2008 Top 20, #14: Phillies extend Hamels with an 28-year, $937 million contract

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Following a dominant National League Championship Series in which the lefthander won the MVP award, Cole Hamels has been given a contract extension by the Philadelphia Phillies for 28 years and $937 million.

“We realized that this is a guy who has to be a part of our team for a long, long time,” said Phillies GM Pat Gillick. “Normally, we don’t like to give more than a three-year contract to any pitcher, but we just looked at each other and said, ‘We’ve got to have this guy at least until he’s 53.”

The deal, which is for an average of $33.46 million, has a team option to give Hamels another $700 million for seven more years, which will take Hamels into his 60s.

“I think it’s a pretty good deal for me,” Hamels said. “I didn’t like to be locked up for that long, and I probably left some money on the table. But I always said I want to start and finish my career with one team.”

That, however, presents a problem; even if the Phillies pick up his option, they’ll only have Hamels until he’s 60. Hamels has previously stated that he’d like to pitch into his 80s; most around baseball believe he’ll probably pitch until he’s 113 or 114.

“I think that the Phillies are going to end up paying up for Cole if they want to have him till the end of his career,” said Peter Gammons, of ESPN. “I mean, they’ve locked him up for the first half of his career, and if they pick up his option, he’ll be a steal at only $1.637 billion. But then they’ve got a huge problem. Do you just let him go to another team and pitch the second half of his career for them? I mean, how do you let a pitcher who will have (at that time) 700 wins and 24 Cy Young Awards just walk away? Can you do that?”

Hamels said he’s not really too concerned about the future, and is much more focused on the matter at hand.

“Right now, we have to go out and win the World Series, which I plan on doing next week,” Hamels said. “You can’t worry about what’s going to happen when you’re 60 years old, or when you’re 113, and your career is winding down. I’m worried about the next win. I’m not worried about when I’m going to get my 10,000th strikeout. I’m just going to go out and keep doing my job. I’m not going to freak out about when I am going to get my 1,000th win. If I just keep focused and keep moving forward, I’ll get it soon enough. Probably in August of 2014, actually. But like I said, let’s not obsess about that.”

It’s going to be tough for this sport to sweep any nations, but it’s still pretty frickin’ cool!