Cole Hamels Facts (and Myths!)
by WholeCamels on Apr 7, 2010 1:41 PM EDT
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PrintEDITOR'S NOTE: h/t to the ORIGINAL Cole Hamels Facts.
If you've had the misfortune of listening to local sports radio or reading the Comments section of numerous other websites and blogs (or even the blogs themselves) this offseason, you might be left with the impression that Phillies LHP Cole Hamels is a worthless suck of a pitcher, who wilts under pressure and had a fluky run in the 2008 postseason, wherein he posted a 4-0 record and a 1.80 ERA. I may be exaggerating to make a point, but in general, the short memory of the "die-hard sports fan" strikes again. Let's break this puppy down, shall we?
MYTH: "Cole Hamels got lucky in the 2008 season. He's been an average pitcher outside of that season."
FACT: As a 22 year old rookie in 2006, Hamels posted a 9-8 record with a 4.08 ERA. Not earthshattering, but his 145 strikeouts in just 132.1 innings pitched was extremely promising.
He was even better in 2007, posting a 3.39 ERA and, for your flat-earthers who love W-L record, 15 wins against just 5 losses.
His W-L was "worse" in 2008 - just 14-10 - but he led the league in WHIP (topping even Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum) at 1.082. While he was lucky in BABIP (.262), that's still a terrific season.
That's three very good to great seasons for a very young starting pitcher still learning his craft. And a 2009 season that, while certainly not very good, was not atrocious.
More after the jump...
MYTH: "Cole Hamels was terrible in 2009. A fifth starter, at best."
FACT: Even taking away an advanced look at HR rate, BB rate, and K rate -- which demonstrate that Hamels pitched as well in 2009 as he did in 2008 vis-a-vis the things a pitcher can actually control - Hamels' 2009 season was hardly terrible. He posted a 98 ERA+ -- just below league average -- in 193.2 innings while suffering bad luck on balls in play (.321 BABIP allowed). Not an All-Star season by any means, but certainly not worthy of demotion or relegation to the bullpen. Oh, and he did have two shutouts, which is something, isn't it?
MYTH: "Cole Hamels is soft and won't pitch on short rest, if asked."
FACT: I honestly don't know how to debunk this one because there's no basis for it at all. Even assuming it were true, how many pitchers would you actually want pitching important games on short rest?
MYTH: "The Phillies should have traded Cole Hamels instead of Cliff Lee."
FACT: If you believe this, stop reading this blog right now and getting stupid germs all over it. Three years of a controlled, below-market pitcher likely to put up similar or possibly better numbers, versus one year for a pitcher (presently injured, just sayin') who is almost certain to bolt in free agency after just one year.
MYTH: "Cole Hamels wilts under pressure and can't win big games."
FACT:
via johnh90.files.wordpress.com
CONCLUSION: Cole Hamels is just 26 years old -- still a young big league pitcher -- who has already experienced an inordinate amount of success in the Major Leagues. He has set a very high bar for himself, and the disappointing results he got in 2009 surely frustrated him much more than it did we, the fans. All these attempts to weave stupid, pointless narratives into his "struggles" ("OMG HE HAS A LITTLE WHITE DOGGY WHAT A HOMO!") only serves to make us look bad, and to obscure the very real fact that Cole Hamels is a HUGE plus to this team now and going forward. And cut it out with the "Philly likes tough, blue collar players!" bullshit. You know what kind of players Phillies fans ought to like? Winners. Anything else is just your own stupid, baseless prejudice and preferences.
His offseason work on developing a quality third (or fourth?) pitch are not necessarily tacit admissions of failure but an acknowledgment that pitchers need to keep hitters guessing. To paraphrase Woody Allen, a pitcher is like a shark -- if he doesn't keep moving forward, he dies. Hamels doesn't want to be that dead shark, and we should be glad.
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FACT: If you believe this, stop reading this blog right now and getting stupid germs all over it. Three years of a controlled, below-market pitcher likely to put up similar or possibly better numbers, versus one year for a pitcher (presently injured, just sayin’) who is almost certain to bolt in free agency after just one year.
THAT JUST PROVES THE PHILLIES ARE CHEAP!
more seriously
And cut it out with the “Philly likes tough, blue collar players!” bullshit. You know what kind of players Phillies fans ought to like? Winners. Anything else is just your own stupid, baseless prejudice and preferences.
