Texas Rangers trade rumors: Yu Darvish, Cole Hamels may be available, per report

Texas Rangers trade rumors: Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels are players that the Texas Rangers “will listen on” if the team doesn’t improve by July 31, according to “increasing buzz,” per Jerry Crasnick. Crasnick says the Rangers would want a “big return” for either pitcher, and that the team is “keeping an open mind and mobilizing for multiple scenarios.”

This, of course, comes on the heels of yesterday’s tweet from Jon Morosi that Jon Daniels is indicating that the Rangers will not be sellers, and may be buyers.

I suspect there’s truth to both Morosi’s report and Crasnick’s report — the Rangers are kind of caught in the middle right now, with a team trying to win this year that has multiple players who will hit the market at season’s end, including Darvish. Texas is two games under .500, but is still in the Wild Card race, with the projection systems giving them around a 25-30% chance of grabbing a Wild Card spot.

Texas probably isn’t going to sell now, since a 1 in 4 chance of making the playoffs is nothing to just write off, and the notion that the team isn’t good enough to advance in the playoffs even if they made it is laughable, given the dynamic nature of short series.

But if the Rangers’ odds slip significantly in the coming days — and in particular, if they stumble on the 10 game road trip they start tomorrow -- Daniels is likely going to shift gears.

Realistically, I suspect the Rangers are keeping their options open and gauging the market both for buying and for selling opportunities. I suspect the organization isn’t planning on selling, but if Texas goes 2-8 on this road trip and finds itself 6 games back of a Wild Card spot, I think the front office wants to be in a position to know who would be interested in guys like Darvish and Hamels, and what sort of price they’d be willing to pay.