Rangers acquire Cole Hamels from Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies finally kicked a long-awaited rebuild into high gear, agreeing to trade Cole Hamels to the Texas Rangers for a package of prospects, according to a baseball official with direct knowledge of the trade.

The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been finalized.

Philadelphia will also receive oft-injured Rangers major league starter Matt Harrison, but the true prizes are the five prospects fortifying their system.

Class AAA pitchers Jerad Eickhoff and Alec Asher, Class AA outfielder Nick Williams, Class AA catcher Jorge Alfaro and Class AA pitcher Jake Thompson are among those included in the deal. Phillies reliever Jake Diekman is also heading to Texas.

Hamels, 31, was the 2008 World Series MVP and won 114 games for the Phillies, the last victory a no-hitter in his final start, at Wrigley Field. The Phillies will shed the $73.5 million he's owed through 2016-2018. Texas will hold a $20 million club option on Hamels 2019.

Harrison, who has started just nine games over the past three seasons, is due $28 million in 2016-17.

The others coming from the Rangers organization are years away from making such salaries.

Alfaro, the Rangers' No. 2 prospect according to MLB.com, could be the centerpiece of the return. At 22, he has excellent power and defensive skill.

Eickhoff, 25, was 9-4 with a 4.30 ERA between Class AA and AAA. At 6-4 and 240 pounds, he is a potential workhorse starter with a fastball that touches the low 90-mph range.

Asher, 23, is a combined 4-10 with a 4.43 ERA between Class AA and AAA. A fourth-round pick in the 2012 draft, Asher had Tommy John surgery at the age of 14.

Outfielder Nick Williams, 21, played in this year's Futures Game. He's a switch-hitter with speed. Currently in Class AA, Williams has a lot of upside, but needs refinement. In 2015, he reduced his strikeout frequency from once every 3.2 at-bats to once every 4.8.

Thompson, 21, is 6-6 with a 4.72 ERA in Class AA. He has the potential to become a top-tier starter.

Mets' wild night of tears, fear ends up being about nothing

NEW YORK — The New York Mets went from “pushing hard” to trade for Milwaukee Brewersoutfielder Carlos Gomez; to reportedly acquiring him for injured starter Zack Wheeler and infielder Wilmer Flores; to having that news sweep through the Citi Field stands, resulting in a standing ovation for and tears from Flores — and, exactly three hours later, it was all for naught.

Confusion reigned on social media, in the dugout and on the face of a nearly 24-year-old infielder who has known only one employer since he was 16 years old.

This was the trade deadline’s version of Game 162, the rapid-fire playoff-clinching extravaganza on the final night of the 2011 season, only no one won anything, and the tears were of sadness, not joy.

At 7:52 p.m. Eastern Time, Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown reported New York’s aggressive pursuit of Gomez, the two-time All-Star center fielder who made his big league debut with the Mets before trading him in a package for Cy Young winner Johan Santana.

A little more than an hour later, at 8:58, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported that the trade was “done pending physicals.” Soon thereafter, a baseball official with direct knowledge of the trade confirmed to USA TODAY that the deal had been agreed upon pending a physical examination for Wheeler, who underwent Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow in March.

By 9:15, a reporter in Queens observed that at least one section of the Citi Field stands started chanting “Car-los Go-mez” even while Flores was positioned at shortstop.

At 9:29, Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado posted a photo on social media of the club’s Latin players “saying bye to a friend” with their arms around Gomez on the team’s charter flight home from San Francisco, only to retract it for a new one.

NFLPA files suit, angered by way NFL portrayed destruction of Tom Brady's phone

Attorney Jeffrey Kessler has battled the NFL and its owners for years in court on behalf of the league's players. So it was unusual he found himself agreeing Wednesday morning with a regular adversary: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Hours after Kraft ripped the NFL in the wake of Commissioner Roger Goodell's decision to uphold quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, Kessler — retained by the NFL Players Associationto represent Brady at his appeal hearing last month — also derided the decision, and in particular the gravity Goodell gave to the destruction of Brady’s old cellphone.

“It’s just grasping at straws to try to divert attention from their complete lack of evidence or legal process to justify what’s happened here,” Kessler told USA TODAY Sports by phone. “You heard the outrage today from Mr. Kraft. That was completely justified. I’ve never more agreed with Robert Kraft in my life, about anything.”

The NFLPA filed a lawsuit late Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. It asks the court to vacate Goodell’s decision on four major grounds, including Goodell’s partiality, and either rule by Sept. 4 — six days before the Patriots’ regular-season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers — or issue an injunction that allows Brady to play.

The union’s suit comes one day after the NFL Management Council filed its own lawsuit in Manhattan and asked that court to confirm Goodell’s decision — a move Kessler called “very, very peculiar” and an obvious ploy to secure a more favorable venue.

The NFLPA can’t reargue the facts of the case in court. It must target the process through which the discipline was issued and confirmed. But Kessler made clear he wasn’t pleased about the way Goodell’s decision presented the destruction of the phone, which Brady says he does regularly when he gets a new one, before an interview with investigators as evidence of a cover-up.

Kessler said every text in the league-commissioned Wells Report appeared in Brady’s phone logs, which were turned over. In a footnote, Goodell wrote the records should’ve been turned over sooner, and a suggestion by Brady’s agents that the NFL could track down the people Brady texted and ask them to provide the records was “simply not practical.”

“The NFL has made no claim that somehow they’re missing something,” Kessler said. “They made this argument, ‘Well, maybe if they looked at his phone, they’d find some incriminating e-mail like from Tom to his father.’ Really? That’s what they’re arguing about?”

The NFL did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the union’s lawsuit, which Kessler said would be designated as a related case to that of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.

The hope is it lands before U.S. District Judge David S. Doty, who in February vacated the arbitration award issued by the appeals officer Goodell designated, Harold Henderson, and thus is “in the best position to determine to what degree his decision in Peterson already requires this discipline be thrown out for lack of notice,” Kessler said. 

Preseason Amway Coaches Poll set for Thursday release

Ohio State finished No. 1 with all 62 first-place votes in January's final Amway Coaches Poll following a 42-20 victory against Oregon that gave the Buckeyes the first national championship of the College Football Playoff era.

Will Ohio State remain out front nearly seven months later? The Buckeyes' roster features three Heisman-caliber quarterbacks, with former starter Braxton Miller recently switching to receiver.

VIDEO:  Season previews of every FBS team

The 2015 college football season is exactly five weeks away from kicking off, but fans can get a head start on the season when the top 25 teams in the country are unveiled Thursday in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll.

Where will Big 12 favorites TCU and Baylor, who both narrowly missed the Playoff semifinals last season, land in the preseason top 25? How many SEC teams will make it, too few or too many?

All day Thursday, you can find extensive coverage of the poll on USA TODAY Sports' college football page or interact via Twitter.

ABOUT THE POLL:

— The first regular-season poll is scheduled to be released Sept. 8. The final regular-season poll is scheduled to be released Dec. 6.

— The Coaches Poll used to count for one-third of the formula that was used to determine the BCS standings and national championship participants, but is not part of the determination of the College Football Playoff, which uses a selection committee to determine participating teams.