Why Rangers Could Pull Trigger Well Before MLB Trade Deadline

There’s a potential trend development that may lead teams like the Texas Rangers to pull the trigger on trades sooner.

Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are having trouble staying above .500 heading into their road trip to Detroit and New York. Could a trade help?

In most seasons, the MLB trade deadline is when everything heats up. By then, teams have a good read on whether they’re contenders or pretenders. The two weeks leading up to the deadline is usually the hottest time each season for deals.

The Rangers made their major moves right around the deadline. But, at least one president of baseball operations is telling reporters that he’s already getting calls — and it’s not quite May. That could impact how the Rangers and the rest of baseball look at when to trade this season.

Will Rangers Look to Deal Early?

Philadelphia Phillies General Manager Dave Dombrowski. | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported on Wednesday about a conversation he had with Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. The Phillies boss just fired manager Rob Thomson, and his team has one of the worst records in the National League. It could just be vultures circling, but Dombrowski said that he’s fielding calls in April that he usually gets much later in the season.

“I’ve had trade conversations earlier than I ever have,” he said. “Other clubs haven’t been doing very well, either. Clubs have called around.”

Whether Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young is having conversations or not isn’t clear. But the fact that a boss like Dombrowski — who has built four different World Series teams and won two titles with the Marlins and the Boston Red Sox — is getting feelers this early could be a hint that others are thinking the same way.

In 2023, the Rangers fired off the first significant trade of the deadline cycle when it dealt pitcher Cole Ragans to the Kansas City Royals for reliever Aroldis Chapman at the end of June. At the time, Young reasoned that an extra month of Chapman in the bullpen was worth making the trade then.

Last year the Red Sox and the San Francisco Giants fired off one of the biggest trades of the cycle on June 15. The Giants sent left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison, right-handed Jordan Hicks, right-handed pitcher Jose Bello and outfielder James Tibbs III to Boston for disgruntled slugger Rafael Devers. San Francisco was willing to take on the remainder of his massive contract as part of the deal.

Dombrowski is hinting at something that appears to now be a trend — early impact trades well before they’re usually executed in the Majors. The Rangers could capitalize on that to improve the bullpen or a lineup that is still struggling to bring home runners in scoring position.