The Phillies plan to offer Cole Hamels a large contract extension in order to see if they can lock the southpaw up before the July 31 trade deadline, reports ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. The size of the proposal is unknown, though a source tells Stark that the Phillies have debated about whether or not to break their unofficial club policy of not signing a pitcher to more than five guaranteed years.
We recently heard that the Phillies were willing to go beyond four years to sign Hamels, though if the Phils aren't willing to go beyond five years, Hamels could easily get a minimum six-year deal on the open market this winter. If it's just length and not money (an estimated $24-25MM per season) that's the issue, the gap could possibly be closed by a vesting option.
This could explain why the Phillies are internally optimistic that they can re-sign Hamels, Stark hears from two executives from opposing teams.
"They're trying to sign him," said one of those executives. "And they think it's going to happen. At least that's what I was told."
If Hamels turns down the offer, then the Phillies could explore trading the southpaw before the trade deadline, though Stark notes that the Phillies intend to wait as long as possible to decide if they'll be sellers given that Chase Utley, Ryan Howard are off the DL and Roy Halladay will also soon return.
Can’t let the ace of your staff walk away without putting your best foot forward. It’s a shame it’s taken to the last minute but… whatever.
He should’ve been locked up a long time ago. I mean, this is the same organization that overpaid Ryan Howard 2 years before his contract was up… yet they couldn’t do it for an ace left hander who is only getting better?
You could also argue that they extended Roy Halladay and brought back Cliff Lee without locking up Hamels; I still think that he will be in another uniform by the deadline.
I just wish the Phillies management could learn to plan for the future.
Of course, plans do not always work out, but it’s infinitely better than simply going “win now” every single season.
It’s not that they don’t plan for their future, it’s that their evaluation is flawed.
I could see them going 7 or 8 years to lower the AAV or something crazy like that. They could make the last two years (at age 35 and 36 i believe) 12-14 million (more than he’d get on the market)
Sign him, sign him, sign him!!!! I think this oculd be a huge boost for the PHILS!!
How exactly would it be a huge boost? It would just mean more of the same last place team they have now with no money to buy any young good hitters.
Like who?
This better mean that we are trading lee then because if we do this, you can forget about us getting any hitting or bullpen help for the next 5 years because we wont have any money to help the real problems.
TV deal in 2014 (2015?) will bring in a HUGE wad of cash. sadly, it’s not money they have yet. but that seems to be what they’re working with.
Who’s going to trade for Cliff Lee?
The real problems are the fact they don’t hit with RISP and the bullpen is inconsistent. What do you want them to do? Release the entire roster because signing a hitter isn’t going to all of a sudden make Rollins, Pence, etc change their approaches. The guys they need are role players you get for less than $5 million dollars. The Cody Ross types. They’re trying to build their bullpen with prospects. As Domonic Brown, Chase Utley, and Cole Hamels proved, it can take years before young players develop into what they’re capable of being… and we’re seeing it this year.
Why sign Hamels just to trade Lee? Hamels can net a couple of mid level prospects, and the money not used to resign him can be better spent on free agents to fill the fielding positions. And Lee is the better pitcher.
Lee is not the better pitcher anymore
Don’t kid yourself. Lee is still the better pitcher. Plus, his contract is a bit prohibitive when it comes to trading him. While teams like Texas and the Yankees were willing to sign him for more money over 7 years when he was a free agent, that was two years ago. They just lost out on two of the better years of having him. Considering the Phillies only want to resign Hamels for 4-5 years, they kind of have that now with the remaining years on the Lee deal.
In light of what Cain got it will be interesting to see if Hamels will get a comparable deal- base 5/112 with the option year. The Phils would be gambling going higher for either money or years, but Amaro is a gamblin man.
The Phillies should be open to trading everything and everybody.
It’s over and they need to start anew.
If I were one of the owners of the Philles, I would be having a stroke each and every time I was authorizing payroll payments. Sure money is rolling in from Phan Support, but it’s rolling out even faster and the fact that there’s no team cohesivenss much less production on the playing from players all the way to their coaches and management.
