The Rangers continue to defy the odds and rack up victories. Winners of three straight, the team’s 43-36 and in a three-way tie with Cleveland and Boston for the American League’s second wild-card spot. Because of their unexpected success, the Rangers may end up as buyers prior to the July 31 trade deadline. General manager Jon Daniels recently discussed the club’s mindset leading up to the deadline with ESPN Dallas 103.3, per the Dallas Morning News. While Daniels indicated the Rangers’ main focus is on building a successful team for the long haul, he admitted that “you can’t ignore the fact that it’s fun every night at the park.” With that in mind, Daniels added Texas will “be very open-minded” when trade season begins in earnest, saying: “We’re not going to set any limits on this team, but we’re also not going to do anything to take shortcuts and endanger what we feel is a really bright future for the club. We’re just going to try to be smart about it. See what opportunities are out there — how do we get better both now and in the future? Bottom line, this club’s done a lot of good things. They’re a lot of fun to watch, certainly would like to support them if we can.”
More from Arlington…
- Outfielder/designated hitter Hunter Pence is eligible to come off the injured list Thursday, but that won’t happen, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Pence is dealing with a Grade 2 right groin strain that could shelve him into the start of next week, Grant suggests. The benefit of Pence’s continued absence is that the Rangers won’t have to option or designate another player they like when he returns, as Grant notes, but they’d still welcome back the resurgent 36-year-old’s bat. Left for dead after two bad seasons with the Giants, Pence signed a minor league contract with the Rangers over the winter and has since turned back the clock. He’s slashing a stupendous .294/.353/.608 (142 wRC+) with 15 home runs in 215 trips to the plate.
- Infielder Asdrubal Cabrera is one player the Rangers could drop when Pence comes back, Grant observes. Jettisoning Cabrera would be a surprising move on the Rangers’ part, especially considering he’s on a guaranteed $3.5MM salary, but Grant doesn’t rule out it occurring sooner than later. Cabrera, who’s serving a three-game suspension stemming from an altercation with an umpire, hasn’t delivered much on-field value when he has played this season. The 33-year-old switch hitter’s off to a .231/.312/.409 start (83 wRC+) in 279 PA and has accounted for minus-5 Defensive Runs Saved as the Rangers’ primary third baseman. The Rangers could replace Cabrera with Logan Forsythe, who has been the better of the two in 2019.
What’s telling of Pence’ resurgence is the fact that his road numbers are ridiculously better than his home numbers.
Daniels should have been fired after he made that ridiculous Fielder contract
He’s an idiot
You mean traded for Fielder? Because Detroit signed him, not Texas.
It’s shaping up to be a funny year with as badly as the Astros have been playing lately with that long losing streak. It’s gonna be hilarious if the Rangers end up taking the division away with this team.
Man I’d love to think we have some hope of contending, but I think it’s further than just a long shot. It’s a full court shot. I hope we look at long term pieces and let some of these guys who are probably not only over-achieving but are also not really apart of anything past MAYBE 2020.
Send Asdrubal for anything we can get. Make package deals involving any of Pence, Forsythe, Kelly, Martin, Chavez, Minor, Santana, Lynn, Choo (and us pay his salary), and any and all of our catchers.
If it took trading 9 guys in 2 or 3 trades to get 1 top end prospect and 1 or 2 quality prospects then I’d do it.
You understand the Rangers still have to put a product on the field this season right?
If it takes looking like the Orioles for half a season to help the team long term I think it’s worth it. We’ve got AAA guys that can get an extended look.
I’m not a tank guy, but when it’s a situation where you bring in vets for 1, 2, and 3 year deals, gave us fans something to watch for half the season then trade the over-achievers for pieces that help the future I’m all for it. It just so happens we’ve got a ton of over-achievers right now.
I don’t know. It sure sounds like you’re a tank guy.
Glad you don’t run the team. That is a horrible message to send to your current team and any future players “Hey guys, do everything we ask and go win more than expected and we promise we will tear this whole thing down”
Long losing streak and still 20 games over .500 and 6.5 games up over the rangers.
How long did they suck before being relevant? They were at the top of every draft for years…it’s about time
This is a joke, right? Houston was missing, Altuve, Correa, and Springer. The Rangers are in the same division as the Astros, but in a completely different class.
3 years ago nobody even new what division the Astros were in. Just knew they were at the bottom.
I am a lifelong Astros fan and we’ve been relevant a lot more and more division titles than the Rangers and a ring too.
You’re the idiot..
I am all for supporting the team and it’s surprising success this year. I just hope if there are moves to be made this deadline, they are smart and help out our long term as well as now. We have come a long way to get this farm system trending in the right direction and I don’t think we should blow it up on a false hope for truly contending with the big boys this season.
That being said the right move for starting pitching help that’s controllable this season and beyond makes pretty good sense.
This year’s Texas Rangers are last year’s Pittsburgh Pirates in a way.
I think a guy like Jeff Samardzija would make some sense for the Rangers if they could get San Francisco to eat a good portion of what he’s owed. He’s an established innings eater that would fit in nicely behind Minor and Lynn and shouldn’t cost a ton in prospects given his age and contract situation.
If I’m JD, I’m adding a guy like him or Mike Leake that can soak up innings and keep the team in games but won’t have the prospect cost that the guys at the top of this trade market will have.
Both would make the team better down the stretch this season and put them one more No. 2 or 3 starter next offseason from having a pretty damn good rotation.
I don’t think innings is the issue as much as getting another 2/3 type starter that you can count on to win. 1 or 2 bullpen guys that are lock down guys would always be nice.
I think innings do matter because after Minor or Lynn, you could get six solid innings from Sampson and Jurado or a three-inning blowup, and too many of the latter can blow up your bullpen.
