While the 2023 World Series champs missed the playoffs last year, a healthy Jacob deGrom and offseason additions like Joc Pederson and Jake Burger seemed to leave the Rangers in a good place to fight their way back to the top of the AL West this year. That hasn’t worked out very well so far, as despite an elite performance from their starting rotation lackluster offense from virtually everyone (save Wyatt Langford) has allowed the Rangers to fall to a 31-35 record. That leaves them 5.5 games out of the AL West entering play today, and 4.5 games back of an AL Wild Card spot.
It’s a tough position for the club to find itself in, particularly when one considers the team’s position regarding the luxury tax. It’s long been apparent than ducking under that first threshold is a priority for Texas this year and many of the moves they’ve made so far, from taking a flier on Patrick Corbin to fill out the rotation to letting Leody Taveras go on waivers, have been at least partially in service to that goal. RosterResource now estimates that Texas has a payroll of just under $235MM for luxury tax purposes, giving them around $6MM of space to work with under the first threshold.
That’s not a ton of space, even when considering that any players added will only need to be paid the prorated portion of their remaining deal. In that sense, indecision on whether to buy or sell could actually help the Rangers if they do decide to buy because any acquisitions will require less cash. With that being said, if Texas can’t get more from individual key players like Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, and Josh Jung it could be hard for the team to cover all of its needs on a shoestring budget even if they do stay relevant in the Wild Card picture.
One way to handle that would be to try and both buy and sell simultaneously at the deadline. Perhaps someone like Jon Gray (once he’s healthy) or Adolis Garcia (if his numbers improve a bit) could be dealt elsewhere for salary relief to allow the club to take a bigger swing and acquire a bat like Marcell Ozuna to help spark the offense. It’s also possible they could simply offer a larger return package to any clubs they buy from in exchange for the selling team eating most or all of the player’s salary. That would likely require the Rangers to firmly make their way into the playoff conversation from here, however, as teams are often hesitant to part with high-level talent to add players unless the postseason is fully in reach.
That could leave the Rangers to do at least some selling. But if they fall further in the standings, it’s not hard to imagine a larger sell-off. Right-hander Tyler Mahle has been nothing short of fantastic this year with a 2.02 ERA in 13 starts, and he should be one of the more highly coveted rentals if made available. Hoby Milner and Chris Martin would both be extremely attractive relief options for bullpen-needy clubs, as well. The team could even attempt to restructure their payroll in a more significant way by seeing if there are any takers on deGrom’s hefty salary, though moving that kind of money midseason is always challenging.
The final option on the table for the Rangers would be to simply do nothing. It’s fairly rare for a club to stand completely pat at the deadline, and the Rangers in particular have not typically been afraid to make moves under Chris Young’s leadership. With that being said, however, the club’s precarious position relative to the luxury tax and the aforementioned potential benefit of waiting until as close to the deadline as possible to make any buy-side moves could leave the team in position to risk doing very little to alter the club this summer, instead riding with the group they currently have and leaving large scale changes for an offseason that should offer more financial flexibility.
How do MLBTR readers think the Rangers will ultimately approach this summer’s trade deadline? Will they buy, sell, both, or neither? Have your say in the poll below:
Burn it down
Padres trade for Adolis Garcia and move him to lf?
Trade Mahle and Corbin, shop Garcia and Semien and see if there are any bites. maybe see if anyone would be willing to part with a decent relief pitcher for the likes of Burger.
I’d give burger some time. He doesn’t cost much and could still turn it around
$235 million is a shoestring budget. Shoestrings are getting more expensive every day.
Anyway, at the deadline I expect Garcia will go. He’s stunk for a while but has something of a track record and might fetch a decent prospect. Beyond that obvious move, it all depends on the next six weeks. The AL West is not a collection of powerhouses and the Rangers are hardly out of it.
To my way of thinking, no team with a sensible general manager would trade anything of value for Garcia.
He had one electric season (2023, which we Rangers’ fans are grateful) and nothing before or since. He has no plate discipline, strikes out 190 times a season and while he’s got a great arm in right field, he’s not the type of player that would bring a decent prospect in return.
In my opinion, it would be surprising if the Rangers re-sign him in the offseason.
