The heat was on the Philadelphia Phillies organization to make a decision: sign lefty Cole Hamels to a long-term deal or ship him before the MLB's no-waiver. The decision was made Wednesday night when Hamels was made the highest paid player in franchise history, and according to his agent, John Boggs, if a deal wasn't done his client wasn't going to finish his career in Philly:
"The timing of the trade deadline is ultimately what made things happen,'' Boggs told USA TODAY Sports in the wee hours Wednesday morning. "The last three days, they made a very aggressive push on us. The Phillies had to address this, and address it now.
"I can only speculate, but I'm sure they would have had to trade him if we didn't reach a deal. There would have been teams lining up to get him.''
In the end, however, Hamels not only wanted to sign a six-year, $144 million contract but he also wanted to be in Philadelphia for the rest of his career.
"If he had turned this down,'' Boggs said, "I think it would have been obvious he didn't want to be a Phillie. But this is where he wanted to be. This is home.''
"You look at this, and where we started from,'' Boggs said, "it's been an amazing journey. It was a long haul and strange negotiations.
"This was like a farm toiling the soil, planting the seed, and finally reaping the harvest.''
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