11:00am: Hamels signed a Major League deal with a $1MM base salary, tweets ESPN’s Buster Olney. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale adds that Hamels will take home a $200K bonus for every start made.
10:32am: The Dodgers have a deal in place with Hamels, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. He’ll first head to the team’s Spring Training complex in Arizona to continue building up arm strength.
9:00am: The Dodgers are nearing a deal with free-agent lefty Cole Hamels, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The 37-year-old Hamels recently held a widely attended showcase for clubs and will give the Dodgers another option in the rotation once he builds up to game readiness. Hamels is represented by JBA Sports.
Hamels’ 2020 season with the Braves was wiped out by a series of triceps and shoulder issues. Signed to a one-year, $18MM contract in December 2019, Hamels would only throw 3 1/3 innings during his time with Atlanta. A quiet offseason ensued, with Hamels waiting until his shoulder was back to 100 percent before auditioning for clubs. That might’ve taken longer than initially anticipated, but the lefty drew scouts from upwards of 20 teams last month once he felt ready to go.
It’s unlikely that Hamels will be an immediate option for the Dodgers. He’s pitched just 3 1/3 innings since the end of the 2019 season and hadn’t been throwing in game settings prior to his showcase. For some context, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski discussed Hamels’ showcase with NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark and laid out the reason that teams in need of immediate pitching help didn’t pounce on Hamels right away.
“The one thing in Cole’s case, and he’s the first to admit it, he’s not ready to pitch now,” said Dombrowski just a few days after Hamels’ showcase for teams. “He has to go through his own ’Spring Training,’ so you’re talking about somebody that’s maybe 30 to 40 days down the road helping you.”
Those comments came back on July 19, and Hamels has surely been working out in the interim — likely with more intensity as he geared up to sign with a team. Still, it stands to reason that the Dodgers would send him through at least a handful of minor league rehab starts, so Hamels seems like a late-August or early-September possibility more than someone who’ll be thrown right into the fire.
Whenever he does make his debut, Hamels will bring one of the more accomplished track records of the current generation of pitchers to the Dodgers’ staff. Hamels is a World Series champion and former World Series and NLCS MVP who has made four All-Star teams and has long been considered one of the game’s premier arms. His 2010-16 peak saw him pitch 1477 2/3 innings of 3.14 ERA ball. His work since that peak has dropped off a bit, but Hamels still tossed 480 1/3 innings of 3.92 ERA ball from 2017-19 before last year’s injury-ruined season.
Rotation help has become an unexpected need for the Dodgers, who lost Dustin May to Tommy John surgery early. Los Angeles also has both Clayton Kershaw (forearm inflammation) and Tony Gonsolin (shoulder inflammation) on the injured list at the moment. Trevor Bauer has been on administrative leave since early July following sexual assault allegations that were brought forth against him. Starter-turned-reliever David Price moved back into the rotation last month and built up to about 75 pitches, but his most recent outing was once again a single-inning relief appearance.
The Dodgers addressed their sudden lack of rotation depth at the trade deadline, first picking up the currently injured Danny Duffy before putting together a deadline-day blockbuster acquisition of Max Scherzer. That duo, plus the apparently impending addition of Hamels, ought to give the Dodgers some more firepower on the starting staff down the stretch in a tightly contested three-team race for the NL West crown. For now, the Dodgers will lean on Scherzer, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias as their top three options.
It’s not fully clear just when Hamels, Kershaw or Gonsolin could be cleared to pitch for the Dodgers. Hamels needs the aforementioned buildup, while the team’s last update on Kershaw was that he’d experienced some “residual soreness” following his latest throwing session. Gonsolin hit the 10-day IL on July 31, and there’s been no update since. Duffy landed on the injured list back on July 20, owing to a forearm strain. Royals GM Dayton Moore said on July 27 that the club felt Duffy was perhaps three to four weeks from a return.
The Dodgers themselves probably don’t know exactly how their rotation will shape up over the season’s final eight-plus weeks, but their recent pickups of Scherzer, Duffy and Hamels give the team an enviable stockpile of accomplished arms from which to draw as they look to chase down the first-place Giants and defend their 2020 World Series victory.
I guess Melo was no longer available.
I really hope they can figure out how to to a salary cap and floor in the next CBA. Look at the NHL. That’s the blueprint for success.
why would the players ever agree to a cap?
Because they’ll agree to the floor which brings up team salaries at the bottom. No more collecting revenues and fielding a bargain basement team with zero hope of winning anything. There’s no excuse why 1 team can have a payroll 1/4 the payroll of their competitors. Tampa Bay, Miami, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cleveland combined add up to what the Dodgers are paying this year. That’s inexcusable.
Exactly Polish
You just dont get the financial blanket support from surrounding areas in MLB as you do in the NFL.
There is already a soft cap essientially with the LT already shown to limit spending and has altered the strategy of metro area big spenders such as the Yankees, Cubs, Giants, Red Sox and others.
The floor in baseball would likely not be as satisfying to your argument when you compare revenues of the bottom 10 clubs versus the top 10 clubs. Baseball is too niche and slow growing to support a proper cap/floor structure.
None of those teams mentioned will pay a player $35M+ per season, floor or no floor. However, you put a cap on salaries and the Yankees, dodges, etc f the world won’t have to either. I think the players would prefer top-end earning power. As for the reference to NHL—which sport’s players earn more on a per game basis?
No players should be making 35 million a season imo. You have to understand to pay those select few players that kind of money many other players have to get hosed in the process. And they do. 6 years of team control, 3 of which the player gets paid league minimum is outdated and flat out ridiculous. Give them more money take it from the Gerrit Coles of the world and go from there.
Dude that last part is not true. Baseball in Pittsburgh is only a “niche sport” because the owner refuses to invest in the team. Are there any teams out there that regularly spend and don’t make money? If there are you tell me who they are.
So instead of players making $35mil, you’d rather all the profits go to the owners? That doesn’t make a lick of sense.
In the fight between the millionaire players and the billionaire owners, you pick the owners who need the money less… K.
Uh no……
Like I said pay players when they are younger and deserve to be paid.
I will use an example from my own team
Tyler ONeill makes league minimum and he’s one of the best players on the team. Not only is he ridiculously and unfairly underpaid he sat on the bench for 2 years because Fowler was making 16 million a year. I want to see the ONeills of the world get more and the Fowlers of the world get less. And that can totally happen.
Well, attendance is one major reason.
