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The Rangers probably need pitching if they are to continue to compete in the AL West and AL as a whole. That pitching apparently won’t come in the form of Cole Hamels, though, as a Rangers’ source told T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com that “If we were going to do that trade, we would have already done it by now.” That’s a bit strange, considering that the Rangers have been connected to Hamels for months -- with rumors at their most intense around the time ace Yu Darvish underwent Tommy John surgery -- but also makes a whole lot of sense simply because Texas hasn’t completed a trade for the Phillies’ top trade chip.
Just who is going to trade for Hamels is unclear. The Red Sox seem interested in less expensive pitchers under team control, likely with the hope being that Clay Buchholz can continue looking like this dominant version of Clay Buchholz over the next couple of years where he has relatively cheap team options. The Dodgers might be intrigued, since Hamels would cost them in prospects but far less in dollars and years then the inevitable extension for Zack Greinke would -- with that being said, David Price or Johnny Cueto will only cost them a draft pick and money, so even they might not be in a rush to send kids to the Phillies. Could it be the Yankees? The Blue Jays have the prospects but not the money. The Orioles have the prospects and the money but don’t tend to spend big money on pitchers. So, who?
We’ll know the answer within the next two weeks unless something has gone terribly wrong in the Phillies’ front office. We do know, though, as much as we can know anything based on rumors, that we can count the Rangers out of a potential Hamels’ trade.
- This is what the playoffs would look like if the MLB season ended during the All-Star break. Once the chaos and confusion ceased, anyway.
- Cincinnati sure loves Pete Rose even if he’s a pariah, but they also love Skyline Chili, so maybe we shouldn’t put too much stock into their opinions on things that matter.
- Ryne Sandberg quit the Phillies because his players were too mean to him.
- If you’ve never thought about the Muppets-equivalent to certain MLB players, well, now that’s all you’re going to be able to think about.
- Yasmani Grandal and the Padres were destined to never be a success together, because it took the lessons from his time in San Diego -- and a fresh start -- to make him into the catcher he is now.
- Yes, the Red Sox are having a tough season, but Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Eduardo Rodriguez are all 22 years old and thriving, and Boston still has three of the top-15 prospects in baseball in their system. The future is pretty bright.
- The Astros’ Triple-A team is going to wear those amazing rainbow pullover jerseys from Houston’s past.
- These are the 10 best first-half surprises of the 2015 season.
- The A’s are expecting to be without Jesse Hahn for a while thanks to his elbow injury.
- Are the Yankees the favorites in the American League all of a sudden? Hey, Alex Gordon is out for two months, you know.
- The Reds will probably trade everyone, and that’s okay. They better, anyway.
- John Smoltz says the Mets’ current young pitching is better than what the legendary 1990s Braves had. You know, the rotation with three Hall of Famers, Smoltz included, in it.
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