The Texas Rangers are set to trade for Cole Hamels from the Philadelphia Phillies, according to reports from various media outlets and this comes after teams like the Dodgers, Yankees and Astros had interest in Hamels leading into the Major League Baseball trading deadline.
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Rumors of a Hamels trade have been floating around for over a year as many teams have tried to acquire the star pitcher, but have been unwilling to meet the Phillies’ demands.
Sullivan reported that the Rangers were set to send Jerad Eickhoff and catcher Jorge Alfaro to the Phillies.
MLB’s non-waiver trade deadline is quickly approaching, putting pressure on teams to secure deals for their prized possessions. He threw a no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs his last time out.
The Phillies nabbed three of the Rangers’ top-10 prospects in Thompson, Alfaro and Williams. They managed to swing their top trade chip of the last two years into something significant and appear to have done a nice job hitting on some of their higher first round picks of late.
Hamels, on the other hand, has been battling through trade rumors to become one of the more solid pitchers in the National League this season, despite playing for the league’s worst team.
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Hamels is not a rental like Price or Cueto, as those players are headed into free agency, while the Phillies pitcher has a contract through 2018. Hamels is a much-needed arm that the Rangers will control for years to come. The Rangers are considered in the lead for Hamels, but Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reports that “no deal is close” as of Monday night. Right now, it would not make sense for the Diamondbacks to go after a player they would essentially be renting for the rest of this season. Over the past six seasons, Hamels’ 3.07 ERA is the fourth-best in baseball, 1.13 WHIP is fifth-best and.
