It sounds like Cole Hamels will be around a bit more often again.
The former Phillies ace, who officially retired with the organization last summer, was with the club's front-office group to begin the 2024 winter meetings down in Dallas on Monday, per PHLY's Jim Salisbury.
Hamels is also expected to join the Phillies in Clearwater for spring training as an instructor in a couple of months, plus take on a part-time broadcasting role with the club's NBC Sports Philadelphia cast for the 2025 season, Salisbury added in his Day 1 recap.
Hamels retired after 15 major league seasons, the first nine and change of which were spent with the Phillies, where the left-hander developed through the farm system into one of the club's top starters, and in 2008, the World Series MVP as the Phils captured their second-ever championship.
He was traded away to Texas at the 2015 deadline when the Phils' competing window had shut (just after throwing a no-hitter), and spent the following several years between the Rangers, Cubs, and Braves before lingering injuries got to be too much and kept him off the mound from 2021 onward.
During the Phils' miracle run to the World Series in 2022, he was around the club and at the ballpark along with other alumni from the 2007-2011 golden era, even though he still hadn't officially retired by that point.
But now that he is, there doesn't seem to be any hangups, and the Phillies are free to have a championship presence around that can hopefully rub off on the current players.
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