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According to CBS Sportsline's resident story-teller baseball insider (Jon Heyman), the Phillies are "sending signals" that they are going to offer Cole Hamels a 6 year, $130 million deal "within the next few days." The Phillies are trying to be competitive with Matt Cain's deal (6 years, $127.5 million), while Heyman believes Hamels is looking for Johan Santana (6 years, $136 million) or even C.C. Sabathia money (7 years, $161 million).
I'm not sure what the best part of this story is. It surely isn't the money or years, because everyone in the Western hemisphere has been speculating about Hamels wanting at least Cain money for a while now.
No, the best part of this story is one of two things. A poll after the jump lets you vote:
1) Sending signals: Heyman writes that the Phillies are "sending signals" about their plans. What I really want to know, and what I think Heyman has a journalistic responsibility to tell us, is what kind of signals those are. Are the Phillies using smoke signals? Are they sending Morse code messages to other teams? Are they writing Zapf Dingbat emails to reporters? Or maybe those little flags that airport runway workers use? Whatever it is, we are on the cusp of learning about a whole new strategy employed by the Phillies management, yet Heyman leaves us wondering. Shame on you Jon!
2) Bulldog in a hitters park: Heyman concludes: "Hamels, like Cain, has a reputation as a bulldog, and being successful in Philadelphia over a multi-year span fuels that rep. He's also done it in a hitters' park." With this quote, Heyman has decided to swallow one myth hook, line, and sinker (hitters' park) while completely ignoring the mainstream conventional wisdom about Hamels (that he's a wimp). Which is it Jon? Are you an insightful commentator who bucks the conventional wisdom or do you mindlessly buy into myths without any investigation? Because you can't have it both ways.
Needless to say, as a Hamels fan, I'm disheartened because it's pretty clear that with Heyman reporting this about the Phillies offer, I'm sure we'll learn in the next few days that the Phillies offered Hamels a 1 year, $5.5 million extension.