But why would the owners agree to a floor? Tampa, Pittsburgh, teams like that, don’t want a floor. Not even at 60 million. As long as Tampa can remain competitive as they have been, they’d have no interest in spending, just to get above a floor amount. Players want a floor, owners want a cap. The problem lies with the fact that neither wants both. Even the owners who’d support a floor (Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, etc) wouldn’t want a cap. The middle ground is to hard without finding other leverage to what the other wants. But nothing the other wants is a big enough issue to bring them to the point of offering this. Players want a DH in the NL. But there are loads of other simpler things the owners want that they can ask the players for and get before saying “we want a salary cap.”
Let’s get one thing straight right now. No business has ever gone broke paying its employees. At least no properly run business. Employees are paid what revenue allows, and hopefully comparable to the revenue they generate. Players are paid $35M+ per year because they are “worth” it when you factor in marketing, attendance/TV viewing draw, etc.
However, baseball has been contemplating some form of salary cap/floor structure to promote competitive balance for decades. The problem is the disparity between the haves and have-nots is so much wider in MLB than it is in the other major sports. Therefore, the owners are unable to agree on the type of revenue sharing infrastructure that is needed to make a salary cap/floor structure work. It only works when all teams are at or near equal revenues.
I don’t know what the answer is that will ultimately resolve the issues. Some of the things being discussed in the next CBA will undoubtedly be reducing the service time thresholds for both arbitration eligibility and free agency to allow younger players more access to those revenues earlier in their careers. At the same time however, that will cause the market to naturally weed-out the less-than-elite players in their mid-to-late 30s or older. Fans are likely okay with that, but those players would not be, and would cause issues in union voting on any CBA proposal that would make it more difficult for them to continue their careers.
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out, but ultimately what neither side can afford is a prolonged work stoppage. The 1994 strike nearly crippled the league. If not for the “steroid era” bringing fans back, who knows what would have happened, and the sport is more vulnerable now than it was then. MLB CANNOT afford another prolonged work stoppage, and that ultimately gives the players more power to fight any cap/floor structure.
Baseball isn’t your typical business. Not in the slightest. The system has a built in way to get cheap talent. It takes advantage of these guys when they are young. Teams like the Ray’s use the system to get lots of value out of their young guys then trade them away when they start to get expensive. That couldn’t take place in a typical business.
It’s 2021 and the world is filled with cheaters. You need to know that and go from there. Fairness is important It’s what sports are supposed to be about. It’s what made me want to play them as a kid it didn’t matter what you looked like or where you came from all that mattered is you could play.
Well said, but one amendment I would make is baseball couldn’t afford a strike/lockout in 1994 but it happened anyway. If you don’t count on good sense to prevail you’ll be right more often than not unfortunately, especially these days, and if anything the owners and players are further apart now than they were in 1994.
A floor would fix nothing. The dodgers and yankees would trade their bad contracts along with prospects to the teams that need to reach the cap floor.
Ok let’s say they do that Deuce. Wouldn’t that lead to a more level playing field down the road? Because at some point the money runs out and then you don’t have a farm system.
Why is the argument to not paying players the top salaries always “would you rather the owner pocket the money”.
No,i’d rather both of their incomes to come down,so cable subscriptions cost less,so ticket prices come down,and so a 12oz drink don’t cost $12.
The cost to the consumer goes up when players salaries rise,it’s not the owners making less.
No way in hell are players worth that much money. No way. If they sign a long term contract and have a great year in between, they feel disrespected and want to be paid their worth. But if they have an off year, you don’t hear a peep. For fans, we get screwed; with having to pay high ticket prices and very expensive concessions and parking. For me to take my family and have nice seats, it would cost me close to $500. When I was a kid, tickets were $0.75, parking $3 and a soda was $1.50. So don’t tell me players are worth that much money.
Good point. And frankly baseball needs a readjustment on prices it’s been long overdue.
Between 2004 and 2013 I went to over 200 games in St Louis. Nobody ever paid what the ticket said. Like nobody did. And the stadium was not full, at least not on the weekdays. And this was a GREAT 10 year run for the franchise about as good a 10 years as any team in any city has had in the last 20 years. I got “80 dollar tickets” for 25 easy.
Now people do love to spend 8 bucks on a beer. Even buy 2 or 3. I don’t know why. Makes no sense to me but they sure love doing that. And alcohol is a bit of a vice anyways so I say keep taxing that. But tickets, water and food should change.
We finally found the guy who knows how much players are really worth. Where you been keeping yourself?
No owner decides to set the price of a drink based on how much the players cost. The price of the drink, the ticket, the cable subscription are all whatever the market will bear to maximize revenue. It’s the law of supply and demand. The players could be making minimum wage and it wouldn’t reduce fan costs (unless it also reduced player talent causing less demand from fans).
If you want to bring down that $12 drink, you have to do what I do: don’t buy it.
Bowadoyle – I sympathize but the players are in fact worth that much as long as fans are willing to pay the absurd prices. Fans can whine and complain all they want, but ultimately they still do it, don’t they?
You want ticket/concession prices to come down? Stop buying them. I agree that it’s ridiculous for a family of 4 to have to pay $400 or more to attend a game with good seats anymore, but people are doing it. Until that stops, the prices won’t change other than to go up more.
It’s all related. The higher the salaries get the more teams charge for games. But when teams need to sell tickets they do what they have to do.
It’s like a movie theater. At least a movie theater in 2019. The show is gonna go on no matter what. The only real variable is how many tickets will be sold and for how much. And they can’t sell the overpriced concessions if they can’t get people in the door. Movie theaters needed a new business plan long before covid this is just the nail in the coffin. Gotta get butts in the seats.
Aaron 13
it’s ridiculous for a family of 4 to have to pay $400 or more to attend a game with good seats anymore
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That’s a gross exaggeration. I just checked the Stubhub prices for the upcoming Friday night game at Yankee Stadium. You can buy 4 tickets at $19 each. That’s $76. The NYY allow you to bring in some food and drinks with you. I usually grab a soda and Crackerjacks for $4-5. You do that for a family of 4, then you have spent $100. I usually have a few beers after that, but that is a personal choice, and isn’t particularly expensive anyway.
Try going to the local Alamo theater and see what the price for 4 is.
