The inevitable finally happened Thursday night as the Texas Rangers reached an agreement to send Cole Hamels to the Chicago Cubs for two pitchers and a Player To Be Named Later. Obviously we can’t fully evaluate this deal because we don’t know the third piece but we can assume the quality of the PTBNL and move from there.
Trading Cole Hamels was a necessary evil with the current situation the Rangers are in. The 34-year old lefty provided no long-term value to the rebuilding team and his hefty $20 million team option for 2019 meant Texas was on the verge of letting him leave for the cost of his $6 million buyout this offseason.