. That would have delivered a serious wound to the starting rotation. Instead, he returns — for a $144 million price tag.
Hamels is in the midst of one of his best seasons at 11-4 with a 3.23 ERA. The contract is high, but he doesn’t turn 29 until December, and it’s reasonable to expect the Phillies are paying for the tail end of his prime seasons. Hamels could age well, also. A devastating change-up always has been his best pitch, so even losing a little velocity off his 91 mph fastball won’t be a major issue. And Philadelphia will be out of the deal after his age 34 season. This is one contract that appears to be a win for both sides.
– Brian McNally