Comment of the day. It has gotten past the point of ridiculous. The one year a few years ago with profit sharing the yankees and red sox paid the entire payrolls of pirates rays and royals
The whole reason salaries got out of control goes back to the Yankees and Red Sox outbidding each other. Best thing that happened back then was when one team just bowed out of the bidding early, leaving no leverage. The market is still correcting itself. A-Rods first mega deal should have been enough to scare away anyone not with a huge bankroll. Sure you can fork over $250 mil contracts but then not have any money left over to field a team around him. You’d be forced to deal the player and still pay part of his salary to play elsewhere.
And small market teams are pulling enough tv contract and revenue sharing monies in to raise that floor up a bit.
Why a floor? In your example less teams don’t want the floor as don’t want a cap.
So they trade back contracts but would also have to have something of value in 5heir for the team to absorb it. A true salary cap works in the other major sports and the well run organizations remain competitive year after year. No reason MLB couldn’t have one as well.
JoeBrady, yes it is certainly possible to take a family of 4 to a game economically if you try, but that’s not the point being discussed. I was responding to Bowadoyle’s estimate of near $500.
What we’re talking about is total cost – not just the tickets, but parking, food, souvenirs, etc. It’s what front offices refer to as “Fan Experience Index” or FEI. In other words, what it would cost the average family of 4 to attend a game at their stadium with a full meal.
So yes, I can go to Angels Stadium and sit in the 500 section (top deck), bring in some sodas & snacks, and park at the Hooters half a mile away and probably get my family in and out of there for less than $100. But if I wanted field level seats, good parking, and a full meal from one of the stadium concessions, it would be considerably more. Well over $100 per person.
What smaller market team will agree to a floor? You’re living in fantasy land.
Well over $100 per person.
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My point being that there is an option for everyone. When I was growing up, there were very few Yankee games for me. When I was a young adult, I’d go to the bleachers. As I got older, with a little bit more money, I treated myself better. But I am still fine with the $28 tickets. I will oftentimes go to the Dominican joint on 157th Street for a bucket of Heineken’s for $20.
I can afford a good bit more than that. but I don’t need it to enjoy the game. Sitting in the field boxes is a luxury, not a necessity,
I don’t understand if you are complaining about one team spending too much or the lack of spending by more than 20% of the teams?.
No one is stopping the Cardinals from signing O’Neill to better contract…except O’Neill has a BA of .244. The CWS has signed multiple players to lucrative deals Moncada, Jimenez, Robert etc.
Polish, I agree with you but Manfrerd isn’t interested in what is fair for all baseball fans. If he had his way the NY and LA teams would be in the playoffs every year. As a fan I wish there was a cap, but if that would bring in more money for MLB I’m sure they would have done it years ago.
Just a dose of reality, that’s just not going happen. And it has nothing to do with salaries. Thats a myth that people need to stop spouting and believing, because it’s been proven untrue time after time. The reason prices continue to rise for consumers is simple; consumers are willing to pay for it. Branding plays the biggest portion in this discussion. But let’s please stop believing some of these dumb myths.
Are you taking into account his signing bonus? Also all these league minimums is still more than the majority of Americans make in a year. For playing a game. Your obviously bias cause your team is cheap and doesn’t want to pay for talent. Bet your teams owner is more wealthy than you think.
Joel you think of the Dodgers and Yankees had a lower cap their $ would run out faster? They would love to pay even less to players. Truth is big markets make more $ so why would they want all this parity? And revenue sharing (competitive balance tax) pays those cheap teams for nothing. No owner is ever gonna vote on a cap, players also.
No ones making you pay to go to a game or for a cable subscription. It’s entertainment. You gonna scream when Brad Pitt makes 20 mil for a movie?
Players are worth what they negotiate and get paid plain and simple. And 75 cents for admission? Please tell me how great it was to watch Ty Cobb?
Bowadoyle, in 1920 a ticket to a Yankees game was 1.00$. How old are you?
Says the Dodgers fan. Do they need 100% of the vote for that? I doubt it.
DakotaJoe those teams are set up to be in the playoffs every year. Why else do you think they added the wild card years ago and try en expanded it? They couldn’t have the Yanks or Red Sox each spending $200+ mil on payroll with only one guaranteed to advance to the playoffs.
Food and ticket prices have always been high… Lower paid players isn’t going to cause those prices to drop. Even the smallest market teams gauge you for food, soda, etc
Also baseball doesn’t have national TV revenue that football does.
Because you also get a salary floor.
you can have one and not the other
Sure you can have one and not the other. But why would you want that?
At the core sports is supposed to be fair competition. Thats what sports are about, or at least they are SUPPOSED to be about. The NHL gets it. The NBA does not. Fair competition and the best team on that given day wins. Not let’s see how much we can spend to buy a championship. It’s just not how sports are supposed to work.
A cap/floor likely needs greater revenue sharing to be effective, but that’s not going to happen.
I agree with the first part. Why on earth can’t that happen? Pretty sure the NBA does this. It keeps the terrible teams happy and allows them to spend some money, even if it’s for a rebuild type situation for a while.
forstyle
why would the players ever agree to a cap?
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The better, and more important question is, why WOULDN”T they?
I think the issues that some fans, and the union have, is that they think of a cap as a negative thing. The players are currently engaged in a battle of incremental inflation gains, while the owners are engaged in a battle to grow the revenue.
It is the same in the real world. If you are happy with an inflation-based annual raise, there is a certain stability to that. But you might do a whole better with lower raises and higher profit-sharing. At my best job, I got decent raises, nothing special. But the shares I got in my 401k have gone up 400%.
If by success you mean a league in which 10 teams barely draw fans and good owners and teams have to tear apart every year to get under a cap, than yes ‘success’
The top revenue teams are paying their stars 10,11mm a year and get to pocket the rest. The only ones finding success in the NHL system is the owners.
Hockey is the least popular of the big 4 sports in the US. Their arenas hold about half of what a baseball stadium does and their TV contracts aren’t nearly as lucrative. Of course the players don’t make as much as other sports.
That’s not true at all. I live in St Louis. Stadium holds over 40000 people but how many you think were there last night? I don’t care about announced attendance the Cardinals have been faking those numbers for over a decade.
Used to live in St Louis I should say
MLB revenue in 2019 was more than double than of the NHL. Using pre-pandemic as a reference. It shouldn’t be a surprise that baseball players make more money than hockey players.
Hockey players should not be making more money than baseball players.
However teams like the rangers, leafs, canadiens, etc are all in billion dollar valuations.
All the salary cap has done to the nhl is ensure bad owners and bad markets stay afloat and put a far worse product on the ice. There is no reason to want the same thing in baseball.