U mean kinda like gallo back in day. What’d we get for him, some bum named Josh smith. Would def do that trade again
Unfortunately no one would be that dumb again.
The Yankees got fleeced in that deal for sure.
It’d be nice if they did. Lol
Trade deGrom to the Mets
For acuna?
It’s amazing deGrom only has 90 career wins even considering his injuries
Didn’t see a “poll” but I think the Rangers’ moves at the deadline won’t be known even to them prior to after the All Star Break. The Rangers have a 20% chance of making the playoffs by the numbers right now, but all it takes is a 5 game winning streak to bump that to around 50% right now.
Rangers big question mark is Eovaldi, is he going to return healthy and pitch late in the season. If so, they are set in the rotation with DeGrom, Eovaldi, Leiter, Bradford and Gray – can find rocker some innings in the bullpen.
Mahle, if I remember correctly, has a bunch of innings kickers, and the Rangers are trying to stay under the tax, I think trading Mahle to the Twins for Luke Keaschell would be a great deal for the Rangers, or Harrison Bader, Cody Clemens and a couple prospects. The Twins might not want to part with Keaschell, he reminds me of a young Mike Trout, I wouldnt trade him, but he would be the perfect fit with the Rangers. Bader and Clemens could be a good fit too.
Bader is a career .240 hitter and Clemens a journeyman with a career Mendoza avg.. those guys are negative value players.. Mahle is a 2.5 WAR starter this yr .. twins would have to part with something of value
right but you cant take on any big salaries in return, you can still win this season, those two can contribute. Add in a couple good prospects and its a trade that works out well for the Rangers situation. Bader and Clemens have both had success this season. Keaschell will be back, Twins can send him back to AAA, trade him, or play him, but Bader and Clemens will both lose at bats and both have value at the moment – the Twins need a starter and Mahle would be a good fit.
Either make trades or stand pat…
Holby is an extreme GB pitcher with a great FIP. A 34, he could be had at a reasonable price.
If I had my way garcia, semien, pederson, seager, mahle, and anybody else that’s a free agent would be available for salary relief and whatever they’ll give. This ain’t there year, shed salary, get under luxury tax and retool in winter around kids.and before anyone jumps on me about seager. He makes $35m/yr and averages 100 games a season, too much money for aging player that spends 40-60 games on il, now. Its gonna get worse
This team is still a sleeping giant that could potentially blow up at any moment. The pitching is too good not to be wasted on a below .500 team. When this offense can get going, they’re going to be a scary contender by the ASB.
That’s been the mo for a year and a half, now. At some point u gotta accept it for what it is, a poorly constructed offense. Nothing is gonna make seager and jung stay healthy, or make seager and semien younger, or make semien and garcia learn to hit CONSISTENTLY
It’s looks more and more like that org sold it soul that trophy.
100%. Gave up acuna for scherzer, and ragans for aroldis chapman. And didn’t get much from either besides a ws
so… they did exactly what they were supposed to do? Acuna isn’t even going to be a regular at the MLB level, probably a utility player. Ragans looks good, and was starting to figure it out even before he left Texas. But he’s actually older than people realize because he was hurt for so long, if he keeps pitching well he will leave KC in 2028 or sooner. I will happily trade both of those things for a world series.
Look at their stats, they didn’t contribute much.
Bull, Chapman pitched in just about every important game the Rangers played down the stretch, that bullpen was not great and needed him pretty badly. Mad Max wasn’t great but it was still kind of a steal for basically a utility player in Acuna. Still would one hundred percent do both trades. You can’t just read stat lines, the context of when those statistics happen matters a lot.
They would eat up a lot of big trades if they decided to sell.. Gray, Adolis, Heim would all net them a solid bunch
Rangers will have to play it out right up to the deadline. By no means is it a hopeless situation. Semien is even showing some life lately. They will need four or five guys to start clicking in that lineup with their A game…I wonder if that’s feasible, or too big of an ask.
That 2023 team should be investigated. Many of their same hitters from 2023 nosedived last year and are even worse this season.
Trade anyone with value on expiring contracts and reset with young controllable talent for next season moving forward.
Buy. Bruce wins it all every second year.
Sit and spin on a hot Texas Summer day. Hope the armadillos don’t get cha
There shouldn’t be a comma before “as well.”