(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
An aging starting pitcher sizes up as a possible KC Royals salvage project.
There was a time, which doesn’t seem that long ago, when Cole Hamels was one of the elite major league starting pitchers. Topping Jamie Moyer, Adam Eaton and Kyle Kendrick with a 15-5 record in 2007, he became Philadelphia’s top hurler in just his sophomore season. He won 14 games to help the Phillies to the 2008 National League pennant, then went a perfect 4-0 in the postseason and won the NLCS and World Series MVP awards.