Texas Rangers 'Buyers' for Pitching Ahead of Trade Deadline
The Texas Rangers have three priorities going into the trade deadline.
“Pitching, pitching, and more pitching.”
That’s the opinion of MLB.com, which compiled a list of every team’s strategy going ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline. The Rangers have been almost exclusively linked to pitching for a while now due to the loss of Jacob deGrom to injury and the struggles in the bullpen.
Recently, the Rangers have been linked to Chicago White Sox starters Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn. And, of course, there are the daily rumors surrounding two-way star Shohei Ohtani, with the Los Angeles Angels reportedly listening to offers.
Thus, MLB.com’s pegged the Rangers as “buyers” before the deadline:
The Rangers opened the Trade Deadline floodgates early when they traded for Royals reliever Aroldis Chapman on June 30, but Texas still needs more help on the pitching staff. Texas has two starting pitchers with sub-3.00 ERAs in Nathan Eovaldi and Dane Dunning, plus Jon Gray with a 3.45 mark, but the rotation still needs depth to make a playoff push behind them. An even bigger issue sits in the bullpen, where the Rangers have a 4.44 ERA, the seventh worst in MLB. Chapman was an important add and will surely move into the closer role sooner rather than later, but even more additions are sure to come.
Chapman picked up his first save with the Rangers on Saturday, with Rangers manager Bruce Bochy admitting that the power-throwing lefty is a co-closer along with Will Smith. While that appears to solidify the eighth and ninth innings, finding more relief arms remains a focus.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, however, does not want the rumor mill to become a distraction inside the clubhouse.
“One thing you’re all going to hear is a lot of rumors, possibilities and that can be distractions to the players and I don’t want it to be,” he said.
The Houston Astros, the closest pursuer to Texas in the American League West, are also in buy mode, but without the same urgency as Texas:
The defending World Series champions will be buyers, which should come as no surprise. But Astros fans who have gotten used to the team pulling off impact midseason deals for players like Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke might want to temper expectations. There’s a case to be made that getting Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve and José Urquidy back from the IL will be enough to bolster their playoff chances. And if they do add, it probably wouldn’t be a big-name player or pitcher.
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