The push for .500 continues. With seemingly every team in baseball — except for the Nationals, anyway — deciding to push for the middle of the pack, the Brewers and Rangers have reportedly agreed on a deal that might help both teams push a little closer to that goal. According to Joel Sherman (and others), Texas will acquire Yovani Gallardo from Milwaukee once the physicals are completed.

The Rangers clearly needed another starter, and weren’t willing to get in on the bidding for any of the free agents that want a long-term deal. They were linked to Cole Hamels last week, but apparently don’t want to part with the talent Philadelphia is looking for while also taking on $96 million in salary, so they were instead left to shop on the secondary market. Gallardo fits as a short-term upgrade without a long-term salary commitment, improving the Rangers 2015 outlook while presumably not costing them a huge piece of their future.

The Brewers, however, might be willing to spend money to acquire a longer term option for their rotation, and given that they’ve just traded him away, apparently weren’t willing to make that commitment to Gallardo. By trading Gallardo, they’ve opened up a spot in their rotation for a pursuit of a pitcher like James Shields, or potentially given themselves an option to make a trade for Jordan Zimmermann, who is from Wisconsin and is a potential trade piece now that the Nationals have signed Max Scherzer. Perhaps the Brewers are optimistic they can either sign Shields or make a run at a trade-and-sign deal for a pitcher like Zimmermann, and shipped Gallardo out to clear up a roster spot for that future pursuit.

Gallardo isn’t so good that the Brewers can’t replace him by throwing some money around, but he’s good enough that he’s definitely an upgrade for a Rangers rotation that had too many replacement level arms penciled in for key roles. This isn’t the kind of trade that will make Texas a favorite in the AL West — there probably aren’t enough deals out there to be made for that to happen — but it gives them a more realistic shot at a decent season in 2015, and perhaps they’re more sanguine about signing Gallardo long term.

We’ll have more on the deal once we know all the pieces involved, and the Brewers side might take a while to come into focus, but it’s possible that this is a trade that leads to both teams having better rotations than they did yesterday.