Rangers Trade Meter: Why Texas Needs to Target Bats Before Deadline

The Texas Rangers have primarily pursued pitching the last three trade deadlines. Going after another bat may be more prudent.

Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young. | Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are 34 games into the 2026 season. It’s not quite one-quarter of the way there, but by the time they’re done with the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, they’ll be at the quarter pole of the season.

Texas (16-18) has struggled to get away from the .500 mark entering Tuesday’s series opener with the New York Yankees. Texas has been .500 10 different times this season. The Rangers’ record has been between two games under and three games over .500 the entire season.

The pitching has been solid. The bullpen is among the best in the game by ERA. While in Detroit, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker did say he was surprised that the starting pitching has been a bit slower out of the gate than he had hopes. But, he said, there is too much talent for that not to change. He’s likely correct.

What’s held the Rangers back? It’s offense. It’s why, as that quarter-pole of the season nears, Texas will have to consider trading for bats, perhaps much sooner than the trade deadline in early August.

Why Trade for Bats Soon?

Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Texas hasn’t played its way out of the AL West. The Rangers enter Tuesday’s game two games behind the Athletics in the division. But they can play their way out of the race if they allow the offense to sputter to the end of May.

Josh Jung has been brilliant and is one of the best hitters in the AL with a slash of .325/.381/.535. The offseason’s top acquisition, Brandon Nimmo, is slashing .300/.374/.462. Aside from the pair, there are four other qualified hitters — Josh Smith, Jake Burger, Corey Seager and Evan Carter. Smith is the best with a slash of .217/.324/.239. Seager is in a slump. Carter is batting under .200.

When including non-qualified hitters, the only one batting better than .250 is Ezequiel Duran, who is slashing .275/.342/.406.

Texas’ overall slash is No. 20 in baseball at .235/.313/.373. But they’re No. 25 in OPS at .686. It’s essentially a carbon copy of last year, when Texas as No. 26 in OPS at .683. The offseason emphasis was about on-base percentage. The team’s .302 is No. 26 in baseball.

Not much has changed nearly a quarter of the way through the season. Jung is hitting like an All-Star and Nimmo is a true catalyst at the top of the order. Duran has finally found his stroke. But the rest of the lineup is stuck. The Rangers are nearing a point where if they don’t make a serious change, they risk falling further out of AL West and playoff race in a year where the division race looks like no one wants to take control of it.

Texas president of baseball operations Chris Young can justify being a buyer right now. The payroll is well under the first apron of the competitive balance tax threshold. The trick is that the Rangers shouldn’t be trading prospects. They should be trading away pieces of their lineup.

Is it worth keeping Burger or Joc Pederson or Andrew McCutchen if they continue to slash poorly? It will be hard to find a taker for any of them, but the Rangers should be putting out feelers now as opposed to waiting. The longer they wait, the more they risk becoming sellers and not buyers and dismantling a team that, once again, features high-quality pitching.