Dodgers to sign Cole Hamels

10:32 am: The Dodgers have a deal with Hamels, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times. He will first head to the team’s spring training complex in Arizona to continue building his arm strength.

09h00 Dodgers set to close deal with free southpaw Cole hamels, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). Hamels, 37, recently hosted a busy club showcase and will give the Dodgers another option in the rotation once he’s ready for the game. Hamels is represented by JBA Sports.

Hamels’ 2020 season with the Braves was wiped out by a series of triceps and shoulder issues. Signed for a one-year, $ 18 million contract in December 2019, Hamels would only pitch 3 1/3 innings during his time in Atlanta. A quiet offseason ensued, with Hamels waiting for his shoulder to return to 100% before auditioning for the clubs. It may have taken longer than expected, but the southpaw drew scouts from more than 20 teams last month once he felt ready to go.

Hamels is unlikely to be an immediate option for the Dodgers. He has only pitched 3 1/3 innings since the end of the 2019 season and had not started any game settings before his presentation. For some background, Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski discussed the Hamels showcase with John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia and explained why teams in need of immediate launch assistance don’t look out. are not thrown at Hamels right away.

“The only thing in Cole’s case, and he’s the first to admit it, he’s not ready to throw now», Declared Dombrowski just days after the presentation of the teams of Hamels. “He’s got to do his own ‘spring training’ so you’re talking about someone who is maybe 30-40 days away to help you.”

Those comments returned on July 19 and Hamels has surely trained in the meantime – likely with more intensity as he prepared to sign with a team. Still, it stands to reason the Dodgers would send him at least a handful of minor-league rehab debuts, so Hamels seems like a possibility in late August or early September more than someone thrown straight into the fire.

Every time he makes his debut, Hamels will bring one of the most accomplished backgrounds of the current generation of pitchers to the Dodgers staff. Hamels is a World Series champion and former World Series and NLCS MVP who has made four All-Star teams and has long been considered one of the best arms in the game. His peak of 2010-16 saw him throw 1477 2 / 3 rounds of 3.14 ERA balls. His work since that peak has diminished a bit, but Hamels still threw 480 1/3 of 3.92 ERA innings from 2017-19 ahead of last year’s injury-wracked season.

Rotation assistance became an unexpected need for the Dodgers, who lost Dustin may to Tommy John surgery early. Los Angeles also has both Clayton kershaw (inflammation of the forearm) and Tony Gonsolin (shoulder inflammation) on the injured list at the moment. Trevor Bauer has been on administrative leave since early July following allegations of sexual assault against him. Lifter-starter David Price returned to the rotation last month and racked up around 75 shots, but his most recent outing was again a one-inning relief appearance.

The Dodgers corrected their sudden lack of rotational depth at the trade deadline, picking up the currently injured first Danny duffy before putting together a deadline blockbuster acquisition of Max Scherzer. This duo, plus the seemingly imminent addition of Hamels, should give the Dodgers more firepower on the starting staff in a hotly contested three-team race for the NL West crown. For now, the Dodgers will rely on Scherzer, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias as their top three options.

It’s unclear exactly when Hamels, Kershaw or Gonsolin might be allowed to pitch for the Dodgers. Hamels needs the aforementioned build-up, while the team’s latest update on Kershaw was that he had felt “residual pain” after his last pitching session. Gonsolin reached the 10-day IL on July 31 and there has been no update since. Duffy landed on the injured list on July 20 due to forearm strain. Royals general manager Dayton Moore said on July 27 that the club felt Duffy might be three or four weeks away from a return.

The Dodgers themselves are unlikely to be sure exactly how their rotation will play out over the past eight plus weeks of the season, but their recent pickups of Scherzer, Duffy and Hamels give the team an enviable supply of weapons. accomplishments to tap into as they seem. to oust the Giants in first place and defend their victory at the 2020 World Series.