Just When All Seemed Right in Clearwater...

The Ryan Howard contract situation now a thing of the past, at least until next year when we'll go through the same seemingly endless string of talk show hosts doing their best to rationalize whether 50 home runs is worth a 3 million dollar bonus or 200 strikeouts is worth a 3 million dollar penalty, it was time to focus on the upcoming season and the Phillies defense of their NL East crown. Normalcy had set in...Howard was busy clubbing tiny rawhide circles into orbit; Pedro Feliz was assuming his role of the greatest Phillies 3B since Dave Hollins; Adam Eaton had settled into a midseason form with two innings of 5 hit, 3 ER ball in his spring debut. All was right with the world.

And then came Sunday and another opportunity for the Phillies organization to take a stride towards rewarding and respecting another cog of their young nucleus. With the smoothness of Dana Jacobsen at Sunday morning mass, the Phillies front office once again stumbled all over each other.

Let's quickly give the lay of the land. In 2007, lefty Cole Hamels developed into the ace of the Phils pitching staff. A 15-5 record, an all-star appearance, 177 strikeouts in 183 innings and better then a 4-1 strikeout to walk ratio. All of this achieved for the bargain basement price of $400,000. Hamels, however, has only 2 years of MLB service time. Therefore, the following rule is in effect regarding their salary for their 3rd year: "When players with less than three years of service can't agree [on a contract with the team], the team can 'renew' a contract at any salary, as long as the player earns at least the minimum and isn't reduced by more than 20 percent."

Now this is important to know because it does, without a doubt, demonstrate that the Phillies were well within their right to do what they did to Hamels on Sunday, the same way they did this to Howard prior to the start of last season. Hamels had asked for $750,000 for 2008. The Phillies maxed their offer out at $500,000. This is where things got a little dicey.

Hamels called the offer a "low-blow". I would tend to agree with Cole. In all honesty, what harm would it have done for the Phils to show a little love and pony up the extra 250K? This is a team whose payroll is going to come close to 110 million dollars this season. $250K is a pittance. The sheer value of the good faith that giving Hamels the extra quarter-mil would have generated greatly outweighs the actual dollar value. "I didn't have a million dollars in my mind. I put a number out there thinking that would be really good, and they came nowhere near it," said Hamels.

The Phillies haven't had a legitimate stud starting pitcher since Curt Schilling left town for multiple word series rings, leaving the corpses of Travis Lee, Nelson Figeroua and Vincente Padillia in his wake. Now, right in their lap, sits the anchor of the staff that they so desperately need. All that stands in the way of paving the road towards a long-term deal with Hamels was $250K.

After Hamels voiced his displeasure and disappointment and hinted strongly that this could harm the chances of reaching a long-term contract in the future, some reporters took this info to GM Pat Gillick and informed him that Hamels might hold a grudge because of this decision. Gillick's reply? "Let him do it."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the essence of, You CAN Lose Them All.