Four Available Free Agent Arms Who Might Help Your Team
By Matt Veasey
JASON HAMMEL
Hammel is easily the best all-around starting pitcher currently available as a free agent. Now 34 years old, he was the Tampa Bay Rays choice in the 10th round of the 2002 MLB Amateur Draft out of Treasure Valley Community College in Oregon, of all places.
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He made his big league debut with the Rays in 2006, and bounced between their pen and rotation over the next two seasons. In April of 2009, Hammel was dealt to the Colorado Rockies, and pitched out of the Rox rotation for most of the next three years.
Colorado dealt Hammel to the Baltimore Orioles just prior to spring training in 2012. Hammel made 20 starts for the O’s, but needed knee surgery just after the MLB All-Star break, ending his season.
He returned to make 23 starts over 26 appearances in 2013, importantly showing that he was healthy, as Hammel was due to become a free agent for the first time.
HAMMEL WITH THE CUBS
Hammel signed as a free agent with the Cubs, but Chicago dealt him along with Jeff Samardzija at the trade deadline to the Oakland A’s in exchange for a prospect package that included Addison Russell.
That same off-season, Hammel re-signed as a free agent with the Cubs once again. Over the last two years he has gone a combined 25-17 with a 3.79 ERA over 61 starts pitching at the back end of the rising Cubs rotation.
Hammel has allowed just 306 hits in 337.1 innings with a 316/93 K:BB ratio in these last two years. He started once in both the 2015 NLDS and NLCS for the Cubs, and has seven career postseason appearances, including a half-dozen as a starter.
There are still a handful of teams who would appear to be potential contenders, and would seem to need another experienced starting pitcher. Among these are the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, and Miami Marlins.
Next: ALL IS QUIET FOR NOW ON THE JASON HAMMEL FRONT
The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers could each use another veteran starter, and the Seattle Mariners could actually use two of these guys. The right free agent arm could help swing the AL West race, and if I were the M’s, I would be all over Hammel right now.