Kind of frustrating when the reply to my comments getting more likes than the actual comment I made. Admittedly Polish explained it better than I did. But I said it. Oh well. As long as I am contributing….team player…….
Dang son! You have an ego on you!
Now THAT comment deserves a like…..
I have an idea, a bad, useless, futile, idea but one focused on the true stars of the sport, the fans. Forget capping the payrolls, individual player salaries, bottoms and ceilings. MLB could cap ticket prices, and while their at it consider parking prices and concessions, especially the beer prices. Start there and everything else may fall into place. Yeah, dumb idea. /s
MLB could cap ticket prices
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Sure they could. So could Burger King. So could GM’s Camaros. Maybe someone can sell me a Babe Ruth card for 50% off.
But why would anyone want to do that? I don’t recall having ever gone into a prospective employer, or current employer, and suggested that they cut my pay.
Maybe not you, but a lot of folks are complaining that tickets are too high. Tickets are only too high IF no one buys them. If people continue to go to games after a 10% increase, it means that the 10% increase is justified.
MLB would never tell the teams what they could charge. Heck, the teams all like to act like they have no say in the exorbitant concession prices and blame it on Aramark or whoever, yet it is them that puts the concessions out for bids.
JoeBrady is describing the wonder and beauty of Capitalism. God bless the all knowing free market! >=}
Maybe you should pivot away from basing your well being on stranger upvotes.
Cry
You want something to cry about how about Kershaws postseason performances against my team the Cardinals.
Are you a child?
Also, how are “your” cards doing this year? Yeah, get lost.
Probably not technically a child, but certainly has a childish mentality.
Hamlels will be signed for maybe $1mil. This isn’t another big contract. He’s trying to prove he can still pitch and trying to win a World Series.
I agree. It’s just about depth for the Dodgers, not necessity. If it works out, great, if not, they aren’t risking anything other than a roster spot. Then they can release him. Solid move.
Kershaw-Shank – (great name btw) I agree but the probability is unless Hamels comes in and pitches his arse off, he’s not likely to make the Dodgers postseason roster. So prove he can still pitch? Yes. Win another WS? He’d have to be very lucky – not that he wouldn’t get a ring even if left off the PS roster (assuming the Dodgers repeat), but it’s unlikely he’d pitch in the postseason. Maybe out of the bullpen as a long man….MAYBE.
The super team just got even better. That team is scary from starting rotation to lineup.
Why because your team doesn’t sign players? The NHL makes an extreme amount of revenue off ticket sales. MLB makes far beyond that. They don’t need a salary cap. Players are not going to agree to a system that will drastically change salaries. The chance for a salary cap was 1994 but it didn’t happen. Certainly won’t now with all the tension between the union and MLB.
The chance for a salary cap was 1994 but it didn’t happen. Certainly won’t now with all the tension between the union and MLB.
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Had the union agreed to a salary cap, and basically a % of the revenue, there would be no tension whatsoever. But by agreeing to a modest raise over the past 5 years, while the owners were experiencing 6%+ growth, the players screwed themselves.
You do know nhl not as big as mlb or other sports . Might be why they run their cap different. We are talking the same sport that lost fans and took years to rebuild after a lockout
Yanks would have to cease operations if they brought in a cap.
The Dodgers spent $1 mil on Hamels.
Everyone always complains about the Dodgers buying everyone but our best pitchers are guys we drafted and our best hitters are Taylor
Cont Muncy, and Turner.
Fans are jealous that we turn scraps into All-Stars.
Like Bauer and Scherzer?
Nobody wants to operate at a loss … But it is ridiculous that some franchises can afford to spend 4X as much as their competition due to a geography and the larger fan-base that comes with it. Some geographical locations have a fan base of higher wage earners that can afford to attend or the expensive cable rates due to the TV deals some markets make…. And all that money flows out your wallet into players & owners pockets.
No need and undesirable to have salary cap and salary floor. NHL is definitely not a blueprint for success….. few even watch the sport. Look at the ratings, mediocre.
Maybe the Giants add Cliff Lee. Whaddyathink about THAT?
Bring back Jamie Moyer! He can probably still throw in the low 80’s like he used to
The Pride of Souderton, PA and St. Joe’s University!
This move feels like there’s something more serious going on with kershaw or gonsolin or both.
Exactly
You can never have too much pitching
And/or the IP for Urias this year is already well beyond previous seasons.
Bingo. I thought that about the Duffy move; this Hamels interest solidifies that.
I think it’s just about depth. The Dodgers sign Hamels simply because they can. Low risk move.
It also stops other teams from signing him. San Diego’s rotation desperately needed upgrading at the deadline and they didn’t acquire a SP so ensuring the Padres don’t get him, like they ensured that they didn’t get Scherzer, keeps a leg up on them in the playoff race.
He’ll be coming out of the pen surely. We need solid left hand relief pitching and there’s frankly no room in the rotation.
Beyond Buehler, Urias & Scherzer… who is in the rotation? White was just sent down after a solid outing. Price is still in the pen.
How about Bill Cosby?
Crap sorry i meant Trevor Bauer
Beyond “three of the best pitchers in 2021,” who is in the rotation? That is such an arrogant question for a team whose 6th best starter would probably be a strong #2 on a lot of teams. If you count Bauer, the starting rotation has about 10 Cy Young Awards and there is another one won by the long reliever who would be the ace of the Pirates or Marlins or several other teams.
Lol you counting Bauer?
Obviously the Dodgers aren’t counting on him, they are counting him out.
He is still getting paid by the Dodgers, so yes I am. Most teams entire rotation are not getting paid as much as him.
The deducts are coming with a suspension. The Dodgers are going about their business as if it’s going to be a long one, which most likely it will be.
Likely, Bauer will never pitch for the Dodgers again.
I would say certainly.
Unless the Dodgers can void Bauer’s contract, he’s not going anywhere. He’s not going to get any free agent interest, so the Dodgers are stuck with him and both of his player options. The question is, will they ever let him play for them again?
It must be killing Bauer not to be on social media for so long. Even if he’s found not-guilty in court, his life is forever altered. I wonder if he has the capacity to make the necessary changes in his life to be a better person? Something tells me he doesn’t and he’ll be the same old alpha male he’s always been. Friedman’s $100M mistake!
Bauer said it himself, he’s only good at two things: throwing a baseball and pissing people off. Because he’s so good at the latter, he no longer gets to do the former, and has nobody to blame but himself. Most people grow up emotionally and figure this out eventually, but not everyone, and in his case it might be too late to rescue his career.
