Phillies and Cole Hamels Avoid Arbitration
Written by Bob Whalon, Tuesday January 17 2012
The Philadelphia Phillies avoided arbitration with pitcher Cole Hamels by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $15 million on Tuesday. Now that the deadline of the arbitration process is gone, both sides hope to work out a long-term deal to keep the lefthander with the only franchise he has ever known.
"We have cost certainty and the player has cost certainty," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "Now we can go from there. This doesn't preclude us from doing a long-term deal. We can negotiate with Cole from today through the end of November, and then beyond that to get a multi-year deal done. Just because we have a one year deal in place doesn't mean we can't do something long-term. As far as Cole beyond 2012, that's something that's still very much open for discussion."
The problem for the Phillies is that those discussions will begin a few million dollars a year higher per year for at least five or six years.
Jered Weaver signed a five-year, $85 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but that was because he wanted to stay in Southern California and play for his hometown team. Hamels agent, John Boggs prefers to look at other contracts that the Phillies have handed out recently.
Phillies ace Roy Halladay is making $20 million per year on a four year deal and Cliff Lee is making $24 million a year over five years. And since Hamels will be a free agent after the 2012 season, Boggs sees those contracts as his starting point.
"Absolutely," Boggs said. "If you're this close to free agency, you start to make comparables of what you have the potential of making as a free agent." With Hamels only being 28 and lefthanded, he would likely be the No. 1 pitcher on the free agent market.
Hamels was 14-9 with a career-best 2.79 ERA in 2011. He finished fifth in the voting for the NL CY Young Award. And he is 74-54 in a six-year career, that includes an NLCS MVP and World Series MVP award, both in 2008.
"At the end of the day, we really don't have any concrete game plan as far as how long we are going to plan on discussing this," Boggs said. But there definitely is a desire to stay. It really depends on the value we place on Cole, and hopefully it coincides with the value the Phillies place on Cole. Yes, he'd be more than happy to stay there. He knows the Phillies. He's homegrown. That's what we'll attempt to do, but sometimes things don't work out if we can't agree on the value."
Hamels will sign a huge contract for the 2013 baseball season and beyond at some point. The only question now is if it will be with the Phillies or with some other team in free agency. The arbitration clock may have stopped, but that just means a new clock has started ticking. Whenever it stops, Cole Hamels is sure to be a rich man.
Tags: Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, CY Young Award, Jered Weaver, John Boggs, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, MLB, NLCS MVP, Philadelphia Phillies, Roy Halladay, Ruben Amaro Jr, World Series, World Series MVP
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