Dodgers sign Hamels to one-year contract
The Los Angeles Dodgers signed free-agent lefthander Cole Hamels to a one-year contract on Wednesday.
The deal is for a prorated $1 million guaranteed plus $200,000 per start, The Athletic and ESPN reported.
The acquisition of Hamels comes on the heels of the Dodgers adding three-time Cy Young Award recipient Max Scherzer and Danny Duffy at the trade deadline.
Los Angeles has seven pitchers on the injured list, including Clayton Kershaw and Duffy, while Trevor Bauer remains on administrative leave.
Hamels, 37, wouldn’t be available right away. He has pitched in just one game since the end of the 2019 season. He has a 163122 record and 3.43 ERA in 422 career starts and one relief appearance over 15 seasons.
Hamels was MVP of both the NLCS and World Series in 2008 when the Philadelphia Phillies won the championship.
The four-time All-Star signed a one-year, $18 million deal with the Atlanta Braves prior to the 2020 season. He struggled with shoulder and triceps injuries and pitched just once — giving up three runs in 3 1/3 innings — before telling team officials he needed to be shut down.
Hamels spent his first 91/2 seasons with the Phillies and went 114-90 with a 3.30 ERA. He won 10 or more games in six straight seasons from 2007-12 and was an All-Star three times.
NEXT SEASON STARTS MARCH 31 >> Major League Baseball will open the 2022 season on March 31 — as long as there isn’t a work stoppage — and will try for the fourth time to have every team play its first game on the same day for the first time since 1968.
The league released the full schedule. NL openers have the Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, Colorado at the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta at Miami, Arizona at Milwaukee, Washington at the New York Mets, St. Louis at Pittsburgh and the Giants at San Diego.
AL openers are Toronto at Baltimore, Tampa Bay at Boston, Minnesota at the Chicago White Sox, Kansas City at Cleveland, the Los Angeles Angels at the A’s, Detroit at Seattle and the New York Yankees at Texas.
In the one interleague opener, Philadelphia is at Houston.
The collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players’ association expires Dec. 1. Given the acrimonious relationship between the sides, a lockout or strike appears possible. Baseball has not had a work stoppage since a 71/2-month strike in 199495 that caused the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years.
MLB tried to have all 30 clubs play on the same opening day for three of the past four seasons, but it didn’t happen that way. ANGELS’ RENDON OUT FOR YEAR>> Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon will have season-ending surgery on his right hip, finishing off an injury-plagued second year in Los Angeles.