Report: Rangers nearing deal for Brewers’ Yovani Gallardo
While the Green Bay Packers command the attention of sports fans in Wisconsin, Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin is hard at work finalizing what would be a significant trade.
According to Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal , the Brewers and Texas Rangers are nearing a deal that would send Yovani Gallardo, who attended high in Fort Worth, back to his home territory. There’s no indication yet what Milwaukee would receive in return, but Rosenthal’s colleague Jon Morosi says it won’t be infielder Jurickson Profar.
Gallardo, 29 in February, would fill the Rangers obvious need for an innings eater behind Yu Darvish and a now healthy Derek Holland. In each of the last six seasons, Gallardo has made at least 30 starts and thrown at least 180 innings. His 89-64 record and 3.69 ERA were good enough to make him Milwaukee’s ace over most of that time period, but he’s probably more of a low-end No. 2 or really solid No. 3, which is where he’ll slot in Texas.
Gallardo is set to enter free agency following the 2015 season, so we’ll soon learn how his agent values him. There’s already speculation that Texas is one place he’d like to play long term, which make sense given the connection. But his performance this season, especially early, could be the key determining factor.
As for the Brewers game plan, Joel Sherman of the New York Posts wonders if this could put Milwaukee in the running for Max Scherzer or James Shields.
That would certainly be an interesting twist. Neither starting pitcher appears to be nearing a deal, but a new and aggressive suitor like Milwaukee could be what jumpstarts the market again.
Stay tuned!
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
