The trade deadline arrives Thursday afternoon, and MLB teams were busy wheeling and dealing Wednesday night. The Texas Rangers weren’t among them, though.
SEATTLE — Two big-time closers came off the board Wednesday in a matter of minutes, and the best available position player is coming to the American League West. That’s where the Texas Rangers play, and they still have time to make deals themselves ahead of the trade deadline.
The deadline arrives at 5 p.m. Thursday, and the team will be at T Mobile Park. The front office is hunkered down in Arlington, where they have watched the prices for relievers, in terms of prospects, skyrocket.
The Mets, for instance, traded six prospects for two upgrades — Ryan Helsley and Tyler Rogers. The Phillies sent two top-10 prospects to the Twins for Jhoan Duran, who will be at Globe Life Field next weekend.
Other relievers have gone for less, though most are rental players (meaning they are headed to free agency after the season). Some have had high financial prices, like Steven Matz from the Cardinals to the Red Sox.
The Mariners, the Rangers’ foe the next four games, added the top prize, third baseman Eugenio Suarez from the Diamondbacks, for more punch in their lineup after trading for first baseman Josh Naylor a week ago. Seattle also added left-hander Caleb Ferguson to their bullpen.
The Rangers continue to make calls. They still want, and arguably now must, upgrade the bullpen. They want to add a catcher, with Kyle Higashioka dealing with a hamstring issue, and a bench bat, too.
In a perfect world, owner Ray Davis would allow president of baseball operations Chris Young to exceed the luxury-tax threshold of $241 million. That would have allowed the Rangers to be more involved in the Helsley talks, and they might have already added Pirates closer David Bednar.
As things stand, the Rangers are operating with less than a $2 million luxury-tax cushion and need their trade partners to pick up salary. They hope they can swing a deal with the Pirates for Bednar, but are looking into more affordable pieces like Jake Bird from the Rockies and Phil Maton from the Cardinals.
The Rangers have no intention of trading top prospect Sebastian Walcott, and they aren’t planning to trade right fielder Adolis Garcia to create some financial wiggle room. Trading right-hander Jon Gray would also free up some money, but he is helping the bullpen (Tuesday night notwithstanding).
The Rangers will get something done before the deadline, but it’s going to be tricky.
100 for Eovaldi
The Rangers needed a win Wednesday night to avoid a three-game sweep to the Angels, an outcome that would have completely wipe out the momentum from an 8-1 homestand. Fortunately, Nathan Eovaldi was on the mound.
The right-hander delivered seven strong innings, allowing one run, and Adolis Garcia knocked a two-run homer in a five-run eighth that lifted the Rangers to a 6-3 victory. Eovaldi was the winning pitcher, and the victory was the 100th of his career.
In going seven innings, Eovaldi helped get the bullpen some needed rest. The Rangers had to place righty Jacob Webb on the injured list because of back spasms, and they replaced him with Luis Curvelo from Triple A Round Rock. He is seeking his MLB debut.
Webb joined Chris Martin (calf) on the IL but should return sooner. Their injuries heighten the need to add arms at trade deadline.
No Joc
Manager Bruce Bochy faced a bit of a dilemma Wednesday when determining who should be at designated hitter. Higashioka homered twice Tuesday and has been swinging a hot bat, but the Rangers need to find at-bats for Joc Pederson in an effort to jump-start him after a long stay on the injured list.
Higashioka was the choice, and there might be more to it than meets the eye.
Pederson is batting .123 with two home runs while earning $15.75 million. His salary goes up to $21.25 million next season. He has had only nine plate appearances since coming off the IL on Sunday, and he hasn’t reached base.
The Rangers badly wanted the win Wednesday, so Bochy went with the better player. It stands to reason that someone will be better than Pederson the rest of the season.
It’s tough to carry a player who does only one thing — hit — and hasn’t done it particularly well this season. The changes that need to be made aren’t minor, so they would be difficult to implement without a long stretch off.
No team in its right mind would trade for Pederson without the Rangers eating a significant portion of his salary. They don’t seem inclined to release him and eat all of the money, so he could get a steady dose of at-bats this weekend as the Mariners start four right-handers.
But if Pederson continues to struggle, cutting him loose might become a real option despite the financial burden the Rangers would take on.
Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com
