Does Rangers Boss Chris Young Have Surprisingly Low Trade Deadline Bar?

The Texas Rangers have not come out of the All-Star break the way they were hoping.

With Monday's loss to the Chicago White Sox, the Rangers are back at .500 (50-50) and have lost three of their first four games coming out of the break.

All isn't lost. The Rangers are still in control of their own destiny in the American League West. They're also preparing to host their primary competition, Seattle, for four games starting on Friday. The Rangers have 12 games in a 13-day stretch to prove to president of baseball operations Chris Young whether he should be a buyer or a seller at the trade deadline on Aug. 3.

Young spoke to reporters on Monday and made it sound like the bar for his team to jump over isn’t that high.

The Rangers’ Trade Deadline Bar

Young spoke with Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports (subscription required) about several topics including the trade deadline. He asked Young what it would take for the Rangers to be a buyer or a seller. Young typically talks around those types of questions, especially at a time of year when any tip of one’s hand to the other 29 teams could mean overpaying for a player.

But Young described a bar to be a buyer at the deadline that seems surprisingly low.

“We need to continue to play winning baseball and continue to stack on wins, get above .500 and maintain our position in the standings,” Young said.

Taken literally, that could mean that all the Rangers need is to have as a winning record by the time they head to Houston for their final series before the trade deadline for Young to wheel and deal. Young is incredibly competitive, a former Major League pitcher with a World Series ring he won with the 2015 Kansas City Royals. But there's a deeper reason why that may be all it takes.

The AL West has been relentlessly average. Several times this season all five teams have been under .500. While the race is beginning to space out, the Rangers and Mariners now appear to have a little control over the race.

The easiest path to the playoffs is to win the division. That may be the only path to the playoffs. Having a winning record may be all it takes.

If Young is true to his word, and the Rangers are over .500 when they get to the beginning of August, he may swing a few deals to help the bullpen, the lineup and even the starting rotation. That's why the bar is almost embarrassingly low. It's a wide-open race and with a potential lockout looming, why not take a shot?

Young is just asking his team to give him a reason.

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