Cross off the Rangers as a suitor for Dillon Gee

The Rangers seem to be out of the Dillon Gee sweepstakes. Today, they acquired pitcher Yovani Gallardo from the Brewers in exchange for a package of prospects. These youngsters include 21 year old infielder Luis Sardinas, and pitchers Corey Knebel and Marcos Diplan. Also, Milwaukee will send $4 million over to Texas to help balance out Gallardo's contract. 

Texas has been browsing the starting pitching market for quite some time, and during the winter meetings, it was reported that they and the Mets were in advanced trade talks regarding Dillon Gee. Of-course, Gallardo represents a healthy step up from Gee, as the former has been an All-Star, and a key piece in the Brewers organization for the last 5 years. It is conceivable, however, that the Mets could have gotten someone like Sardinas for Gee, as the youngster seemed more than available throughout the entire off-season. 

With Gallardo, while he has been consistent throughout his career, his numbers took a big hit in the last two seasons. His K/9 ratio dropped from 9.0 to 7.2 to 6.8 throughout the 2012-2014 seasons, with his ERA being 3.77 during that span as well. However, this doesn't knock Gallardo too much, as he is still a very useful hurler, especially on a team like Texas who is so desperate for a player who can throw quality innings. 

Courtesy of isportsweb.com

While there hasn't been any official word, it certainly looks like the Rangers will no longer be pursuing Dillon Gee, or at least not as aggressively. This narrows the potential suitors down to the Padres, Rockies, D-Backs, Astros, and possibly the Blue Jays. 

 If anything, this shows us what the market would be for Gee, as the Mets would get something less than this package if they chose to trade him. Sardinas is a nice young prospect, but doesn't project to be anything more than a utility player. Knebel has been solid in his brief MilB and MLB career's, but it's an extremely small sample size and he is coming off of Tommy John surgery. Diplan had a nice start to his professional career in 2014, but is way too young to be considered anything more than a long term project. 

I still believe the Rockies will end up biting the bullet and giving New York what they desire. Colorado simply hasn't done anything this offseason, and Sandy Alderson's waiting tactic may finally pay off for the Mets.