Bauer not pitching in 2021 for Dodgers, that is clear. If legally not jailed for offenses, very likely grievance filed as Dodgers will nullify future option years of contract due to conduct.
Hamels is not going through this comeback to come out of the pen.
He’s lucky he’s even getting a look after his last season with the cubs, and the 18 million he took to pitch 3 innings for atlanta. He should count his blessings and be fortunate to be on a roster
Lucky, how do you mean? Most of the league watched him work out last month. He took presumably the best offer he got from those teams. That’s how the player market works. Luck doesn’t figure into it.
BrewersMVP08,
Don’t post angry now. Deep breathes…
So his 2021 will be pitching in the Majors in September.
Good work if you can get it.
Did Lebron have a part in this recruitment process?
Nice insurance policy for the Dodgers. Got to respect their front office for being all in!
The Dodgers are just trying to ****block the Padres.
The Padres did that in 1998 by acquiring Randy Meyers, who was completely burned toast (14 innings, 10 runs down the stretch).
Word is out that agent Scott Boras was the one who leaked the Padres “imminent deal” with the Padres for Scherzer and gave LA a chance to put together a bigger package.
The Dodgers are acting unconfident in their arms.
Doubtful…more like Scherzer wouldn’t waive his NTC. He chose the Dodgers over the Padres.
What makes you think that? proof?
Theories can exist… don’t lash cause you don’t like the claim
Dodgers are are acting unconfident in their arms? What?
Dodgers are being smart, signing a veteran lefty with lots (and lots) of (successful) postseason experience to be a stopgap measure come Sept/October. Like Danny Duffy, if Hamels works out, he’ll have been well worth the pittance they’ll pay him. And if neither works out, no harm done.
The Dodgers could be at absolute FULL strength and this would still be a smart, value-added signing.
So…either/or.
Is acquiring Sherzer an act of no confidence in their pitching? One of baseballs most successful pitchers? Was acquiring Turner a similar vote against their own infielders? That’s just silly.
“Word”
With no source
Would you want your World Series title defense to come down to a single elimination game against teams you know very well and play 50/50 ball? And then know you get the luxury of then facing the other, if you win 1 game. Or do you want to be guaranteed multiple home games and at least a 5 game series?
They’re doing this to win the division. Not sure why anyone would be complaining about them trying to better the team for cheap
Still ticked off about 18M FOR 3 innings!!!!!
Deep breathes…
I feel you on that. I don’t feel any particular desire to cheer for him either.
This guy is washed up they would be better signing Steve Carlton
He’s not too far away from a solid 2019 season. I wouldn’t say washed up. He may have some gas in the tank, and has valuable experience to help the younger pitchers, although the Dodgers already have that with Kershaw.
“It’s unlikely that Hamels will be an immediate option for the Phillies.”
One would expect that it would be unlikely he’d be an immediate option for the Phillies if he’s going to sign with the Dodgers.
The quote was from the Dombrowski of the Phillies just used to put Hamels’ timeline into context for the Dodgers.
Had to read this a couple of times. So he is signing with the Dodgers, not the Phillies? Not that it probably matters either way.
That was my first reaction! Did he sign with the Dodgers or the Phillies?
Editing? Dodgers and Phillies?
“The Dodgers are nearing a deal with free-agent lefty Cole Hamels, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). ” “It’s unlikely that Hamels will be an immediate option for the Phillies. He’s pitched just 3 1/3 innings since the end of the 2019 season and hadn’t been throwing in game settings prior to his showcase. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark a few days after the showcase..”
So are you confused or do you understand yet you still wanted to whine? It seems like you understand and just want to whine to me. Find something else to do.
Excuse me? Did I say I was confused? And where did I direct my comment to you? At all. Just pointing out an editing error, which can be easily cleared up. Next time, if you feel like trashing me, perhaps you should read what I actually wrote and be certain it was directed at you.
I am pointing out that you and 10 other people don’t need to point it out. It’s lame. If you can run your mouth so can I.
I don’t care who you directed it at. I was arguing with the writer of this article yesterday. But that was a loser move. Be better.
Stop being the self-appointed keeper of the flame. It’s unmerited.
Steve Adams, thanks for the editing clarification. Makes sense now.
Don’t be the guy that shows up to an article 2 minutes after it was posted and whines about editing. That’s lame.
How old are you seriously?
@Joel Bro, you’re whining about not getting more likes than a reply on your post LOL!
The reply to a comment should not get more likes than the comment itself unless it contradicts the original comment. That’s how I see it. And like I said he did describe it better than I did.
Respect is overrated anyhow. I got your attention. That’s what counts.
Yep dude, clowns definitely attract attention.
I don’t think MLBTR writers have such thin skins that they are going to get the vapors over a few folks noticing an error that was inadvertent and that they obviously then went to change. I appreciate the work they do here, with speed and a good amount of detail, and a fairly high degree of editing accuracy. As to occasional mistakes, I get it. I write a once a month column for another (non-baseball) website, and believe me, I’ll have sharp-eyed readers picking up things and commenting on them. That might have occurred after several rounds of editing. If someone points out that a caption read 1981 instead of 1918 (as has happened) I appreciate it. I’d rather not be inaccurate. I come to this site because I’m a diehard baseball fan and it’s a welcome relief from all the drama that infects the rest of public life. I suspect you do the same, so let’s have a truce and move on.
Is he nearing a deal with the Dodgers or the Phillies?
I’m a little confused… The article starts off with him joining the Dodgers, but then the 3rd paragraph talks about him not making an immediate impact for the Phillies. Am I missing something?
A lot of people are confused. The quotes about Philly were from Dombrowski. They were included to explain that Hamels is unlikely to be ready right away, and also why some teams didn’t pull the trigger. This isn’t a typo.
There was one typo, hence the confusion. It has now been corrected to Dodgers from Phillies. All good, we all make mistakes from time to time.
Ahh. So I’m seeing this after the typo was fixed. So I’m in the wrong here. Apologies.
No worries, it was probably a cut-and-paste from a previous article to get the Dombrowski quotes when the Phillies were interested.
You are confused when the title of the article is about hamels signing with the Dodgers? Editing error or not the title is kind of self-explanatory.
Definitely won’t be an option for the Phillies if he was signed by the Dodgers
The Dodgers are close to signing, but Hamels won’t be immediately available as pointed out by the Phillies’ GM, Dombrowski. Last month Dombrowski expected Hamels would need 30-40 days from July 16th to be ready.
If you have a son teach him how to pitch left handed. He’ll have a job until his arm falls off.
Still think it would have made more sense for a guy like Hamels to have made a few starts in Indy ball so he could be ready to go now instead of maybe at the end of the month.
Do they even need him? The Dodgers were shut down last night like they were in game 7 of the 2017 World Series. How does Cole fix that?
One game out of several I think
As an Astros fan, I am not counting ANY chickens before they’re hatched, but, that said
I sure would love to beat the VERY EXCELLENT Dodgers team again tonight.
And in late October, 2021. 🙂
cheaters!
Send down Bellinger
Odds that Cole will have any meaningful impact are between low and nil. But his pursuit by the Dodgers is evidence of the team’s desperation. The best team on paper is not the best team on the field on most days unless you’re just brainwashed by LA loving media.
Please introduce me to this LA loving media. We don’t seem to have any of it here in SoCal.
kcal, fox, la times, etc,.
I don’t watch the TV stations but definitely not the LA Times. That I read every day and the sports columnists are all over the Dodgers like a cheap suit.
La times is not loving
Haha! think you misunderstand the type of love I’m talking about. The media can skewer a team for many reasons, but still love them and want them to win at the same time. They are fans just like the rest of us, right? Perhaps I could have stated this more clearly a different way. A large portion of the national media are Dodger fans. They could be based anywhere…eg, Pensacola, Peoria or Portland.
I’ve watched plenty of nationally broadcast Dodger games and based on that experience I sure can’t agree.
Per Fangraphs, Dodgers estimated payroll will be $280 million and counting?
before hamel signing they were at $262,111,667. that’s $52 million+ over the threshold. i’m calling for harsher penalties going over the threshold.
figures are from cot’s.
Agree! The cap tax needs to be higher. The Dodgers are practically a monopoly. Probably the long term answer is to add a third team to the LA market.
Don’t call it a comeback.
Dodgers looking to fill space on their IL.
Now, all the Dodgers need is a time machine…
Can anyone speculate on the realistic probability that Trevor Bauer returns to the Dodgers?
I got this one……
About as probable as Sandy Koufax pitching game 1 of the WS for the Dodgers.
It’d be hilrarious if Bauer is released and the Astros pick him up.
I wouldn’t want that piece of human trash anywhere on my team. Even if you are a world series contender.
I can speculate that there’s a 0% chance of him returning to the Dodgers or baseball this year, or ever. It’s just speculation though, but I’d be shocked if we see him again. The allegations and details seem pretty egregious.
The accuser is a certifiable nutcase groupie. She has put things in writing that will vindicate Bauer.
She worked for the Padres and “had” Tatis and (apparently) Clevinger too. Fernando should take that as one serious as f*** lesson.
She is nuts for sure. And thats a factor. But this doesn’t happen without him being a little nuts too. At the end of the day he has a higher bar to live up to than she does. And he really should know that before getting into a situation like this.
My dad taught me if a girl asks you to punch here in the vagina run. Now maybe there is a better way to handle the situation. But I made it this far. Gonna keep on keeping on.
Players are responsible for knowing, understanding, and following the joint policy. Nearly everybody tries to make this situation a whole lot more complicated than that, when it just isn’t.
Bauer will never be vindicated, Crikes.
He may not be charged criminally, and considering the statistics in rape cases brought to trial, he almost certainly won’t be convicted of a crime even if charged.
But as a part of his legal team’s efforts to smear his accuser (and well, given that you now refer to as a “certifiable nutcase groupie,” and I wonder if you just forgot to write that “she wanted it”), they also confirmed that Bauer is a violent sexual deviant who, at best, cosplayed rape with a woman he met in his DMs–and may well have committed sexual violence upon the woman after choking her out, which would make ANYTHING he then did something to which she did not consent.
Another word for that is rape.
So…will he do time? Given the statistics of cases such as this, probably not.
But will he be vindicated? No.
If she were such a nutcase and the claim has no merit, why is Bauer still on leave? It doesn’t sound as open and closed to me
Nobody knows whether any of that is true or untrue. That’s why we have police and a court system. Bauer is on leave because it is politically expedient. He still gets paid, and the MLB figures it is better paying him to do nothing, than to play him, and find out everything that she said is true.
At the end of the day he has a higher bar to live up to than she does.
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That’s not right either. For most of my life, the public message is that, whatever two consenting adults do behind closed doors is none of my business.
Slapping someone around doesn’t do much for me, But there are probably dozens of other semi-regular interactions that don’t do anything for me. If the NTs start to decide what Bauer and this woman are allowed to do, it is a real slippery slope.
He is on paid leave because that is what is required of the policy jointly adopted by the players and owners. You should read it some time, like maybe before you comment again.
MLB is investigating. It’s possible they have found more incidents. If that is true, MLB will not want a running soap opera in the press about young Trevor. He has a history that is well documented on social media. His comments, about and to women, are not exculpatory.
The commissioner’s office also seems to be waiting on the outcome of the restraining order hearing, which has been rescheduled a couple of times already. Other stuff is no doubt happening behind the scenes.
I am saying a guy making 30 million a year shouldn’t be with a crazy chick who asks to get smacked around. There are foreseeable problems that will arise from that. And if Bauer is really into it he probably needs some counseling. I like to have a good time but this is next level crazy sfuff.
Exactly Joel. As ridiculous as it sounds, it’s as simple as that.
CrikesAlready,
Are we to infer Tatis’s shoulder injury may’ve resulted from rough sex with said weapon’s grade nutcase groupie?
but this is next level crazy sfuff.
========================================
The dude is crazy, but I don’t know that I would want to describe that particular behavior as crazy. Engaging in the behavior with someone you don’t really know is pretty stupid. That said, from a random Google search:
“1.8% of sexually active people (2.2% of men, 1.3% of women) said they had been involved in BDSM in the previous year.”
That’s no small amount of people. That’s maybe 6M people in the US, He probably should’ve just hired someone if this was his thing.
Unicorndog… yes we should
Bauer’s attorneys released some text messages she sent stating it was consensual however even if she asked for it doesn’t excuse someone from sexual abuse.
BDSM and what’s been reported are not necessarily the same thing. Again I like to have a good time. But who on earth enjoys punching a girl in the face? And what kind of girl enjoys that? Maybe it is 2%. But thats the 2% you stay away from as a professional athlete.
