Cole Hamels to Yankees? Rangers ace, Aaron Boone address buzz after gem

Rangers ace Cole Hamels and the Yankees have been linked in trade rumors. On Tuesday, May 22, 2018 (5/22/18), the lefty cooled off the Yanks with a two-run, seven-inning outing to lead Texas to a 6-4 win at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

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ARLINGTON, Texas — Yankees manager Aaron Boone had a hunch Cole Hamels was going to be tough on his hot ballclub Tuesday night because, as a fan of baseball, he’s been following what the Texas Rangers ace has been doing of late.

As for all of the outside buzz that the Yanks will be chasing rotation help this summer and Hamels could be a great fit, Boone maintains that these trade rumors are the furthest thing from his mind … and there’s nothing to them.

Regardless, Boone was impressed seeing Hamels look close to vintage in a 6-4 Rangers win that cooled off the Yanks, who lost for just the fourth time in their last 26 games.

“I thought he was really good,” Boone said. “The cut fastball was a real weapon for him. He threw some good changeups. We knew we had a tough opponent in Hamels.”

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Hamels (3-4) went seven strong, allowing just two solo homers (to rookies Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar) while striking out seven in his fourth impressive outing in a row, all of them against AL powers. Facing the Indians, Red Sox, Astros and Yankees in succession, the four-time All-Star came out of this stretch 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA.

“He’s still Cole Hamels,” Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks said. “He’s still a great pitcher.”

Now 34 and at least a little past his prime, Hamels probably will be moved before the July 31 trade deadline because the 19-31 Rangers are having a terrible season and after this year he’ll just have a $20-million club option or $6 million buyout remaining on his $144 million contract.

Boone is aware that his club has been linked to Hamels in trade rumors.

“I’ve been hearing all that stuff,” he said. “I don’t really think that’s very much on our radar right now. I don’t read into that or look into that. “I just look at it as a good pitcher was able to beat us.”

Boone sounded believable saying that even though there’s no way he’d divulge company secrets even if the Yankees and Rangers were actively in serious trade conversations.

Hamels’ win over the Yanks was the 150th of his career, the first 114 (plus his 2008 World Series MVP performance) coming during his 9 2/3 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Hamels was traded to the Rangers on July 31, 2015 when the Phils were rebounding and could be just two months away from being moved from another trending-down club to a contender.

Hamels discussed that in detail with four Yankees reporters on Monday and he did so again Tuesday in his post-game presser.

“It’s May,” Hamels said after beating the Yanks. “There’s a lot of baseball, a lot of things could happen. I have a job to do, and it’s to win here. This is where I’ve wanted to be, I’ve got a lot of young guys that definitely need me to try to be more of a leader and teach them kind of the facets of the game, and that’s kind of what my focus is right now.

“All of the (trade) decisions are not up to me. The only decision I have in my hand is to throw the baseball and get guys out.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.