One Trade That Could Quietly Change the Texas Rangers Playoff Outlook

The Texas Rangers have the potential to make more moves by the trade deadline. But this low-level deal could have quite the impact.

A view of the Texas Rangers logo on the field. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

The Texas Rangers proved on Wednesday that you don't have to trade a lot or take on a lot of salary to make an impact at the deadline.

The Rangers made a deal with the Los Angeles Angels, trading a prospect for two players, the more notable of which right now is right-handed reliever Chase Silseth.

He has many of the traits that the Rangers value, including high chase rates, whiff rates and low exit velocity rates. But Texas may not be done acquiring relief help if it can manage it.

Texas placed right-hander Jakob Junis on the injured list for the second time on Thursday and while Silseth will help, the Rangers may need at least one more leverage arm, preferably a right-hander, to help them down the stretch.

It begs the question — without spending much, can the Rangers find an impact right-handed arm that can help alter their trajectory for the postseason? Below we've identified one arm that could do the trick.

How This Reliever Could Change Rangers’ Playoff Fortunes

Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Yennier Cano. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Rangers don't intend to take on much salary or trade much in the way of prospect or roster capital to make moves. But as they proved with the Silseth deal, they don't have to give up much if they can find the player that fits their profile.

One reliever that could be on the market and could be acquired that would significantly impact the Rangers’ playoff trajectory without costing too much would be Baltimore right-hander Yennier Cano.

The Cuba native is having a fine season with the Orioles, with a 2-2 record and a 2.21 ERA in 48 games. He has struck out 31 and walked eight in 36.2 innings as batters are hitting just .199 against him. He’s coming off his worst season in 2025 and looks more like the 2023 version, where he went 1-4 with a 2.11 ERA.

The Rangers look for certain treats and relief pitchers and while he doesn't have all of them, he has two that would be of tremendous use to the bullpen. The first is his walk rate. His 4.8% walk rate is in the 96th percentile in Major League Baseball per Statcast. The other is his ground ball rate. At 65.1%, he is in the 100th percentile in the Majors. In other words, no one is better at inducing ground ball outs than Cano.

While he does have a solid chase rate (32.9%, 74th percentile), his ability to induce ground balls at a park like Globe Life Field would be of considerable help to the Rangers.

Cano relies heavily on a sinker-split finger combination, pitches designed to induce ground balls and limit hard contact.

Acquiring Cano would give the Rangers three quality right-handed setup options once Junis returns, along with Silseth. It would enable the Rangers to move some of their rookies back to Triple-A and have them on stand-by. It would also put Texas in position to acquire another controllable reliever who is relatively cheap. He’s arbitration-eligible next season and isn’t a free-agent until 2029.

He fits what the Rangers are looking for and he can boost the back-end of the Rangers’ bullpen and, by extension, their playoff hopes.