There is no scenario where Bauer is a victim of circumstance here. He created his circumstance.
True story Joel. I don’t know how well “she asked for it” works as a defense in a court of law, but I do know that it won’t work under the joint policy, and that is where the rubber hits the road in this situation.
Ah yes, even though there is a chance he doesn’t get charged criminally he won’t play baseball “ever” again. So are the Dodgers just going to eat the 60 million remaining?
Dodgers won’t be eating that money. They will go after it once this is resolved. Bet on it.
How much the Dodgers end up having to pay to make him go away if anything will depend on the length of the suspension and wording in his contract that we know nothing about. Most of what we need to know about this situation is the Dodgers have clearly moved on from him.
There won’t be cause to terminate Bauer’s contract if there is no legal charges. The union would never allow it.
I wouldn’t bet more on that than I could afford to lose, but notice I didn’t say anything about terminating his contract.
You don’t think there will be charges????
I highly doubt this just goes away.
Sure if he’s proven innocent he will get his money and get to play again. But what are the odds that happens?
Probably you weren’t asking me, but my answer is, probably not. Most likely the woman gets a bunch of money and declines to press charges, but that hardly means this just goes away. The real action to watch is in the commissioner’s office. Alway was, still is.
I doubt he will be welcomed back to the Dodgers. As for his contract, I think the Dodgers can afford it. He won’t be back. If the Dodgers have to eat that contract, so be it. Then the people whining about the Hamels signing will really have something to cry about.
Unless there is more evidence, he won’t be convicted or even charged, imvho. They had E-mails subsequent to their first meeting.
Based on the information she sounds like someone looking for money. I don’t think there is a chance that Bauer gets criminally charged unless there is new information that has not been revealed. Even if he’s not criminally charged most likely he will get a very lengthy suspension. Only way that he doesn’t is if more information comes out that the said things by the woman are not true and merely fabrication. Then the general public will say oops and move on. But most likely scenario is Bauer no criminal charges, woman gets her money and Bauer gets suspended and most likely never pitches again for the Dodgers or any other MLB team. That’s why rich sports figures need to exercise more caution and judgment.
This is where the progressive gay agenda runs into the progressive ‘believe all women’ agenda.
If one holds the opinion that gays should be able to do whatever they want in their own houses, it is difficult to hold the opinion that a man shouldn’t be allowed to have rough sex with a woman, if that is what both parties agree to.
If the police find that this was a consensual relationship, and MLB decides to punish Bauer, then it is akin to saying that MLB should be allowed to punish individuals for engaging in whatever turns them on. At that point, who gets to decide what is okay and what is objectionable?
There’s just clueless, and then there’s aggressively clueless.
Joe,
Here’s some unsolicited advice. You should’ve instead saved this as a draft, reread it in 24 hours, and then promptly deleted it.
About the same probability as the Dodgers resigning Puig or Ty Cobb coming back to life.
I don’t really understand this, especially if as a major league deal. Little risk I suppose, but the guy has been stupid injured and not that good for a while now.
Last season was the big injury. 2019 was a solid season. Braves had some bad luck.
The Lakers are at it again. Smh
This screams of desperation. Keep panicking dodger scum
I have zero respect for a team that just tries to buy a championship. They need to do something about the salary cap. Small market teams have absolutely no chance of winning when you have teams like the Dodgers that go out and bring in all stars like they are at a flea market.
I really hope they flame out in the first round.
I get your point, but signing Hamels, is terrible evidence. He was a detriment to ATL last year and went from being a workhorse to a Trojan horse. AA’s ~$6M mistake ($18M signing, $6M payout from condensed season).
He was a free agent. Anyone could have signed him.
There were TWENTY teams at his workout. They ALL could’ve signed him.
The numbers:–$1M guaranteed, $200K a start–are nothing.
If it works out, and Hamels can give a few five=inning starts down the stretch/into October, allowing the team to move Urias to the pen when it matters most, then this is zero-downside move.
There are plenty of reasons to resent the Dodgers.
This isn’t one of them.
Can’t blame Hamels for signing with a team that has the ability to win it all this year. This isn’t about Hamels maximizing his earnings for the remainder of 2021; this is about Hamels trying to win another ring. I’m sure he considered the Giants, White Sox, Padres and maybe even the Phillies but LA gives him the best chance to win another ring if they can get healthy by October. Can’t blame him for choosing the Dodgers at all.
Just get an owner who’s willing to spend. And dodgers did go under the tax 2017-2020, where they went 345-202 (.630) with 4 division titles, three pennants, and a World Series championship. They didn’t buy anything then.
Dodgers 40 man
Drafted/signed and developed by Dodgers – 21 (Buehler, Ferguson, Gonsolin, Gonzalez, Jackson, Jansen, Kershaw, May, Nunez, Uceta, Urias, White, Smith, Lux, Rios, Seager, Turner (Justin), Beaty, Bellinger, McKinstry, Reks )
Drafted by Dodgers, Traded, Reaquired: 1 (Raley)
Developed by dodgers after being acquired as minor prospects – 1 (Barnes)
Failed major leaguers/AAAA reinvented by LAD- 5 (Muncy, Turner, Bickford, Taylor, Ramiriez)
Drafted and Developed by other teams, acquired as prospects – 4 (Graterol, Neuse, Vesia, Cleavinger)
Reclamation projects (Players with good seasons coming off bad ones) – 6 (Pujols. Treinen, Hamels, Duffy, Kahnle, Knebel)
Acquired as Journeymen major-leaguers (e.g. waiver wire) – 4 (McKinney, Sherafy, Wallach, Alexander)
Absolutely Bought – 6 (Betts, Kelly, Price, Scherzer, Turner (Trea), Pollock)
Of 47 players on 40 man/60 day IL, 22 of them were drafted or signed by the Dodgers, and 21 have spent their entire pro career with the team. 4 were acquired as big-league ready prospects, of which 2 were unranked, one was top 10-20, and one was top 80 overall. Overall, 33 of the players had no credentials when coming to LA other than in some cases top amateur prospect. In addition to the six bought, the Dodgers financial strength helped them pay their developed core, having given extensions to Treinen, Turner, Kershaw, and Jansen, among others, withstand mistakes such as the Yasiel Sierra $30 million lit on fire, spend to have a lot of depth, and in some cases they used their financial strength to aquire prospects. Overall, however, the Dodgers are a homegrown team that pays their superstars instead of trading them.
