Cole Hamels Signs 3-Year, $20.5 Million Extension With Phils

Cole Hamels got his reward for carrying the Phillies through the playoffs this season. He reached agreement on a three-year, $20.5 million contract extension that will keep him out of arbitration and in the Phillies' rotation until at least 2011. According to the New York Post, he'll make $4.35 million in 2009, $6.65 million in 2010 and $9.5 million in the deal's final year.

The deal erases one arbitration case from the lengthy docket facing the Phillies this offseason. It also takes away the chance that the team could create an acrimonious working relationship with its best pitcher a few months after he was named MVP of both the NLCS and World Series. Those are both big positives, although Hamels' extension bucks the recently established trend of teams buying out free agent years with long-term contracts.

Hamels will be a free agent after the 2011 season, and the market for left-handed aces is such that he could be making as much in 2012 as he'll make over the next three seasons. That doesn't make it a bad deal for the Phillies, though. If Hamels' 2009 season is anything like the last two he may have topped $6.65 million in 2010, so inking him now takes some worry out of Ruben Amaro's job going forward.

If Hamels sets a new high in 2009, he'll get paid for it. His base salary rises $500,000 if he wins the Cy Young and he'll get half that for finishing second or third in the voting. There are also bonuses for everything from the Cy to the Gold Glove which means that Hamels won't be able to complain about leaving money on the table if he continues to perform like an ace over the life of the contract.

The Phillies don't figure to have quite as easy a time with their remaining arbitration cases. They had a brutal battle with Ryan Howard last year, and figure to have a repeat of that on tap, and players like Ryan Madson, Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth will probably drive hard bargains after helping the team win the World Series in October.