Watch Live: Rangers host Royals in Free Game of the Day
We’re getting down to crunch time now with the non-waiver trade deadline set to expire Monday at 3:00 p.m. ET. Several notable trades have already gone down, but several more are sure to follow as teams look to get those final key pieces into place.
One team that’s been active and is expected to remain active is the Texas Rangers. So far, they’ve been connected at one time or another to just about every intriguing name on the block, but still haven’t finalized a blockbuster deal.
The biggest name on their list appeared to be Jonathan Lucroy, but they reportedly fell out of that mix on Saturday. Perhaps they’ll get back in now that Lucroy has rejected a trade to the Cleveland Indians. The biggest name they’ve landed is journeyman starter Lucas Harrell, so it hasn’t been an overwhelming deadline just yet.
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By the way, Harrell will be making his Rangers debut on Sunday afternoon when they host the Kansas City Royals in the MLB Free Game of the Day on Yahoo Sports. You can stream the game at Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index and video home beginning at 3:05 p.m. ET. We highly encourage checking it out, even if to see if someone gets traded mid-game.
Ideally, Texas should want to add another starting pitcher. Even with Cole Hamels pitching like an ace, Yu Darvish slowly getting on track following Tommy John surgery, and new addition Harrell in place, the Rangers could still use help.
Here’s something pretty telling about that rotation: Before A.J. Griffin was the winning pitcher on Friday against Kansas City, their starters had four total wins dating back to June 28. All four of those wins belonged to Cole Hamels. Obviously, the win stat is overrated, but the Rangers starters have been hit-or-miss beyond Hamels almost all summer. That won’t cut it, hence the need for another starter.
The Rangers were reportedly deep into discussions with Philadelphia about young right-hander Vince Velasquez, but that deal to has lost traction and may not even be a consideration anymore. There are other names that make sense for them, including basically the entire Rays starting rotation. Jake Odorizzi and Matt Moore would perhaps make the most sense since Chris Archer will be costly.
It will be interesting to see if that’s the direction they go, or they continue focusing on a catcher like San Diego’s Derek Norris. They should be able to add a mid-level trade chip without much trouble, so perhaps that’s the route they’ll go.
Time will tell, but it’s running out fast.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
