House That Hank Built
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Top 6 free agents most likely to sign with Braves after Travis d’Arnaud signing

By Seth Carter

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 14: Josh Donaldson #20 of the Atlanta Braves fields a ball against the New York Mets during the game at SunTrust Park on April 14, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 14: Josh Donaldson #20 of the Atlanta Braves fields a ball against the New York Mets during the game at SunTrust Park on April 14, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images) /
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Cole Hamels Unleashing his four seams of fury. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
Cole Hamels Unleashing his four seams of fury. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images) /

Cole Hamels

Cole Hamels is projected to go for around $15 million, but that seems a little high at age 36. He’s coming off a solid season, not spectacular.

He does check a lot of the boxes the Braves are looking for. He’s a veteran pitcher with postseason experience, he’s left-handed, and he’s still effective.

Hamels is coming off of a 3.81 ERA with a 1.39 WHIP in 2019 for the Cubs. Hamels pitched 141.3 innings and is still striking guys out at just over one per inning.

The lefty had a seven-season streak of at least 200 innings. That streak came to an end in 2017. The least amount of innings he’s thrown since then was last season’s 141.3.

Hamels appears to still have some gas in the tank. At the right price he could be a nice fit for the Braves youthful rotation.

While $15 million seems like a tough pill to swallow considering some of the other projected prices on the market, if Anthopoulos and company believe he still has a solid season in him, he’ll be a quality innings-eater.

Hamels has a career walks per nine rate of 2.6. It could be a red flag that last season his walks per nine jumped by one hole point, up to 3.6. It’s acceptable as long as it isn’t the beginning of a tailspin. He still kept the ball in the park by allowing just over one homer per nine innings.

Hamels could be a great lefty option in the rotation and still provide budget space (depending on his price) to acquire a quality bat at third.

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