Great summary,@DodgersWorldChamps2020. The one thing this doesn’t cover though is the Dodger’s financial ability to retain all of their top players that they drafted and developed. Imagine if Tampa had the same financial means? They’d probably have even more ‘home grown’ stars than LA and probably more World Series titles over the last 10-15 years as well. The chasm between the ‘rich’ teams and ‘poor’ teams in MLB is so much wider than any other professional sport. It definitely hurts the competitive nature of baseball. Only 4-5 other teams in MLB can afford to do what LA does when it comes to paying top salaries. With that said, you do have to give them credit for drafting / developing so many good players and identifying distressed assets (like Turner, Muncy, etc..) who they’ve helped blossom into all-stars. Financial might aside, they are one of the best run organizations in all of professional sports.
you do know that Darvish and Machado played on LA before being free agents?
They do not simply re-sign everyone
Salary cap is nothing more than a way for billionaires to steal money from players. The fact the other billionaire owners would rather pocket extra money while franchise values skyrocket because of of the players just proves what egotistical jerks they are. Every owner has enough money in cash and franchise value spend the way the Dodgers are. The fact that they don’t is purely their fault for being greedy.
Yeah let’s ignore the quality of players the Dodgers developed, which both contribute to their success in the field and have been used in trades. No, they are just “buying” players.
Every owner has enough money in cash and franchise value spend the way the Dodgers are.
=========================================================
So Miami has the same revenue stream as the NYY and LAD?
apparently dude wants teams to borrow against franchise value down at Loan Depot
The rich get richer
G dammit!! Doyers and everyone else chasing that repeat ring. Pile on until we can’t lose looks like the general plan here.
Hopefully he can hit better then Belly at the 165 clip. Thank god they finally got a hitter. Oh wait he’s a pitcher. Dammit.
Eh, Bellinger’s time as a starter should be drawing to a close soon enough.
It’s time, and with Betts/Trea/Muncy/JT/Seager/Smith/Taylor/Pollock, there’s officially no more room at the inn.
Send him down for a week when Trea arrives so he can mash Triple-A pitching and perhaps unlock something, but for now, he’s a bench bat/defensive replacement on a team with the lineup depth to move forward.
And spend the entire offseason at Camelback, undoing a broken swing that was once the envy of the sport. Because when you can’t hit a center-cut fastball in a hitter’s count….well, it’s time.
You don’t bench Bellinger.. The guy is coming off a significant injury and some fools are writing him off due to a couple months struggling at the plate.
The issue was it’s not struggling, it’s STRUGGLING. Even in rehab he wasn’t great but that’s truly understandable. He needs some AAA time
Bellinger’s defense alone is not replaceable. He’s a career 0.264 hitter. He’ll be way below that this year but I expect to see some recovery. Now, if he continues to struggle, I expect Roberts to not start him against lefties and he comes in as a pinch hitter/defensive replacement on those games. And when he starts against righties he may get replaced later in the game if a critical situation comes up against a lefty and the Dodgers have a better right handed alternative. But to send him to the minors is plain crazy and I’d be shocked if the Dodgers did that right now. Typical reactionary fan crazy talk to send him down.
Maybe the problem is coaching? Better hitting coaches might identify the differences in his swing path as an MVP versus now.
I’m guessing Hamels demanded payment upfront via COD in only small bills in a reusable tote.
Crap!! I had the Braves in the FA signing contest. Any word on Porcello??
I think LeBron is running the Dodgers…
The Padres must have been checking on him and the Dodgers found out about it.
Better the Dodgers than Phillies he is washed up wait and see.Bullpen or no bullpen his pitch no more than 6 innings
If he can give them six innings a start that would be a huge win for them
I am concerned what this really means is that Kershaw is worse than the Dodgers have let on…
Of course, none of it matters if the Dodgers don’t start playing championship baseball anyway. Very disappointing.
Step 1: Activate Turner this weekend. Immediately send Bellinger to the minors to get it together – or play him for what he is this year – a defensive replacement player with a couple of starts a week batting out of the 8-spot.
Where is the team down 3-1 to the Braves in the NLCS? It ain’t in the field right now, that I can tell you.
The 1o runs or no runs offense is brutal right now.
I think the Dodgers are just taking a chance on Hamels in case Kershaw has setbacks. A bit surprised he signed to a MLB deal, but he wouldn’t have likely been ready to pitch much even at the MiLB level before the minor league season was over anyway.
Hamels clearly didn’t make a big impression on anybody.
Clearly didn’t make an impression!? He landed a guaranteed MLB deal with a base salary double the minimum, and will make 200k every time he starts. So 20% bonus every 5 days for a month+? 20 teams attended. What more did you expect?
You lost me at send Bellinger to the minors. Who are you going to play differently that will make an impact in the lineup after you take away Bellinger’s impact on defense. Nobody in the Dodger bench or minors.
Friedman wants options. I’d argue that even with a healthier Kershaw the Dodgers may still have taken a flyer on Hamels. At the end of the day you just want as many options available, especially in this odd injury-prone season.
Sounds like panic is setting in on Dodgerland. Despite the four game deficit, I’d still suggest that odds are 50/50 that the Dodgers still win the division.
Not surprised. He’s from Cali.
Hot take that shouldn’t be hot: Cole Hamels is a HOFer.
He can be in the Rangers Hall of Fame, not the Baseball HOF.
I think he falls a bit short atm. He’s 37 but *IF* he can cross the 3,000 IP and K mark while keeping his ERA low, he can make a strong case. If he helps the Dodgers make the postseason and contribute towards a WS ring, even better.
Since Bauer is on administrative leave, I hope he has to do paperwork for the Dodgers. Maybe work in the ticket office… lol
Peanut vendor.
LOL! Could see him winding up and firing those bags of peanuts at the fans.
The Cardinals should have signed him and had an all over 35 starting rotation.
I hope Hamels does well down the stretch and the Dodgers slide him into the playoff rotation…I’d like my teams chances against him.
$200K per start.
If he is ready in about 2 weeks, that could mean 8-9 starts max. Or 1-2 if he gets lit up like a pinball machine.
Cole hoping he can get 3,000 K’s. Which he won’t.
that bum should pitch for the Braves gratis this year
Because of course they did lol
$200,000 bonus per start – nice gig! Yeesh.
Incentive for him to work hard and get ready quickly imo
And I think his services were in very high demand. He was basically last pitcher you could sign or add to your team unless you get lucky on a waiver wire. Deadline is gone
Yeah because otherwise he’d be lazy.