Phillies, Cole Hamels Agree On Six-Year $144 Million Contract

Not a lot has gone right for the Phillies this season, but they had some great news to pass along late Tuesday night, announcing that they have agreed to terms with Cole Hamels on a new contract. Per Jon Heyman, the deal is for six years and is worth $144 million.

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has said all along that the team’s goal was to keep Hamels in Philadelphia for the long-term, and the team was willing to go a long way to make that goal happen, signing the ace to the second largest contract ever given to a pitcher in major league history.

While Hamels receives one of the most lucrative contracts in league history, he made a difficult decision to pass on free agency to commit to pitching in Philadelphia. Apart from an opportunity to receive an richer contract on the open market, he had also been pressured by the players association to become a free agent.

It will be interesting to see how the Hamels signing impacts the Phillies’ plans for the trade deadline. Does this make them more likely to try to move either Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay to free up space on the payroll for next year? Could the team possibly be buyers now that they’ve gotten a commitment from Hamels, and in the light of the fact that they’ve been playing better since the All-Star break and are now just 9.5 games out of the Wild Card?

Hamels has won 11 games this year and carries an ERA of 3.23. He was selected to his first career All-Star game this year.

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Posted by Denny Basens on Jul 25 2012. Filed under BREAKING NEWS, News, Phillies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.