Professional baseball players are selfish. Everybody knows it. They’re greedy, money grubbing douchebags.

Except, for most of this offseason, they weren’t.

Don’t believe me? Let’s take a walk down memory lane.

This winter, Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Holliday, Robinson Cano, Brad Hawpe, Manny Corpas and a few others signed contracts that locked them up through their arbitration-eligible years. They left money on the table (possibly) in exchange for financial security. Nobody wants to go year to year.

Mike Lowell gave the Boston Red Sox a hometown discount. So did Curt Schilling. And the latter even promised to lose weight!

Alex Rodriguez negotiated his contract with the Yankees himself (with the aid of Warren Buffett), pushing aside Scott Boras and signing for millions less than many speculated he might get.

Kenny Rogers flat out fired Boras. Garry Sheffield called the super agent a “bad person.”

Manny Ramirez showed up to camp in great shape and told the media that he wanted to play until he was 50 and that he wanted to retire a Red Sox.

It all seemed too good to be true. Maybe it was.
Lately, the era of good feelings has come to a screetching halt.

First, Schilling announced that he wanted to have surgery, but the Red Sox wouldn’t let him.

Then Ramirez, fresh off his “I want to stay in Boston” speech, hired Boras as his new agent. Not that hiring Boras is a guarantee that Ramirez will sign elsewhere — but it’s certainly not encouraging.

This week, Jonathan Papelbon said he wants $900,000 — the same amount Ryan Howard got in his third year. The implication, as always: they can pay now or somebody else will get the chance to pay later.

Also, Prince Fielder and Cole Hamels got all bent out of shape when their teams renewed their contracts. Both players felt like they got jipped. Hamels called his $500,000 contract a “low blow.” Here’s what Fielder had to say about his $670,000 deal:

“I’m not happy about it at all,” Fielder said. “The fact I’ve had to be renewed two years in a row, I’m not happy about it because there’s a lot of guys who have the same amount of time that I do who have done a lot less and are getting paid a lot more.

“But my time is going to come. It’s going to come quick, too.”

Them there’s fightin’ words.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Tampa Bay CF B.J. Upton said all the right things after his contract was renewed by the Rays this week. Upton will make $10,000 less than he made in 2007, despite hitting .300-24-82 with 22 steals last year. But he says the slight won’t affect his play.

Upton’s tact notwithstanding, the last few weeks represented a bit of turbulance in the otherwise smooth sailing relationship between the players and management. What will the future hold? Your guess is as good as mine.

I got hung up at work and didn’t make it home for the start of the Phillies game. When I got in it was the third inning. The Phillies were tied with the Nationals, 0-0.

Since then, the Phillies have taken the lead, 3-0. But the story has been Cole Hamels.

Hamels has faced 13 batters. One singled. One popped up to first on a bunt attempt.

The rest have struck out.

Hamels has 11 strikeouts, and all of them came after the second inning.

That’s 12 outs, 11 of them strikeouts.

Stud.

UPDATE: Hamels just struck out one more. He has a total of 12 strikeouts through seven innings.

The Phils went on to win the game and are now in sole posession of first place.

It’s hard to know what to think of Phillies SP Cole Hamels. Last season, he gave us a taste of what we were told for years he was capable of, going 6-3 with a 2.60 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 691/3 innings over his final 11 starts.

Phillies fans heard stories about Hamels while he was toiling away in the minors. The scouts said that when he pitched, he was lights out. Problem was, he was injured more often than he was healthy.

And at least one of his injuries was entirely his fault. Hamels broke his hand in a bar fight. Not smart.

Then this winter, Hamels eloped with Survivor contestant and Playboy cover-model Heidi Strobel, further cementing his reputation as a party guy.

But now comes this story from the Philadelphia Inquirer, which makes me think that maybe Hamels isn’t the immature kid I assumed he was. Apparently, Hamels’ workout regime puts Roger Clemens’ famous program to shame.

From the Inky:

“I worked out with Cole a lot this winter in Philly,” said Phillies reliever Matt Smith. “I’d give him a hard time because I’d want to do cardio and lift weights, but he’d have to do his back program first. It would take more than an hour. Cole would say, ‘I have to get this done. I have to maintain.’ “

Hamels does his back program seven days a week and he’s obsessive about it. It lasts about two hours, though he may shorten it during the season. In a typical day, Hamels does 500 crunches. (No wonder his body fat is a minuscule 6 percent.) When he’s done working on his back, he moves to the baseball portion of his day and finishes with an ice bath.

“I’ll look in the mirror before bed and ask myself, ‘Did I do all I can do?’ ” Hamels said. “I’ll do 500 crunches and wonder if it’s enough. I feel guilty if I don’t feel like I’ve done enough. I get paranoid.”

500 sit-ups a day? That’s probably a few more than David Wells does, don’t you think?

If this story is to be believed, Hamels is a man possessed. He is absolutely determined not to let his chronic back problems keep him off the mound. And while Hamels has shown a lack of judgement in the past, knowing that he’s working so hard now makes it hard not to root for him.

Now the Phillies just need to keep him out of bars. Maybe his Playmate wife can convince him to stay inside and watch a movie.

It’s official. As reported in The Inquirer today, prized lefthander Cole Hamels is making his highly anticipated major-league debut Friday in Cincinnati.

The Phillies announced this morning they will move righthander Ryan Madson, who had been scheduled to start Friday, back into the bullpen. The Phillies also said they will make a roster move before Friday’s game to make room for Hamels on the 25-man roster.

Hamels, 22, is 3-1 with a 1.04 ERA in seven combined starts for triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and single-A Clearwater. He has 65 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings, and has held opponents to a .168 average.

Hamel was the team’s first-round pick in 2002. He has dominated the minor leagues when healthy. The left-hander went 3-1 with a 1.04 ERA in seven minor league starts this year, with 65 strikeouts in 43 1-3 innings. Opposing batters are hitting just .168 against him. But he has been tormented by injuries. Last season, he missed two months after breaking his pitching hand in a fight in February and was shut down for the year in July due to back problems.