Keeping Cole: Should the Phillies pursue Hamels?

Hamels on the mound for the Phils, but for how much longer?

Would re-signing Cole Hamels to a longer term contract make sense for the Phillies now?

The Phillies are finding themselves in a curious position of keeping a pitcher that has been a Phillie since he came into the league and who came up in the Phillies minors.

We would probably have to go back to Brett Myers to find the previous pitcher of a somewhat same caliber as being classified as an ‘ace’ that the Phillies will have to make a decision to either try to re-sign him or possibly trade him.

Hamels does have the 2008 World Series MVP to his credit, but has he really accomplished all that much over the past couple seasons? He is a pitcher with great skills and a lot of offer, but let's look at what he's done in his career so far.

Year	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	Awards
2006	9	8	.529	4.08	23	23	0	0	132.1	117	66
2007	15	5	.750	3.39	28	28	2	0	183.1	163	72	AS,CYA-6
2008	14	10	.583	3.09	33	33	2	2	227.1	193	89
2009	10	11	.476	4.32	32	32	2	2	193.2	206	95
2010	12	11	.522	3.06	33	33	1	0	208.2	185	74
2011	14	9	.609	2.79	32	31	3	0	216.0	169	68	AS,CYA-5
6 Yrs	74	54	.578	3.39	181	180	10	4	1161.1	1033	464
162 Game Avg.	14	10	.578	3.39	34	34	2	1	219	195	87

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 3/29/2012.

Let's look at the first 10 years of Steve Carlton's career numbers:

Year	Tm	W	L	W-L%	ERA	GS	GF	CG	SHO	IP	Awards
1965	STL	0	0		2.52	2	5	0	0	25.0
1966	STL	3	3	.500	3.12	9	0	2	1	52.0
1967	STL	14	9	.609	2.98	28	1	11	2	193.0
1968	STL	13	11	.542	2.99	33	1	10	5	232.0	AS
1969	STL	17	11	.607	2.17	31	0	12	2	236.1	AS
1970	STL	10	19	.345	3.73	33	0	13	2	253.2
1971	STL	20	9	.690	3.56	36	0	18	4	273.1	AS
1972	PHI	27	10	.730	1.97	41	0	30	8	346.1	AS,CYA-1,MVP-5
1973	PHI	13	20	.394	3.90	40	0	18	3	293.1
1974	PHI	16	13	.552	3.22	39	0	17	1	291.0	AS
24 Yrs		329	244	.574	3.22	709	13	254	55	5217.2
162 Game Avg.		15	11	.574	3.22	33	1	12	3	245
		W	L	W-L%	ERA	GS	GF	CG	SHO	IP	Awards
PHI (15 yrs)		241	161	.600	3.09	499	0	185	39	3697.1
STL (7 yrs)		77	62	.554	3.10	172	7	66	16	1265.1
MIN (2 yrs)		1	6	.143	8.54	8	3	0	0	52.2
SFG (1 yr)		1	3	.250	5.10	6	0	0	0	30.0
CLE (1 yr)		5	9	.357	5.37	14	3	3	0	109.0
CHW (1 yr)		4	3	.571	3.69	10	0	0	0	63.1
NL (22 yrs)		319	226	.585	3.11	677	7	251	55	4992.2
AL (3 yrs)		10	18	.357	5.64	32	6	3	0	225.0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 3/29/2012.

Now keep in mind that most of what Carlton did to get himself into the Hall of Fame actually happened after his 10th year of pitching, he was like a machine. There are similarities in both Carlton and Hamels mannerisms and peculiarities. Carlton went on to pitch 24 years in the majors, and was perhaps the greatest Phillies pitcher ever.

Does Cole have it in him to kick it up a notch? Can he follow in the footsteps of greatness that Carlton earned in the Philly pinstripes?

The kind of money they are throwing at starting pitchers is the problem for the Phillies, there may be teams that would bid up Hamels' worth, but will the Phillies want to match it?