What’s more, the “Philly likes tough, blue collar players!” garbage, in addition to being stupid, isn’t even true. Donovan McNabb once played an entire football game on a broken ankle. We all know how much people appreciated him for that effort.
People really forget how money Gordon was in the first half of 2006, and down the stretch in 2008, pitching with his arm basically dangling by a string. The dude went all out and quite possibly cut his career short as a result.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
he also apparently taught Madson how to get an additional 3-5 mph on his fastball which really became amazing at the end of the 2008 season and through the playoffs when Madson was money in the set up role.
That being said, I still did not like Tom Gordon much when he was here…
Support Coyotes Hockey - Five For Howling
(Oh, and go Philly teams as well!)
As long as you don’t otherwise make any pretense of liking “tough blue collar guys,” then I suppose that’s your right. I can’t honestly see any good reason for disliking the guy myself, but to each his own. But those people who claim to like “tough blue collar guys” and dislike Gordon are just flat-out hypocrites.
yeah seriously. that he pitched like that down the stretch was awesome. btw it was 07 that he pitched down the stretch. it was the romero/gordon/myers three-headed monster that pitched like every day for 10 days in a row or something, i think.
I’d argue it’s a more refined preference than one for “tough, blue collar players.” There are plenty of ‘tough’ players who get plenty of scorn, especially if we include Eagles. I think it’s actually something more akin to “he seems like he would be tough in a bar fight.”
That said, thinking back to the spring of ’05 in Clearwater… I suppose the fact that he even found a way to hurt himself in a bar fight makes him more of a sissy?
You think anyone criticizing McNabb thinks they’d beat him in a bar fight? The guy would swat almost everyone who criticized him with his pinky. And they know it.
by David S. Cohen on Apr 7, 2010 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions
McNabb
is too nice of a guy to get into a bar fight in the first place. He wouldn’t deal with confrontation that way – for proof, look at how he handled the TO saga. It’s still more complex than that, but this is part of why people don’t view McNabb as “tough” even if he was a ridiculously awesome competitor, and played through pain.
I think there’s some sort of equation we could come up with to show how accepted someone will be by Philly fans. It would involve "blue collar" and "tough," but also other qualities as well such as "underdog," "would like to have a beer with," etc.
A flowchart
with pictures of Rowand’s nose, Bobby Clarke’s teeth, Pete Rose’ amphetamine stash, Dykstra’s vitamin cabinet, and Andre Waters’ soul.
On the other side, it would need to have all those sissified pussies like Julius Erving, McNabb, Cole Hamels, and Mike Schmidt.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Apr 7, 2010 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions
but not
blue collar, tough, underdog, etc.
No, Erving got by on being good.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Apr 7, 2010 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions
conditionally beloved
One of my first sports memories was when I heard someone call him the n-word when the Sixers lost in the playoffs in the late 70s. It was shocking to me at the time because he was an incredible player and thought he was above being insulted in that way.
The problem is that there are probably a whole lot of people in this city who don’t like Hamels and never did because he has long hair and a high pitched voice. The dog doesn’t help either. I think the whole thing about “tough, blue collar athletes” stems from the fact that many in the WIP set like athletes they can identify with. Some surfer dude from Cali doesn’t really fit. If Hamels looked and sounded like Sal Fasano, he’d have no problem.
by ThinMountainAir on Apr 7, 2010 2:39 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
AWESOME!
Thank you for writing this (and linking me)! This article should be required reading for all Phillies fans who come to the stadium tonight or really any game. The city of Philadelphia has one championship in the last three decades and it was more Hamels doing than anyone else. The fact that not one comment in the philly.com or phillies.com messageboards ever mentions the concept of BABIP or DIPS to discuss Hamels is atrocious and shows how stupid Philly fans get about the game. Hopefully a lot of people read this article! And hopefully King Cole dominates tonight!
modest expectations
I’m really not asking for BABIP or DIPS references in the Inqy or anything. I just want fair and rational coverage.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
The fact that not one comment in the philly.com or phillies.com messageboards ever mentions the concept of BABIP or DIPS to discuss Hamels is atrocious and shows how stupid Philly fans get about the game.
