The Texas Rangers are faced with some difficult decisions on deadline day after being swept by the Houston Astros this weekend.
On Friday, July 24, the Texas Rangers had a .500 record with 10 games to go until the Trade Deadline.
It seemed like Texas was going to rise up to the moment and convence their front office of the need to be aggressive after they won four of their next five.
However, anything that has happened since has been nothing short of a head-scratching disaster.
The Rangers were swept over the weekend at the hands of the rival Houston Astros and have now lost five games in a row, plus their division lead.
With a 55-57 record and a 2.5-game deficit in the division, perhaps the only thing Texas has convinced their front office is that they’re going to have to make some difficult decisions.
On Wednesday night, the Rangers struck a trade with the Los Angeles Angels to bring in right-handed pitcher Chase Silseth and catcher Logan O'Hoppe. That move seemingly cemented Texas as buyers during this deadline season; however, that’s not necessarily the case anymore.
Now with just hours until the deadline, the Rangers are now recognizing that all options are on the table and there is certainly justification for whichever side they decide to land on.
On one hand, you have to recognize that Texas has been in first place in the American League West for the better part of the last few weeks and they still certainly have a solid shot to win the divison, espcially with some deadline ramifications.
If anyone should know that once you get into the playoffs anything can happen it would be the Rangers who won the 2023 World Series title as a Wild Card team.
Adding some help in the bullpen, a right-handed bat, and perhaps another starter would undoubdatly give Texas just as good of a shot to win the divison as anyone.
However, on the other side, you also have to acknowledge that the Rangers has played just about .500 baseball ever since winning that championship and it may be time to recognize it’s time for a shakeup.
Texas president of baseball operations Chris Young doesn’t like the term rebuild but a retool could certainly be in the cards.
In a more conservative selling effort, players on expiring contracts such as Joc Pederson and Jakob Junis (currently on the Injured List) would be easy for the Rangers to move on from.
Although if Texas really wanted to be aggressive sellers, they could capitalize on the interest they have gotten from other clubs on the likes of Corey Seager, Jacob deGrom, and Nathan Eovaldi.
Still, what has to be acknowledged is that even if other teams would be able to offer significant returns for those three players, they all have no-trade clauses of some form in addition to massive contracts. That makes them very tough (but not impossible) to move.
No matter what happens on Monday, the Rangers' front office has their work cut out for them and, by the end of the day, we’ll know the direction that the organization feels they’re heading.
