Zack Greinke, who was acquired by the Angels on Friday night from the Brewers, will be a free agent this coming winter. The right-hander is in the final year of a four-year, $38 million contract. "I haven't talked to my agent or anyone since I got traded, but this is an organization that probably everyone in baseball wants to be a part of," Greinke said. "I'm just focusing on playing and hopefully winning as many games as possible. That's all that's going on my mind at the moment."

The Phillies and representatives for Cole Hamels expect to ramp up the pace of contract talks this week as they approach a "sensitive" stage of negotiations on an extension. The two sides took a brief hiatus over the weekend, as Hamels pitched against San Francisco on Saturday in Philadelphia and agent John Boggs was traveling. With only eight days left until the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, the Phillies need to save themselves a window to re-engage with potential trade partners if they can't reach a deal with Hamels.

The Phillies and Cole Hamels are "moving in the right direction" in talks on a contract extension, according to sources. Philadelphia's willingness to give the left-hander six years was a key development in talks.

The Brewers have offered Zack Greinke a five-year extension worth more than $100 million, but there are no signs that the right-hander will sign the contract. Greinke can become a free agent after the season and Milwaukee is believed to be fielding offers for him prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. He is scheduled to start on Tuesday against the Phillies.

The Brewers have offered Zack Greinke a five-year contract extension worth more than $100 million in recent weeks, according to sources. The offer, which is said to have come more than a week ago, was said by one person to have been for close to the $112.5-million, five-year extension Matt Cain signed with the Giants. The Braves, White Sox, Angels, Rangers, Orioles and others are expected to be interested in Greinke as a trade target.

The Cubs are not far enough along in their rebuilding process to make a major splash in free agency this winter. Chicago has won 13 of their last 18 games, but they are still just 37-53 on the season. "Sometimes that works out for you," president Theo Epstein said, "and more often than not it doesn't. There's a price to pay for that kind of thing. So if you get tempted and you get impatient and you try to solve your problems through free agency, there's always a price to pay, and it usually happens pretty soon thereafter or towards the end of those deals. "Free agency's definitely a nice way to add talent to an organization without giving up talent. But you cannot make an organization that way. And we have a lot of steps ahead of us that we need to take care of before we're in a position to add a finishing piece or two through free agency." Epstein isn't planning to be aggressive in free agency until the Cubs have laid more groundwork. "We'll always look to free agency," Epstein said. "We'll always be on every free agent and see if there's the right player or the right value. But if we sat around and drew up a plan and had free agency as the answer to most of our problems, we'd be on a fool's errand there. "We need to build the foundation. We need to have scouting we believe in, player development we believe in, a steady flow of prospects, a core of young players. And then you can look to free agency. If the right deal is there ahead of schedule, great, but we're not going to count on it. Let's put it that way."

The Angels will have some decisions to make this winter, but Torii Hunter may make their plan of attack much clearer. Hunter says the Angels are the only team he wants to play for and that he'd re-sign at a discount. If the outfielder does so and the team does in fact aim to keep Peter Bourjos, then Kendrys Morales could be the odd man out. The Angels could trade or non-tender Morales, who is entering his final year of arbitration.

The Phillies and the agent for Cole Hamels have picked up the pace of contract discussions in recent days, according to sources. Those intensified talks are an indication that Philadelphia has started a major push to sign the left-hander to an extension before the July 31 trade deadline. Meanwhile, teams that have been speaking with the Phillies about Hamels say they have essentially put trade talks on hold. "They want to sign him, and that's their priority," said an official of one club. "They're really not even entertaining (trade) offers at this point."

The Phillies are sending out signals that they will soon offer Cole Hamels a six-year, $130 million contract extension, according to sources. Philadelphia is believed to have had some conversations in recent days with Hamels. No official offer has been made, but sources say the team is interested in doing a deal in the range of Matt Cain's arrangement with the Giants. Cain signed a $112.5-million, five-year extension this spring on top of his $15-million 2012 salary, representing a six-year, $127.5 million commitment.

The Phillies are operating with Cole Hamels in two different respects, according to executives monitoring the left-hander. Philadelphia is talking with Hamels about a potential contract extension while they also keep tabs on what might be available on the trade market. The Phillies have probably set a date by which negotiations must be completed or they have worked back into playoff contention, or else they will try to deal Hamels.