I’ve read your work….your smarter than this.
haha
Yeah, I’m expecting that 95% or, hell, 99% of these posters will be idiots, but 1 comment by some guy being like “He still struck out 168 people. I don’t think he was terrible.” I can’t get one of those? I can usually get somebody to chime in on a blog like this and say “Yous guys just don’t watch the games. He threw his hands in the air when Utley made an error!” We actually seem to have like 20 cool-with-Cole comments in this article without 1 hater. That’s kinda weird too.
“We actually seem to have like 20 cool-with-Cole comments in this article without 1 hater. That’s kinda weird too.”
This site is the media echo chamber for Hamels fetishists. Duh.
And I stroke my autographed Hamels ball every night before I go to sleep next to my foo foo dog…
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Apr 7, 2010 3:03 PM EDT up reply actions
Considering that the median age for the basebal is or was (don’t know the effects of the current baseball Renaissance on this) is 65, advanced metrics has a hill to climb. There are alot of older people here in Philly (you know your born here, live here , die here) who probably prefer watching their grandchildren play baseball than reading the Book. But there are many traditionalists [my dad would have fallen into this camp] who lack the tools to deal with the math involved which isn’t terribly complex but not if you belong to the camp that took the short bus to math class much like I did until later on when somehow when I began studying higher math. Chances are for the short bus mathimatically minded baseball junky, Fangraphs would induce a cold sweat…it certainly would have for me a few years ago. Nonetheless they still have an understanding of the game to recognize Hamels talent and that his WS performance warranted an "off year " discount. Actually by traditional stats his year was decent. Before I even began reading about sabermetrics, my dad and I knew the moment we watched him pitch the promised land was just around the corner. Let’s see what this year holds for the talented lean lefty.
I really don’t understand this town sometimes. After everything Hamels has done, he’s not even allowed to have one down—not awful, just down for him—year? Coming off of a championship?
Not that I feel similarly, but I can understand the McNabb frustration—all these years, and no championship (although I feel Reid deserves more of the blame personally). But Hamels has already delivered a championship and is one of the main reasons we had the parade in 2008! Shoot, they gave more leeway for Lidge for crap’s sake, and he had a way worse year than Cole and seems to have a tendency to lie about his health.
I love Philly and defend Philly fans to most of the ignorant Pittsburgh and NY fans I know, but when it comes to this irrational hatred of some players, I just can’t bring myself to rationalize them. I dismiss it as typically uniformed individuals who get their “news” and information from talk radio blowhards. I think every city has them, but we seem to have more than most. Their are entire factions of this fanbase that need aggression control therapy.
"Tortorella’s got it all wrong ... Gaborik shouldn’t be messing with our skilled player." -Peter Luuko
Lidge has no foo foo dog. Nor does he look metro.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Apr 7, 2010 3:03 PM EDT up reply actions
It really does get my goat that people jumped all over him when he wasn’t putting up mvp numbers. Everybody has a bad season, Halladay had the worse on record and look how he’s turned out. Cole is still young and has some growing still to do.
Scar tissue is stronger than muscle tissue. Realize the strength, move on.
Thank you WC. This was absolutely necessary.
It seems to me that for better or for worse, Amaro is pretty impervious to idiot fans and journalists trying to tell him how to do his job, so it’s unlikely this would happen, but if Hamels is driven out of town by these goons, I don’t think I’d ever be able to root for this team again.
I'm really looking forward to seeing Hamels and this rotation this year, starting tonight!
Hopefully they can get Blanton back sooner rather than later as well.
MYTH: “Cole Hamels is soft and won’t pitch on short rest, if asked.”
FACT: I honestly don’t know how to debunk this one because there’s no basis for it at all. Even assuming it were true, how many pitchers would you actually want pitching important games on short rest?
ehh…this one speaks to the prima-donna aura he gives off, which does give him a negative vibe. I don’t view Cole as a team player. That does NOT mean that I view him as a bad player, but that his interests are ME first not TEAM first. Now…if he pitches awesome, everybody benefits and that’s fine. Shrugs/gestures at infielders making errors are taboo. I think it has come out where he’s been asked to pitch on regular rest to skip another starter and he’s usually declined (when he’d get 6 days rest instead of 5).
I think this one is somewhat founded, which doesn’t make him a bad pitcher, just gives him a less than desirable personality.
