As they begin to consider their possible approaches to the trade deadline, the Rangers are “evaluating controllable starters,” according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter). The organization also has some rather immediate concerns in the pitching staff with little in the way of obvious solutions, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes.
Despite a rather surprising 35-30 start to the year, the Rangers have little but questions in their rotation behind Mike Minor and Lance Lynn. Both of those hurlers could ultimately end up on the block come late July if the team can’t keep pace, which still seems a distinct possibility.
For now, the front office is preparing for both buy and sell possibilities, according to Morosi. That largely states the obvious. It’s also imaginable that the Texas organization will ultimately largely hold pat, or perhaps engage in only a limited buy-side approach. While they canvass the market for possibilities, the Rangers will surely continue to evaluate their roster to see how much staying power it may have.
It’s all but unimaginable that the Rangers will ultimately adopt any sort of extreme approach to the deadline. There really isn’t much hope of chasing down the Astros in the division. While a Wild Card would be quite appealing, particularly with a new park slated to be opened, the Rangers won’t give up too much future value for immediate improvements.
Given all that, the “controllable starters” concept makes some sense on paper. It’s also true that most every other contender will have interest in the same types of pitchers, so there’ll be ample competition. But the Rangers could look for opportunities not only to improve now, but also to get a jump on preparing for 2020 and beyond. GM Jon Daniels has already begun thinking about how the roster can be improved in the coming offseason.
Typically, we thinking of younger, arbitration-eligible pitchers with the term “controllable.” The Rangers may or may not have much success fishing in those waters. It’ll be interesting to see if they also look into some older, more expensive hurlers that won’t come with big prospect price tags. Mike Leake of the Mariners and the Giants’ Jeff Samardzija are among the hypothetical possibilities in this general bucket.
Them and every other team…
Right!
Not the Phillies according to John Stolnis at The Good Phight! Hahahahaha.
At least it’s better than the conversations we were having last year. Playoffs is still pretty much a pipe-dream but at least the team is a little fun to watch this year.
I’d personally like to see them keep both Minor and Lynn for next year instead of starting completely over once again going into the new park.
That’s a good plan!
I agree completely. If the Rangers trade Minor and Lynn, they’ll have to rebuild the rotation from scratch, which will push their competitive window back two years at a minimum and waste a young lineup that is ready to compete now.
Keep those two, add another mid-rotation armor two and let the chips fall where they may. This team has earned that with it’s play this season.
Great post and somewhat agree.
matt harvey if he ever comes back?
40 lashes with a wet noodle for you!
Do I smell a Drew Smyly for Jordan Zimmermann trade?
Seriously… how about Buck Farmer and Hardy for LHP Jake Latz and INF Frainyer Chavez. Two very young guys that probably won’t do much.
Doesn’t Z make too much money? I get the change of scenery concept but, uh, no, not appealing…..
Tigers would have to pay a large chunk of that contract. I still don’t see it because he’s a free agent after next year. Farmer and Hardy have had some decent stretches where they do very well. Change of scenery and maybe a good coach might make them serviceable. They wouldn’t be top of the rotation guys, but they could eat some innings. With that offense, that’s what you really need.
Oh, OK.
I assume that Jordan Zimmermann is untradeable and that Matthew Boyd and Spencer Turnbull are well out of the Rangers price range, the only controllable starter the Tigers may possibly trade would be Daniel Norris. Still, the Tigers are so short handed themselves that even Norris must bring MLB ready SP prospects.
only way Rangers take on Zs money is if you take Choos contract in return.
Done! Jordan Zimmermann for Shin Soo Choo The Tigers can use a bat. While both contracts expire at the same time, Choo hasn’t lived on the IL and he makes makes less.
This story makes no sense at all. No team is going to give up a controllable starter without receiving top prospects in return. Second picking up a over paid starter is not obtaining a controllable starter. The headline should just say Rangers looking at starters. Pretty much every team in baseball is looking for starters.
A “controllable starter” is a very wide net. Dylan Bundy is a controllable starter who would not cost top prospects. He’d cost a couple mid range upside guys. Or they could look at the Leake’s or Shark’s of the world who will require nothing but salary relief as the article states. It makes perfect sense to me.
They’re looking for guys with more than one year of control so I don’t see how the word “controllable” can bother you here. They’re not looking for rentals. Controllable doesn’t mean front line.
Agreed; at this point, the Giants would probably be willing to still eat $5-7M of that contract next year and a pro-rate on that the remainder of this season, and the Rangers would get an innings-eater during this transition without making a long-term commitment, and without having to give up much more than a 40/45-rated guy from the lower levels. Getting a starter who can eat up 180 innings for $12M isn’t a bad commitment if you’re looking for transitional pieces.
