According to published reports, the Philadelphia Phillies will offer somewhere in the neighborhood of up $130 million for six years to Cole Hamels. 
The offer is said to be structured similar to the deal that the San Francisco Giants made with Matt Cain.
Cain’s deal was a combined $15 million salary for 2012, and the new contract at $112.5 million, for a total of $ 127.5 million.
The question is, can Cole Hamels turn down Phillies offer? It is likely within the next few days we are going to find out.
Could Hamels Say No Thanks
Johan Santana signed a six-year deal with the Mets $137.5 million and CC Sabathia $161 million with the Yankees over seven years.
Hamels was thought to be seeking a deal at least in neighborhood. Hamels is 10-4 with 3.20 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 118 innings, pitching for a Phillies team still trying to find itself.
Last year Hamels went 14-9 with a 2.79 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. Hamels is 28, healthy and entering the prime of his career.
To borrow some poker jargon, Hamels is playing with the “big stack”
The Risk of Saying No
Hamels absolutely has leverage at this point. The Phillies say they are committed to trying to keep it, and as we said earlier, they have to make him an offer, and a substantial one. Saying no means that general manager Ruben Amaro will deal him to another team before the July 31 deadline.
Hamels has to believe that he can stay healthy until the end of the season.
Therein lies the risk. Walking away from 130 million guaranteed dollars, is walking away from a lot of money.
What Will Hamels Do
Hamels probably doesn’t know what he is going to do at this point. He likes the Philadelphia area, he lives there year-round. However, Hamels is on record saying,
“Every human being wants to know what their value is, in whatever job they’re doing. If you get to do it, it’s a pretty cool experience.”
Hamels is going to find out this week that he is worth about $130 million to the Phillies, and Hamels will have an opportunity to respond.
Will he accept the offer, or might he want to see what other teams think he is worth?
Remember, the list of teams that can afford to take on that kind of a contract is not long.
If Hamels refuses anything in the neighborhood of $130 million, that list of teams might get shorter.
