Phillies, Rangers Had ‘In-Depth’ Talks Before Gallardo Trade

Well, take one more team out of the running for Cole Hamels. The Texas Rangers acquired right-hander Yovani Gallardo  in exchange for thee prospects, infielder Luis Sardinas and righties Corey Knebel and Marcos Diplan.

The Dallas Morning News reported earlier last week that the Phillies and Rangers were talking about Hamels, but Texas was weary about taking on that much money. The Phillies would be silly to eat salary in a Hamels deal, considering his contract is a bargain compared to the likes of Max Scherzer. It seems other teams are backing away because of the prospect asking price. Not the issue for Texas though. How serious were those talks between the two teams?

#Rangers and #Phillies had in-depth trade talks on Cole Hamels before Texas agreed to Yovani Gallardo trade, source says.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 19, 2015

Problem for Tex was $$$ RT @jonmorosi: #Rangers and #Phillies had in-depth trade talks on Cole Hamels before Gallardo trade, source says.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 19, 2015

Meanwhile, the Rangers will pay $10 million of Gallardo's remaining $14 million contract. He becomes a free agent after the 2015 season. This past season with Milwaukee, Gallardo pitched himself to a 3.51 ERA to go along with a record of 8-11.

Brandon Apter is a writer for Philliedelphia.com