Report: Cole Hamels to sign with Dodgers

A Cole Hamels reunion in Philadelphia isn’t happening. The 37-year-old is closing in on a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to Jon Heyman of Audacy Sports.

It’s not surprising that Hamels chose a west coast team with a sizable chance of winning a World Series. He’s from San Diego, but considers the Dodgers his hometown team.

Hamels spoke with Leslie Gudel in 2012 about the possibility of playing in Los Angeles: “It’s going home, I mean, that’s pretty much it. I know the West Coast really well. I pitch really well on the west coast. I think it’s appealing to every player when they’re growing up that, one day, hoping they can play in the major leagues, it’s always to play for your home team. Even though the Padres were obviously the home team I grew up with, the Dodgers were kind of there neck and neck, so I think that’s the closest home team I would ever get to.”

Hamels would later sign a six-year $144 million contract extension with the Phillies in July 2012.

The Dodgers’ current rotation is a bit banged up, but still really solid. Walker Buehler, Julio Urías, David Price and the newly acquired Max Scherzer are in the current rotation. Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, and Danny Duffy, another deadline acquisition, are all on the 10-day IL. Hamels will need about a month to ramp up, so he doesn’t represent an immediate upgrade.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in an interview on Tuesday with Scott Franzke that the Phillies’ chances of signing Hamels were “a long shot.” Shortly after the trade deadline, Dombrowski said the team would revisit the idea of signing Hamels.

Update 12:10 PM: Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the deal is for $1 million guaranteed, plus $200,000 for each start Hamels makes.

We’ll have more on this story as additional details become available.

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