Photo: Philliedelphia/Kevin Durso
Hallelujah!
Cole Hamels is staying in Philadelphia!
According to early reports from ESPN's Buster Olney, the lefthander and the Phillies have agreed to a six-year, $144MM contract extension. Hamels and the team will announce the deal in a press conference later on this morning at CBP.
Late last night, word broke out that the Phillies and Hamels were close to a six-year, $137.5 MM deal. I guess the Phils added a couple million to the pot and it worked out for both clubs.
Hamels will earn $24MM a year with this contract, the second highest in baseball for a starting pitcher. It is the second richest deal for a starting pitcher in MLNB history and the richest in Philadelphia sports history.
In a report by USA Today's Bob Nightengale, Hamels' deal has a seventh year vesting option that could make it a total of $155MM.
There's no way that the Phillies can pay Hamels all of this money without letting loose somebody. Now that this is over, it'll be interesting to see what moves the Phils make within the next six days.
Follow Erik on Twitter @ErikSeyboldPHI.
