Hamels: $500K Salary Is A ‘Low Blow’

Phillies ace Cole Hamels (at right), who despite not being the opening day starter is clearly set up as the Phillies #1 pitcher, is poised for a big year. Well, ha ha, too bad, now he’s pissed about his contract.

Hamels called the one-year, $500,000 deal a “low blow” but also hoped that Phillies fans won’t think he’s greedy.

“They do want to keep you happy, and that will affect down the line with certain things that come up because you can’t just all of a sudden throw everything out at (a player) at the last second and think that’s really going to make him happy, because he’s still got check marks for what they didn’t do in the years before.” Hamels told the Daily News‘ David Murphy, who I know because his name is on my bedroom wall on some plaque.

This is a boom for all the fans, of course, who were worrying about being able to complain about the Phillies being cheap when they’ve actually had a respectable payroll recently. Also, if Cole Hamels doesn’t want Phillies fans to think he’s a greedy athlete, maybe he should pitch the Phillies to the World Series. After that, some fans might be willing to donate a couple thousand to Hamels himself.