Cole Hamels

It was not a great year in 2015 for Philly sports, the Phillies were the worst team in baseball, the Flyers missed the playoffs, the Eagles have been a disappointment, even though they still have a chance to win the division and the Sixers are historically bad - again...

Cole Hamels and the Texas Rangers finally clinched the AL West title on the last day of the regular season. Hamels pitched a three-hitter, Adrian Beltre hit a go-ahead homer and the Rangers beat the Angels 9-2 Sunday, eliminating Los Angeles from playoff contention...

Saturday was the last time Phillies fans will see rookie pitcher Aaron Nola til next season. The talented righty, fired five scoreless innings in a no-decision against the Nationals which was his final start of the 2015 season.

The early returns on the summer trade hauls of the Phillies have been positive. A system that was once thought of as one of the worst in baseball, is now filled with strong young talent with some intriguing young players that came over in the Cole Hamels trade - two of which Jerad Eickhoff and Alec Asher have already appeared at the big league level...

Phillies pitching prospect Alec Asher will be called up to make his major league debut on Sunday versus the Padres. Asher was acquired as part of the Cole Hamels deal with the Texas Rangers last month, he has put up a 3.97 ERA and 109/40 K/BB ratio over 133 2/3 frames between Double- and Triple-A...

The Stark Report for 8.7.15: Jayson Stark called in for another edition of The Stark Report. This week's segment was all about the trade for Cole Hamels and what kind of haul the team got in return. Stark says that the team did about as well as they could with getting back one of the best catching prospects in all of baseball in Jorge Alfaro...

Chase Utley will return from the disabled list on Friday and interim manager Pete Mackanin says he expects Utley to play around four games per week. Utley remains a very possible August trade candidate, but must show that he is fully healthy from his nagging ankle injury that has had him on the shelf since June 22...

7.31.15: Cole Hamels met with the assembled media one final time on Friday afternoon before leaving the ballpark one final time as a pitcher for the Phillies. He was emotional in the beginning when talking about how much the city meant to him and family being able to raise one here for the last several years...

So the Cole Hamels era has ended in Philadelphia, but the big question is how did they make out in the deal? Ruben Amaro Jr., Pat Gillick, Andy MacPhail - who ever pulled the trigger on this massive six-for-two player deal will some day either get the credit or the blame...

Cole Hamels tenure in Philadelphia is over, he is heading to Texas to play for the Rangers. The 2008 National League Championship MVP and World Series MVP is coming off his first ever no-hitter and now is in the middle of the American League playoff race...