2:03pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today talked to Hamels' agent John Boggs, who said, "We thought about just going for it, and filing for a number [of about $17 million], but we thought this was fair. Our sights are now set on free agency. At some point, we'll talk to the Phillies about that.'' Noting the unpredictable nature of free agency, Boggs sang his client's praises and added, "Pitching is something everybody will always be clamoring for. That never changes."
11:15am: The Phillies avoided arbitration with Cole Hamels, agreeing to a $15MM deal with award incentives, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. MLBTR had projected $14MM for the John Boggs & Associates client, who received one of the largest arbitration settlements ever. Three years ago Hamels signed a multiyear deal while leaving his last arbitration year open, and it enabled him to get a $5.5MM raise in his last year before free agency.
Excluding Roger Clemens' free agent arbitration salary, I believe only Prince Fielder's $15.5MM tops Hamels' reward. Tim Lincecum is expected to jump to the top of the list.
ohhh, daddy like.
This should have been addressed long ago.
I want an ectension
Extension*
Predicting what players will earn through arbitration must be a difficult science (or art?) to master. I mean, some of these “projections” have been close, and some of them have been off by a bit so far. Not criticizing at all, but I just find it interesting how teams value their players as opposed to what MLBTR projects. How did you guys come up with the projections anyway?
Chances that Hamels hits free agency now?
I’d say 75/25. It’s not looking good for the Phillies.
and why is that?
If they were going to extend him, it’s likely they’d have started talks now instead of giving him a one-year deal. With so many other financial commitments, and the likelihood of him asking for and getting $18M-$20M per on the market isn’t all that bad, assuming he stays healthy and puts up his usual numbers. He’s left-handed and a great pitcher, which is a rare commodity on the free agent market. The last one we saw of Hamel’s caliber was Cliff Lee (I suppose you could make the argument that CJ Wilson is at Hamels’ caliber), and look at how much he got. The Phillies aren’t likely going to pay Hamels that much, and there have been multiple reports saying Hamels won’t be taking a hometown discount. Therefore, he likely isn’t going to be staying in Philadelphia.
They did start talks and the one year deal has nothing to do with the extension.
Their offense is already stretched thin. There’s no way they could allocate funds from the offense even more and pay Hamels the $20-25MM he could command.
I fail to see your logic, Indestructibel. If the Phillies are willing to pay Hamels $15 million this year, and they’re willing to pay an older pitcher (Lee) $24 million per year for five years (plus an option, as I recall), then it’s hard for me to understand what makes you think they wouldn’t be willing to pay an equivalent pitcher $5 million per year more than he’s making this year to lock him up long term.
Young lefty aces don’t grow on trees — at least outside of the Phillies organization.
They did start talks and the one year deal has nothing to do with the extension.
hamels was a one hit wonder.
Because his agent just said “were looking forward to free agency”. Cole has his ring so if you think a 5 year or 120 Million dollar deal locks this up your crazy and all of us Phillies fans know the Phillies policy on contracts for pitchers.
He also said they are going to discuss the long term extension during spring training and it was Amaro who wanted to lock up the 1 year deal first before discussing it.
This highlights how poor Amaro Jr. has been as GM with signings. His teams have regressed in final season standings (after the postseason) while increasing payroll substantially. I think Hamels could have been locked up for a similar amount for more years.
I doubt Hamels would have signed for 15 mil/ year for multiple years. He’d be nuts to do that. If he reaches free agency, he’s looking at CC/Lee money. The Phillies would have to give him a ridiculous contract (like they did with Howard) to keep him from hitting free agency.
I was referencing prior to last year. Maybe signed an extension for 5/85 like a lot of these other great young pitchers.
he;s not really that good, like i said, one hit wonder.
Cole – Make sure you ignore any extension offers. I’ll hook you up in December.
Sincerely,
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson, is that you?
Now just imagine how much money the Phillies could have saved themselves if they waited until June to call him up.
The fact that he re-signed or settled for a 1 year deal with the Phillies should raise some concern among the Phillies Ownership/Management and Fans.
When or IF he hits FA at the end of the 2012 season even if the Phillies are able to re-sign him which becomes less of a certainty they will have a lot more competition for his services which mean a higher price to retain him.
It’s not “settling”, he wasn’t a free agent, he was arbitration eligible for the final time. An extension could very well be worked out between now and the end of the season. They didn’t have a deal done by the 1:30 PM deadline, so this is the outcome.
none whatsoever. The biggest reason is that even if an extension was looming they would announce it after the season started to avoid a luxury tax.
This guy can write his own ticket with a good year this year. 15 million is a discount for Hamels. The Phillies biggest problem is their hitting, it was rated low behind the Mets last year, also rated low on Fangraphs.
The Phillies scored the most runs in the league once they acquired Pence.
That’s a deceiving stat. I know the offense took off after they got Pence but it also faded pretty quickly towards the end of the season.
Personally, I think the offense is fine, just needs an upgrade at third base via the trade deadline, I just don’t think runs scored is the best way to judge it, even the manager doesn’t consider it one.
What was their batting average? Their on base percentage? Their slugging percentage? Realistically, Pence and Mayberry were the only two guys providing offense down the stretch.
Glad this finally got done
As a Phillies fan? If I liked the Phils I’d be relieved but pessimistic about the long term
Looks like he’s gone after next year.
Hardly expected him to give a discount to us. This city is filled with such fairweather fans for every player not named Chase Utley or Cliff Lee. I don’t really understand why he’d want to pitch here for anything less than market value.
It was just April where he was booed off the field, two years ago where this city wanted him to be the centerpiece in a Roy Halladay trade, and considered him mentally soft as recently as last season.
doesn’t look that way at all to me. They already plan on meeting to discuss an extension during spring training.
Doesn’t mean he’s going to give a discount and are the Phillies really going to pay another pitcher $4-5 million more per season than they’re already paying Roy Halladay? Are they going to give him $22-$24 million dollars per season when they’re going to have a huge gap at third base, while also needing to address center field?
If he hits the market he’s probably looking at Cliff Lee money. I don’t understand why he’d throw away a chance at that type of money, especially considering he’ll have no shortage of suitors with deep pockets.
They JUST gave a discount going from asking for 17 to settling on a ‘fair’ 15. The contract to Halladay is irrelevant.
It was $2 million dollars and there’s no guarantee he would’ve gotten $17 million in arbitration. NOBODY likes the arbitration process.
There’s a huge difference between saying “I’m willing to sacrafice $2 million dollars to avoid arbitration” versus saying I’m willing to take a $20-$40 million dollar discount.” If Hamels hits free agency he’s going to get CC Sabathia money from somebody, probably LA.
And how exactly is the Halladay contract irrelevant? The front office obviously doesn’t think that way considering they made a point to reach out to him after signing Cliff.
Now they’re also in a situation where it’s going to take more years to get him into a contract. Are they willing to go 7 years for him? They didn’t want to for Cliff or Roy. (IDK why I’m typing like I’m mad at the front office, it’s not 100% their fault, but they can’t let him, under any circumstances, let him hit free agency, but given the position they’ve put themselves in, it doesn’t look good at all for them financially).