Deep Dishing On Cole Hamels

Very nearly three years ago today, I was sitting inside of a Giordano's pizzeria in the south suburbs, with my eyes glued to an HD television screen that was perched just over the shoulder of a friend.  The friend was visiting from North Carolina, was only going to be in town for a few days, and wanted to make sure he got himself a slice or two of authentic, Chicago-style deep dish pizza.  After all, that delicacy is rather difficult to come by down south.  However, despite our time-sensitive mission, my mind and attention were elsewhere as he, my wife, and I were walking up to the restaurant.

At that very moment, something rather odd was occurring on the mound at Wrigley Field.  You might remember that, for several decades, the Chicago Cubs had a streak - the team had not been victims of a no-hitter since being perfect-oed by the immortal Sandy Koufax in 1965.  Though a bit ironic for a historically hapless team, known as the "lovable losers," this was a longtime feather in the cap for the club... that is, until that evening at Giordano's.

On July 24th, 2015, as I sat, mouth agape, in a South Side pizza joint, that lengthy streak came to an abrupt end.  Even a pie fresh out of the oven couldn't quell my disappointment as I watched the Phillies' ace - Cole Hamels - make each and every Cubs hitter look foolish.  Surprisingly in the thick of a tightly-contested pennant race that summer, I'm sure I'm not the only Cubs fan who thought this marked the beginning of the end for the club - the proverbial other shoe had dropped.  Plus, both my out of town friend and my wife were both annoyed with me paying more attention to the television than the conversation - it was a bad moment, all around.

Of course, feelings of doom and gloom aside, shortly thereafter, the Cubs rocketed into a second half surge that didn't let up until the NL Championship Series, kicking off the golden era of North Side baseball.  Three years later, the Cubs have a World Series crown, three-straight NLCS appearances, and - as of last night - Cole Hamels.

With that historic no-hitter being his last appearance in a Phillie uniform, Cole was swapped to the Rangers in a blockbuster deal just six days later.  Now, in 2018, another trade deadline transaction brings him to the club that he thoroughly embarrassed on the day that my unassuming friend was just trying to get a pizza.

Although his no-hitter days appear to be behind the former ace; since his trade to Texas, Cole has been in a steady decline since entering his mid-30's.  This year, the hurler has had the worst season of his Major League career, posting a 4.72 ERA in 20 starts and already giving up an eye-popping 23 homers.  Simply put, Cole is not exactly the top of the rotation presence that he once was for nearly a decade in the City of Brotherly Love.  However, the Cubs do not need him to be either - he only needs to be better than Tyler Chatwood.

Honestly, this trade has been a long time coming.  There have been connections between Hamels and the Cubs for years now.  It was rumored that the Cubs were in the hunt for his services back in '15 before the Rangers swooped in and, just one year earlier, Theo and crew actually claimed the lefty off of waivers.  Obviously, a deal was never worked out; but, clearly the Cubs' front office has an affinity for the starter.

Hamels is finally being brought to the Second City to essentially serve as the team's fifth starter; with the aforementioned Chatwood battling with walks and the rotation as a whole struggling to go past five innings, Cole represents a veteran who can take the ball every fifth day and a durable reinforcement for a beleaguered pitching staff in the midst of another playoff race.  Of course, I should also mention that his home/road splits also offer some hope that leaving the homer haven that is Arlington could inspire a resurgence.  That said, Wrigley Field isn't exactly a pitcher's paradise either.

All things considered, though Cole's track record has been shaky as of late, the price was absolutely right for this deal.  The Cubs will reportedly take on $5MM of the $13.86MM still owed to Hamels, rather than give up blue chip prospects (of which they have few to offer) or key Major League talent.  That being said, they will have to part with swingman Eddie Butler and 2017 11th-round draft selection, Rollie Lacy, in addition to the dinero.

Of course, Butler was out of options and a bit of a unnecessary luxury with the newly-acquired Jesse Chavez around.  Also, Lacy is nothing more than an A-level lottery ticket - he could develop into a Major Leaguer at some point, but he's too far away to truly project.  That's not exactly a steep price for a guy with Hamels' track record.

In case you couldn't already tell, I am definitely in favor of this trade. The former superstar will help stabilize a rotation that desperately needs stabilization, cost very little, and - hey, who knows - maybe playing for a contender again will rejuvenate him and we'll see some vintage Hamels on the mound at Wrigley.  Only this time, he won't be twirling a no-hitter against the home team while I try to force a smile and pretend to listen to small talk at a Giordano's.  It could happen.

As far as cardboard implications go, luckily for me, it was not difficult to track down a card to represent that Cubs' newest pitcher in my Cubs All-Time Collection binder.  Being a star player in the mid-to-late 2000's means that my tradebox is littered with Hamels singles, as you can tell from this post.  It was a tough choice with such a variety of options; but, in the end, I decided to go with the 2009 SP Authentic card from Upper Deck that you see above.  In this case, it was all about the awesome throwback uniform being sported by the subject and the World Series patch on the sleeve.  Here's hoping that Cole will being wearing a similar patch, but with Cubs colors, this October!

Did I pick the right card though?  For instance, I thought long and hard about using an unlicensed Panini Donruss single to represent Mr. Hamels.  After all, if you cross your eyes and squint, you could almost convince yourself that it's a Cubs card, what with the lack of logos and prevalence of blue in the photograph:

In order to properly convey these opinions, I've set up a poll at the bottom of this post which includes all of the Cole Hamels cards seen in this post as options.  Which one would you haven chosen if you were in my shoes?  Feel free to tell me that I got this decision wrong or that I lack taste!  That being said, this is only a temporary measure - it's a virtual guarantee that Cole will show up in Cubbie Blue when Update hits the shelves this fall and that card will immediately take precedence.

Welcome to Chicago, Cole, and to my my CATRC binder!  You may have ruined my appetite all those years ago; however, now, you've whetted my taste for another World Series Championship!