With the club still looking for some reinforcement on the mound for the 2021 season, multiple Dutch champion Curaçao Neptunus has acquired a 37-year old MLB veteran.
As the club kept a close eye on American baseball, it could sign starting pitcher Cole Hamels to a one year deal, barring the continuation of the 2021 season.
Hamels , a 15-year MLB veteran, was still unsigned by any MLB club. It happens often that Italian clubs make moves like this but this step made by Neptunus is quite a remarkable. So far only one Dutch club has signed a former MLB player in the past. That club was the now defunct Haarlem Nicols, who signed Stan Bahnsen back in the early nineties and Bahnsen was way past his prime back then as he got out of retirement.
Hamels has a lifetime ERA of 3.43 with 2,560 strikeouts. The bulk of his career, he played for the Philadelphia Phillies but since 2015, when the Phillies traded him, he played for the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox. Last year he was signed to a one year contract by the Atlanta Braves.
Which pitcher of the 2020 rotation will be the “victim” of this move is not clear. One of the three will be moved to the bullpen for sure.
In case you wonder how a Dutch club is able to sign an MLB free agent to a one year deal, perhaps you should look at today’s date.
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Nice one !! I bought it hook, line and sinker . Nice baseball-line btw …Keep up your good work, Yours Truly!! Grtz, Wouter
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