Cole Hamels, LHP Texas Rangers 2018 Stats: 109 IP 40BB 109K 4.36 ERA 1.34 WHIP Past his prime but his change-up is still one of the Top 30 pitches in all of baseball. 2018 Contract: $22.5M 2019 Contact: Club Option for $20M with a $6M buyout. Bottom line is he's overpriced and past his prime. However, since a lot of Brewer fans don't want to part with our best prospects, I think Hamels could be a fine target that won't cost the moon. His club option for next year could be a plus or a minus. There's some risk involved but I would pony up the $$ and pick up the option. If the Brewers are contending again next July, keep Hamels. If they are not, you have option to trade him off and restock the farm a bit with what you gave up. While acquiring a cost, controlled young starter with ACE-like potential would be great, there is some risk involved that either someone like Marcus Stroman or Kevin Gausman could reach their potential before they even hit free agency. With a veteran like Hamels, a contending team doesn't have to worry as much about enduring growing pains, just health. If you look at the age of our current/future rotation, I think they could all learn something from a Vet like Cole, who's 34. Chase Anderson age 30 Jhoulys Chacin age 30 Jimmy Nelson age 29 Brent Suter age 28 Zach Davies age 25 Brandon Woodruff age 25 Corbin Burnes age 23 Freddy Peralta age 22 and of course Junior Guerra age 33 (but he doesn't have the MLB experience like Hamels) I do think that Rangers will receive some nice offers for him in spite of his price tag so the Brewers will have to give up something of value of course, but likely no blue-chip prospects. Thoughts?