Yeah I’d say at least 7 for next year. That’d put Shark at 11MM for next season. Then even this years salary out to a prorated 11 like you said. I don’t think anyone is paying him more than that though and the Giants would likely get some 26 year old in A ball back. But that’s certainly a possibility that wouldn’t cost the Rangers anything but cash and would give them a controllable starter.
Agreed; if Zaidi came out of it with paying $7M and getting someone back like a Cody or Heineman, he might pull that trigger.
Id rather them dumpster dive and take on some salary than trade away more prospects for a long shot. The team has been fun to watch, especially considering this was supposed to be a 95+ loss team, but lets not get carried away. There was a clear plan laid out last year (really July 2017) and they should stick to it.
If somehow were still in it in mid July go pick up a veteran SP as a salary dump, maybe get a catcher who can hit some. And while doing so take any calls on current roster vets. If someone wants to throw a haul for Minor take it, if someone is going to offer a real prospect for Pence take it.
The team’s offense is good enough to win a WC game behind Minor, but unless Sampson and Jurado actually stick as quality SPs theres just no way the team holds up in a 7 game series.
Personally im not against Greinke as a splash if its all about eating salary vs trading away assets, but realistically go get Tanner Roark and Casali for cheap, dont blow up the plan, and if a Cinderella story happens it happens.
Leakiest front office in all of professional sports.
Whatever
Daniels just needs to sit down with the owners,Simpson and ??, we will call him money man for the moment, open up the vault and spring for a reliable starter that’s still controlled for a few years.
Then for the love of peanut butter and Jelly take Smyly out of the rotation and send Odor to AA or AAA for some hitting practice or patience, or something, sure he stole home once this year, but he’s batting .175
We have a pretty good offense but we still need a little help Daniels and Bob Simpson. Let’s step up and find someone and try for another month to make a run at it.
If all else fails in July after the all star break we play Houston head to head and if we’re out after that, sell the farm and the big tractors.
It’s either Ashford or Bruckheimer.
To be fair he is batting 238 with a 360 OBP over his last 7 games. Im not saying its good, but at this point he’s improving we might as well ride it out now that we let him bat 162 through his first 150ABs. And metrics say hes actually playing above average defensively so i mean unless he goes back to batting 150 when Gallo and Calhoun are back there really isnt a ton to be done.
Daniels was quoted just a couple weeks ago that they plan on being aggressive with top caliber free agents this coming off season.
And I want a pony!
Rangers just need to get big sexy back!
They should trade for Stephen Strasburg, Robbie Ray and Clayton Kershaw. Then they’d have the All-Alliteration team.
Clayton Kershaw??? An alliteration??? Really????
It was the best I could do off the top of my head without a list of pitchers. If you can think of a 5th starter, feel free to contribute.
For those praising offense, its not alot better than pitching. Pence, forsythe, and cabrera are all 1 yearers and free agents. Dont think he excercises it but andrus has opt out. And gallo was looking good but has yet to show he can produce over extended period, mazara has yet to “breakout” and be player he was expected to be guzman has had enough time in majors to know what he is, and odor is a head case that plays one week like an allstar and next week like a double a benchwarmer. Yes this team has played well and been a surprise, but its still a team with extensive holes and unproven answers
Ronald Guzman is 24 and has 505 career ABs. In no world is that “enough time in majors to know what he is.”
And the same is essentially true for every other member of the 25 and under club on this team. Baseball players don’t peak until their mid to late 20s. Making definitive judgments on guys before then is a good way to look really dumb three or four years down the road.
If you want evidence, go look at the way Rangers fans talked about Elvis Andrus from 2013-15.
The fact that all of these guys are either holding their own or have in the past is a good sign because they’re all already league average players or better with massive room for growth.
Ricky Adams……….Sure the offense still has some holes as you state, but this offense has been in the top 5-10 in every offensive category since day one this year, we have also been the leader in runs scored per game all year, and that’s with our top man on the D.L. And our second baseman hitting .175
Sure this team needs help,I believe a catcher and a second baseman pulling his own weight, He needs sent down to work it out.
Our 3 bench players are playing way above management exasperation at the moment, and we have a couple coming off the I.L. Next week Willie Calhoun is one, and Gallo a few days later.
I believe we should get one starter and one reliever and play it out till late July, We have a tough series with Houston 2 days after the All star break, so that could be the sell or buy series.
We do have Matt Bush coming back soon also, he had played well until being hurt. All the local stations and papers and blogs are saying Matthew Boyd, We will see, we will see
Wow I just read an article by MLB’S Mark Feinsand telling of these top players who could be traded and to the teams he picked.
He picked Edwin Encarnacion for Texas and Derek Dietrich for us as well the article states potential fits, why would we want that over pitching?
Exactly why would we want to take on $30 million of Encarnacion as a 1b-Dh, we have Pence and two others that could carry any team.
So what Team is this Writer actually looking at and is MLB hiring because I can evaluate a teams weakness way better than Mark Feinsand.
Article is from 12 June