How would we know if he’s a team player or not? I think the primary argument is the pitching on short rest argument, which is basically that the organization flipped out at him after he tried to pitch injured in the minors and delayed his development. Also, I think it’s usually Manuel and Dubee who won’t let him pitch on short rest. I don’t have the quote, but I do remember seeing (I think it was) Dubee say that they won’t let Cole pitch on short rest and he’s never been asked.
Maybe Cole isn’t a team player. I’m not sure it matters. If I rooted for Brett Myers despite his horrible personality, I can look at Cole Hamels without focusing on his personality too. I just assume that you don’t know a person very well from their media persona. I can’t put together the froofy dog Cole with the barfight facepuncher Cole, and I assume that I just have too little information to figure it out.
more importantly...
None of that “refusing to pitch on short rest” shit has ever been REMOTELY proven.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
Brett Myers? He’s still here? I thought he quit.
I really hope he doesn’t have any unfortunate accidents with “truck beds” before the August 23-26 series.
I think some goon fans would respond that Cole should DEMAND to pitch on short rest and his failure to do so shows he lacks heart. He should “take the decision out of Charlie’s hands.”
But he’s a prima donna – didn’t you read up earlier?
by jemagee on Apr 7, 2010 6:38 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree that the showing up of his infielders last year was a no-no, but that was so tied up with his frustration with his seemingly never-ending bad luck that I don’t think it is fair to isolate that and use it as an example of how he isn’t a team player.
He ever did that shit when he was dominating in 07 and 08…and if you had asked people whether they thought Cole Hamels was a “team player” after those two seasons, the majority would have probably said yes.
While I don’t have hard evidence in front of me, I’m quite certain there have been instances in the past where he has declined jumping a spot in the rotation to pitch on regular rest. That to me says non-team player.
It doesn’t mean he’s a bad pitcher. I’ve already stated that.
…unless it makes him a better pitcher.
i remember quotes by dubee saying cole wasn’t asked to go on short rest. i don’t remember cole actually saying he wouldn’t, just people saying that they don’t think he would because the team said he wouldn’t. my memory’s pretty good but not always right. i’d look it up if you want to actually prove it, because i’m pretty sure i remember that being a myth.
if true, i’m fine with it. because he wouldn’t have gone 262.1 IP in ’08 with a dead arm.
it might make him a better pitcher, but if 5 days rest is normal, and he wants 6 because the schedule fell in such a way to allow it, then I’d if the extra days rest made him significantly better….shouldn’t he always pitch on 6 days rest?
The other point is…
Is Cole Hamels on 5 days rest better than (insert alternate pitcher here) on 6 days rest? If the answer is “yes” then it becomes a “me” before “we”.
Look….I’m not arguing that he’s a bad pitcher. The dude doesn’t walk on water and he has some flaws. He’s portrayed as a bit of a primadonna, and I think that might be fair. It doesn’t mean he kicks puppies or isn’t on the grand scheme an asset to the team.
That spring training picture of Hamels
never gets old. It’s like the shot of Werth with the beer mug and the -chick- woman on his back.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Apr 7, 2010 3:05 PM EDT reply actions
I’m just as sensitive as the next guy, but when you climb on a ballplayer’s back in the midst of a raucous playoff party when he’s holding two pitchers of beer, you qualify for “chick” status.
by Wet Luzinski on Apr 7, 2010 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Wives can still be “chicks”. Mine is, sometimes. After a certain point, you’ll take what you can get. In any case, Julia doesn’t look like she would care too much at this moment:
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Apr 7, 2010 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions
You be the judge
Acceptable answers, by the way, are “Yes, she is his wife” and “Nice work, Jayson”.
Either way, I don’t see how it precludes her from being a chick.
Definitely "wife"
Nobody else could make him dress like that much of a doofus. At least in public.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Apr 7, 2010 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions
sigh
This is going downhill fast.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Apr 7, 2010 4:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Not guilty, sir.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Apr 7, 2010 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions
It’s a photo that belongs in the pantheon along with the Iwo Jima flag raising, and the LH Oswald shooting, as among the best news photography in American history.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
Mustn't forget this one either
Jayson really does seem to have the market cornered on badass pictures.
by ThinMountainAir on Apr 7, 2010 6:22 PM EDT up reply actions
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