Cole Hamels scratched from Thursday's start

The Texas Rangers have scratched Cole Hamels from his scheduled start on Thursday.

Hamels, acquired from the Phillies two weeks ago in a trade for Nick Williams, Jake Thompson and Jorge Alfaro, among others, is dealing with a sore left groin that apparently started to bother him in his last start.

Per the beat guys on Twitter, the Rangers are looking at having either Anthony Ranaudo or Chi Chi Gonzalez take Hamels' start on Thursday.  Alternatively, they could slide their other starts up a day, which would move Hamels' spot back to Saturday, giving him a couple of days to recuperate, or a couple of days to decide who to bring up to take his place.

Bringing up Ranaudo or Chi Chi would require the Rangers to make a move to free up a 25 man roster spot.  Assuming that move isn't sending Hamels to the d.l., the most likely candidate to be sent down is likely reliever Spencer Patton.