Rangers get Dempster from Cubs

The Texas Rangers acquired right-hander Ryan Dempster from the Chicago Cubs, minutes before the 4 p.m. ET trade deadline. Class A third baseman Christian Villanueva and Class A right-hander Kyle Hendricks went go to the Cubs in the trade.

. The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers were favorites to acquire Dempster, but the Rangers jumped in late and got the 35-year-old. Dempster had to waive his no-trade clause to approve any deals.

Dempster sat in the offices of Cubs officials while the possible deals were being discussed.

"I was really actually glad he was in our office the kast couple of hours," Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer told the Chicago Tribune. "To be able to see how we work and see what happens. He sort of sat in our office and watched himself on TV. Then we kind of briefed him on where things were, and at some point, he sort of said 'Well, if this Dodger thing is not going to work...' and he sort of opened it up to a handful of teams."

Dempster is 5-5 with a 2.25 ERA in 104 innings pitched this season.

Dempster acknowledged the trade on his Twitter account. He wrote:

"Thanks to Cubs, the city of Chicago and the fans. Looking forward to Rangers tomorrow."

Dempster can become a free agent after the season. He will earn $4.67 million in the final two months of the season.

He is scheduled to make his first start for Texas on Thursday against the Angels. He will take the spot previously occupied by Roy Oswalt, who will move to the bullpen.

"They obviously have a very, very good team," Dempster told the Chicago Tribune. "I'm going to go down there and hopefully just be a small piece of what they already have going."