Left-hander Cole Hamels and the Atlanta Braves have agreed to a one-year, $18 million contract, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Wednesday.

Hamels, when right, was every bit as good as anyone in the National League last season, but he was plagued by injuries, both small and large, for the Chicago Cubs.

Before an oblique strain sent him to the injured list, his ERA hovered under 3.00. In 10 starts for the Cubs after returning, Hamels compiled a 5.79 mark. He was just never the same, mostly because of his mechanics.

"Trying to correct things while I built up the arm strength was a recipe for disaster," said Hamels, a three-time All-Star selection who will be 36 on Opening Day in 2020.

It bothered him so much that even after the Cubs were out of the playoff race, Hamels wanted to take the mound to show teams he was healthy.

"This is the first time I'm going into free agency, and I don't want that in the back of team's heads, how I finished," he said.

The 14-year veteran finished last season with a 7-7 record and 143 strikeouts with a 3.81 ERA.

When healthy, Hamels spotted his fastball exactly where he wanted to in 2019, setting up his devastating change-up as his out pitch. His cutter also proved to be a solid second weapon to help him generate more ground balls. Early on, he put together a string of 22 consecutive innings pitched without issuing a walk. But that control was lost after his injury -- he walked 21 in his final 42 innings in 2019.

For his career, Hamels is 163-121 with a 3.42 ERA and 2,558 strikeouts. He was the MVP of the 2008 World Series and NLCS with the Philadelphia Phillies, with whom he entered the majors in 2006 and spent the first nine-plus seasons of his career before being traded to the Texas Rangers in 2015.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers and Keith Law contributed to this report.