The first half of the season isn’t going to tell them/us if it’s over. They’ve been the worst team in baseball since Roy Halladay’s gotten hurt. Throughout the first half of the season, Chase Utley stepped onto the field in 10 games. Ryan Howard for 2. Cliff Lee and Vance Worley spent a minimum of 15 days on the DL a piece.
The second half, regardless of their record/buyers or sellers will tell the front office what they need to do with regards to the future. How Roy Halladay plays. How Chase Utley and Ryan Howard play… etc. That will tell them when the window is closed.
I disagree, I hate the Phils but they simply need to move Victorino and Hamels if he cant be resigned and prepare for next season. Maybe sign a decent OF to replace Victo if Brown cant prove he’s MLB ready. A healthy Howard Utley Halladay and productive Lee they are just as dangerous as ever.
just sign him and blow by the luxury tax for a year or 2.
28 years old is still fairly young for a pitcher they should lock him up and build around him.
And then there came the luxury tax.
Which is meaningless for a first time offender… for the most part.
Funny how fans think a team can just print money and sign players to mega deals at every position in the field.
🙁
Hamels knows the dodgers are foaming at the mouth to get him. The phils better offer him more than CC’s getting or he’ll walk and go to LA
Sign Hamels. Trade Pence for prospects. Victorino for Moises Sierra. Pierre and Pettibone for Drew Stubbs and figure out a way to get Headley out of SD to play 3B. More to do after that but it’s a start.
lol you have been playing too much MLB The Show.
when will people get it. the phils have entered the yankees and sox status. money is no object, and they are always in win now mode.
Unless the offer is over and beyond what he could possibly fetch on the FA market, I don’t see him accepting. Unless its an obvious overpay I don’t see any advantages in doing a deal right now. There is no reason to think the market for his services will be stagnant over the summer.
I could see parameters being laid out for a potential deal, but when your as good as Cole and mere months from being a FA you have to test your value right? Not sure how it will play out, but that my 2 cents..
Try to sign him. Realistically (I know, this is the hard part for most people) you are looking at a lower top 100 hitting prospect, or a 50ish pitching prospect for Hamels. This is hardly “restocking” the farm.
At this point, the compensation picks (which only we can get at this point) are just about as valuable as the prospects that we would get back.
After 7/31, if Hamels is still here, the Phillies actually gain a bit of leverage IMO. Hamels would still have two months to go, and he would not want to ease-up with his effort, less his performance tails off. At the same time, he knows every time he goes out, he is one shoulder or elbow tweek from losing a nine-figure deal. That could weight on him, and cause he and his agent to show their hand in August or September, and come to terms. Worst case scenario, he leaves and you hope you find the next David Wright in the sandwhich round.
But, what if they can trade him now, get a prospect, AND re-sign in the offseason?
If this goes through, Phillies will have about $100 million tied up between 5 players. This is more than most 40 man rosters alone. They better have a good season next season.
The move is to sign Hamels (say 6/148, w/ option for 7 @ 20mil) and then trade Vic, Blanton, Pierre, Polanco, Wigginton, Fontenot, Kendrick, for whatever you can get for them (Vic being the only one who might actually garner some sort of return). Then this offseason you trade Utley for either bullpen help or an MLB ready 3B or OF prospect (american league where he can DH since fielding is the main source of his knee problems). Then you have Brown and Galvis to fill 2 spots and 20-30 mil to fill out the rest
Phillies Preparing Major Offer For Cole Hamels……and Hamels will not sign it. He’ll wait until the offseason to compare it with the offers from all the other teams that express interest. And this “major offer” will still be there for him in December if he decides to return to Philadelphia.
He is too close to free agency not to try it…. Plus any offer that Philly offers now will still be on the table this winter… So why not pass on the offer, get traded to a contender (Texas prob). have a shot at another ring, and then make his decision this winter??? He gains nothing by signing a extention now (as long as health is not a issue)…..
This is as close to a sure thing as you get in pitching: Hamels has been almost injury-free ever since he was called up. A lock to throw 200+ innings a year. Swing-and-miss stuff with stellar peripherals. And a lefty, to boot. Phillies should back up the truck, luxury tax be damned.