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Texas Rangers rumors: Yovani Gallardo subject of trade talks

With the trade deadline at 3 p.m. today, the Rangers continue to talk to teams about Yovani Gallardo

By Adam J. Morris
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Texas Rangers rumors:  Yovani Gallardo, the righthanded starter who is a free agent after this season, continues to be the subject of trade talks in advance of today's 3 p.m. trade deadline, per reports.

Jon Morosi says that the Dodgers and Rangers are in "ongoing trade talks" regarding Gallardo, although I'm not sure how good of a fit the teams really are...the Dodgers' m.o. has been to take on bad contracts to essentially buy players (such as with Mat Latos), minimizing the amount of talent they have to part with in a deal.  The Rangers would probably like to shed the Shin-Soo Choo and Elvis Andrus contracts, but other than that, there's no real problematic salaries on the books any more, and the Dodgers aren't likely to take on Elvis or Choo just to get Gallardo.

Jon Heyman, meanwhile, identified five teams still in on Gallardo last night, though one of those teams, the Giants, are likely out of the mix, having acquired Mike Leake this morning.  The other teams Heyman identifies, aside from the Giants and Dodgers, are the Yankees, the Blue Jays, and the Cubs.

Gallardo is a free agent after the season, and the Rangers seem likely to hold onto him if they don't get a strong offer.  Keeping Gallardo allows them to build on the momentum from adding Cole Hamels and try to finish the 2015 season strong, even though the team is on the fringe of the fringe of the playoff race right now -- a winning season, even without finishing in the playoffs, would help eliminate some of the bad taste from last season's disaster, which is going to help from an attendance and revenue standpoint going forward.

In addition, Gallardo is going to likely get a qualifying offer after the season, which would allow the Rangers to either bring him back for 2016 on a one year deal at $15-16M or, more likely, get a compensatory pick after the qualifying offer is rejected.  I suspect either option would be fine with Texas.

UPDATE -- Heyman with the "Big Three" on Gallardo: