Cole Hamels gives Rangers high expectations

SURPRISE, Ariz. --  Chris Gimenez’s first thought was that the Texas Rangers were setting themselves up for a return to contention in 2016 when they made a blockbuster trade July 31.

The Rangers surprised many around baseball when they acquired ace left-hander Cole Hamels from the Philadelphia Phillies in an eight-player deal at the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline.

Texas was eight games behind the first-place Houston Astros and six games behind the Los Angeles Angels in the American League West. Though the Rangers were just four games out in the race for the second wild card, they also trailed six teams.

While the Rangers were on their way to a better finish than the previous season when they went 67-95 and manager Ron Washington resigned in September, it seemed there would be no playoffs in Arlington for a third consecutive year.

“It’s not like we had given up on the season at that point, but we’d had a disappointing year in 2014 and we were pretty far back in the standings,” Gimenez, the veteran catcher, recalls from the Rangers spring training camp. “I think pretty much all of us in the clubhouse were thinking that the trade was made with the future in mind.”

Indeed, Hamels is signed through the 2018 season with a club option for 2019, which is why he held great appeal to a number of teams instead of just those in the thick of a pennant race.

But Hamels joined the Rangers with a different attitude. He was ready to win immediately.

“I wasn’t looking ahead to next season,” Hamels says. “I looked at the Rangers as a good team that was capable of winning now.”

Thanks in large part to Hamels, the Rangers rallied to win the AL West for their first division title since 2011. He had a 7-1 record and 3.66 ERA in 12 starts, stabilizing a rotation that had been ravaged by injuries.

Yu Darvish tore an elbow ligament in spring training and had season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery. Lefty Derek Holland exited the home opener April 10 with a sore shoulder and did not return until Aug. 19.

Hamels pitched like the ace he had become with the Phillies — including throwing a no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs in his final start — and it gave the Rangers a boost on and off the field. Rookie manager Jeff Banister no longer had to worry about retread Wandy Rodriguez or youngsters such as Nick Martinez and Chi Chi Gonzalez being needed to front of the rotation.

“Cole made a huge difference,” says Banister, who was voted AL manager of the year. “When you have that top-of-the-rotation pitcher, it makes everyone around them better. It takes the pressure off the other guys in the rotation.

“He is also a great influence on our left-handed pitchers, not only by the way he pitches but by the way he works off the field.”

Holland, in particular, has benefited from being around Hamels despite being just three years younger.

“Everyone knows he is a premier pitcher but he works really hard, too,” says Holland, 29. “He does a lot of physical work to stay strong and a lot of mental work to prepare for each start. It is great to be around someone like that, especially another lefty, just to be able to absorb the knowledge and learn what has made him such a successful pitcher.”

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Always competitive

Hamels had spent his entire professional career with the Phillies. They chose him in the first round of the 2002 amateur draft following his senior year of high school in San Diego, and he made his major league debut four years later.

He went 114-90 with a 3.30 ERA in 295 games over 10 seasons and was the star of Philadelphia’s run to the 2008 World Series title when was named MVP of the National League Championship Series and the World Series.

The Phillies, though, failed to reached the postseason in Hamels’ last four seasons after a run of five consecutive NL East titles from 2007 to 2011 and went into rebuilding mode last season.

When the Phillies were winning, their rotation was led by veterans such as Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, and Hamels was able to develop into a three-time All-Star without the pressure of being ace. Now 32, he has reached that stage of his career where he is the veteran presence on a contending team.

While Hamels says, “I don’t feel like I’m 32,” he does embrace the idea of being a leader and setting a good example.

“My expectations are pretty high, and I know there are going to be expectations that others will have for me,” he says. “I know I have to work diligently at what I do.

“When it doesn’t go well, I know there’s more work to be done, because I know it’s there. You have 33 starts a year, and you just want all of them to be great.”

That’s why the Rangers were willing to give up a lot of young talent to acquire Hamels, including top prospects in right-hander Jake Thompson, catcher Jorge Alfaro and outfielder Nick Williams, as well as two pitchers who finished last season in the Phillies rotation in Alec Asher and Jerad Eickhoff.

The haul the Rangers traded away further adds to the expectations, but Hamels is spending the spring embracing the challenge of getting ready to meet them.

“I like the competition,” Hamels says. “In order to be the best and be at that high level, you’re going to have that, and I just take it for what it’s worth. It’s going to drive you.

“When I’m here early and here working out, I’m making sure everything counts. I don’t want to take it for granted. I don’t want to waste anything. I want to make sure everything is perfected. With that kind of limelight that will be cast upon you, you can’t make mistakes.”

Hamels made few mistakes last season after the trade, making what can be a tough transition of going from the NL to the more offensive-oriented AL look relatively seamless.

“What Cole did was really amazing,” says Gimenez, who caught each of his starts. “It was the first time he had ever been traded. He had to learn a whole new set of teammates in the middle of the season, adjust to being in a new league and handle the pressure of knowing that big things were being expected of him.”

Hamels, though, credits his teammates for making him feel so welcome right away, and he is enjoying getting to know them better this spring.

“The guys on this team were great, and they really made it easy for me when I got here,” Hamels says. “I think it helps even more to go through spring training. You build relationships, you really get to know guys, and you get a real understanding of where guys are going to play behind you. In those really crunch situations, you don’t want to be calling everyone in for a huddle. You want guys to naturally know it.”

With Hamels around from the start, the Rangers expect to be in crunch situations all season in their attempt to defend their AL West title.

They believe the rotation will be a strength, as Darvish is expected back by June, Holland is healthy again, veteran Colby Lewis was re-signed as a free agent and left-hander Martin Perez, 24, and Martinez, 25, are young and talented.

“We won a division title last year despite all the injuries to our rotation,” Gimenez says. “It’s going to be a tough division again — the toughest in the American League — but if our starters can stay even relatively healthy, then I like our chances.

“Especially with Cole here for a full season.”

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