That could be less of an issue now that Smyly is gone, especially if Chavez can keep pitching like he has. But the Rangers’ lineup is good enough and they’re solid enough in the back end of the bullpen that they’ll win a lot of games with a six-inning, three- or four-run start from their back three starters. But things get really iffy when they need to dip into the middle relief and beyond.
That said, I agree with you long-term. It’s more important next year and beyond to get a legit starter to pair with Minor and Lynn at the top of the rotation if your goal is to compete with the Astros for the division. I just wouldn’t break the bank for one at the deadline now. I’d rather add that middle to back-end rotation innings eater now and add the missing rotation piece in the winter.
I also agree with you about the bullpen. One or two reliable relievers would go a long way to lengthen this bullpen. And they’re probably necessary now that Chavez is pitching out of the rotation.
Trade Apostel for Kela
Odor needs to thank the baseball gods every night for his stupid @$$ contract because it’s literally the only thing that keeps him on a major league roster right now. He’s been the worst everyday player in baseball two of the last three years and he’s going to force a better player off the Rangers’ roster because he’s owed $34 million over the next three seasons.
It’s one of the worst contracts in baseball. Said it over a year ago and got slammed. Odor is a headcase, offensively and defensively.
I don’t think he’s a head case so much as he’s just a really stupid and stubborn baseball player. He does the same things over and over expecting better results, which is why he has regressed rather than improved over the course of his career.
Stupid and stubborn?
Is that why you’re still on the couch and he made it to MLB
No, that’s because he was blessed with more baseball talent and athletic ability than me. And despite this, I’ve still managed a higher WAR from my couch than him two of the past three years.
But nice response, Mrs. Odor. It’s important that families stick together and have each other’s backs.
I’m not necessarily wanting to defend odor by any means, but have two counter arguments. First, he has 4 errors which is about middle of the pack so he’s been about average defensively. He is in the middle of the pack with HR and RBI which is all anyone seems to care about anymore, so in the stats that count, he has been somewhat average. RBI is what helps win games and despite getting one hit a week, he does seem to find a way to contribute more than it seems he has to the naked eye. With that said, I wish he could provide better on the on-base side of things to keep innings going.
Bad routes and dumb decisions do not equate to errors. Best example is the 2015 ALDS before Bautista hit the bomb; Donaldson hits a pop up to 2B and Odor runs backwards, stumbles and misses the pop. Proper fundamentals has him catching that ball with ease.
Is that an error? No. Odor ‘s laziness was evidence the following year on the final play of the 2016 ALDS. Even the Bautista punch-up; Odor showed lazy footwork. No accountability. When a player can’t own it, he can’t improve.
Stupid and stubborn can be interpreted as being a headcase. I certainly do. I also think he’s not accountable as a player. Lack of accountability stunts the growth of a player. This is a game of mistakes, errors and failures. Can’t land a plane 7 out of 20 attempts. Go 7 for 20 in your career at the plate and you’re an icon.
Listen, this is not a competitive product for a deep playoff run. Who cares if we get lucky and win a WC spot? That’s just a coin flip of a game. We need a product on the field that will contend for the Division and there is no way we are overtaking the Astros no matter how bad the Astros are losing.
Rangers are definitely overachieving but at this point they can’t become full on sellers. I never though the team this year would be in a position to get even a WC spot and was hoping they could flip Minor for a nice prospect haul but that’s not going to be the case. I agree with innings eaters pitchers, there should be decent enough starters out there who HAVE to be better than what we have and not cost too much, could check on Robbie Ray and Matt Boyd just to see their costs.
Bullpen is a huge need too, Coloma might be too costly but maybe Sean Doolittle or Ian Kennedy?
More Jon Daniels haters out today. Easy to point to the Odor contract, but they never address the Danny Santana signing, the Mike Minor steal of a contract, the hunter pence signing, the Lance Lynn signing, the fact that everyone said Elvis’ contract was garbage, but he will play the second half of it WAY underpaid per his production. I’ve said this since 2011, he was forced to make ill-advised moves bc the team blew it in the WS. he made a few bad signings, but that happens when you bargain shop in FA. What he did to this roster, not to mention the hiring of Woodward, is nothing short of amazing. Everyone saying, they’re overachieving and can’t keep it up, have been saying that all season and they just keep proving you wrong. Let’s just enjoy watching a relatively scrub team play hard and win ballgames. I am.
I’m not a Jon Daniels hater at all.
I blame no one but Odor for the stench his contract currently carries. If he had just sustained his level of play from before the contract, that deal would have been a slight overpay and nothing more. It’s his fault and no one else’s that it’s the albatross it is now.
And let’s be clear, Elvis was never as bad at any point in his career as Odor has been two of the past three years. The guy has been the worst everyday player in baseball over that stretch. He’s been absolutely awful.
Jon always tries to look smart instead of acting smart.
He makes these deals like with Odor to save potential money 4-5 years in the future. Same mistake he’s made countless other times: Holland, Harrison, et al.
Just waiting for he dude to develop is usually worth it. the WORST case scenario is you have to pay the market rate for what is probably one of your best players.
Holland and Harrison both had their careers derailed by injury. There was nothing wrong with those contracts.
Can’t forget Choo.
Can’t forget mishandling the Profar situation.
Andrus has played well, except at what cost to the Rangers? We will never know.
They knew what they were getting themselves into with Odor.
Don’t be a buyer JD. Sell or stand pat. We can NOT trade good prospects to try and get this rag tag team to a WC game.
I think they can stand pat to a point. BUT…I think they can afford to go after one SP to slot into the rotation at 2 or 3.
At seasons end they can then look to filling in the holes in the bullpen.