The Rangers have rallied back from sub-.500 records in April and May, playing at a 27-21 pace since June 1 and climbing to the top of the AL West in the process. They\u2019re two games ahead of the Astros and two-and-a-half games ahead of the Mariners \u2014 the latter of whom they just toppled 3-to-1 in a four-game series. They\u2019re set for three pivotal games in Houston this weekend \u2014 their final three games prior to Monday afternoon\u2019s trade deadline.<\/p>\n
On paper, Texas seems to be in a good place to add to the roster. If they\u2019re to do so, however, they\u2019ll either need to target inexpensive (e.g. pre-arbitration) players or convince their trade partners to kick in some cash. ESPN\u2019s Buster Olney cites<\/a> rival executives who\u2019ve talked trade with Texas in reporting that the Rangers aren\u2019t \u201cin a position to take on money at the deadline.\u201d Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News suggested<\/a> a similar situation in a morning report on the Rangers\u2019 desire to add to the bullpen.<\/p>\n As can be seen in MLBTR\u2019s newly launched Payroll Tracker<\/a>, the Rangers have a roughly $191.5MM cash payroll<\/a> and rank 15th with a CBT number checking in at an estimated $217,299,278. Texas has scaled back spending substantially over the past two seasons. Their 2024 payroll sat more than $30MM north of the current cash level. The Rangers were luxury tax payors in 2023-24 and narrowly dipped under the line in \u201925. This year, they\u2019re about $27MM shy of the tax threshold and ostensibly unwilling to climb much further toward that level.<\/p>\n Beyond bullpen help, the Rangers could use some assistance behind the plate and in the rotation. Danny Jansen<\/a> is mulling season-ending elbow surgery<\/a>. Kyle Higashioka<\/a> is on the injured list. Journeymen Elias D\u00edaz<\/a> and Austin Wynns<\/a> are handling catching duties for manager Skip Schumaker at the moment.<\/p>\n The rotation features a solid top four: Jacob deGrom<\/a>, Nathan Eovaldi<\/a>, MacKenzie Gore<\/a> and Kumar Rocker<\/a>. Jack Leiter<\/a> underwent ankle surgery a month ago<\/a>. He\u2019s expected back this season but not anytime soon. Cal Quantrill<\/a> has moved from a swingman role into the fifth starter\u2019s spot. He\u2019s been solid in 29 innings since Leiter\u2019s injury, but Quantrill\u2019s recent track record in the majors (5.39 ERA in 365 2\/3 innings from 2023-25) makes it fair to take his recent run of success with a healthy dose of skepticism. Rehabbing lefty Jordan Montgomery<\/a> could be back soon, but he hasn\u2019t been a productive member of a major league staff since he helped fuel the Rangers\u2019 2023 World Series victory. He\u2019s missed most of the interim time due to Tommy John surgery.<\/p>\n Presumably there\u2019s room for at least a modest uptick in payroll. Texas spent the offseason working to fortify the roster. Gore and Brandon Nimmo<\/a> came over via trade. Jansen, Montgomery, Jakob Junis<\/a>, Jalen Beeks<\/a> and Tyler Alexander<\/a> signed modest free agent deals. Most postseason hopefuls leave at least a little bit of financial wiggle room for in-season additions this time of year.<\/p>\n There are some interesting names to consider. The Marlins have several relievers who could fit the bill. Grant suggests Michael Petersen<\/a> and Lake Bachar<\/a> as possible fits. (The Athletic\u2019s Ken Rosenthal, Will Sammon and Katie Woo reported this morning<\/a> that the Fish have gotten calls on Petersen and Anthony Bender<\/a>.) Miami also has former Rangers catching prospect Liam Hicks<\/a> on the roster and at least loosely available<\/a>. Janson Junk<\/a>, Tyler Phillips<\/a> and Ryan Gusto<\/a> are all starting for the Fish right now and could speculatively be of interest to Texas.<\/p>\n The Reds have several affordable relievers who\u2019ll be moved (e.g. Caleb Ferguson<\/a>, Brock Burke<\/a>, Sam Moll<\/a>). The Rangers could try for a package deal with Cincinnati catcher Tyler Stephenson<\/a>, but that\u2019d presumably require the Reds paying down salary \u2014 and thus, the Rangers paying a steeper prospect price from a middling farm system. Atlanta could move backup Joey Bart<\/a> with Sean Murphy<\/a> nearing a return. The Cardinals are deep in young catchers and could move an affordable reliever like Riley O\u2019Brien<\/a> or Ryne Stanek<\/a>. The Giants are a clear seller and could take advantage of a seller\u2019s market by putting relievers like Keaton Winn<\/a> or Erik Miller<\/a> on the block. The Royals could listen on John Schreiber<\/a> and\/or Daniel Lynch IV<\/a>. The Rockies would surely pay down some of Kyle Freeland<\/a>\u2018s contract and have several relievers who could be had.<\/p>\n If the Rangers feel too crunched to make additions, they could look to trim some marginal payroll off the roster in other areas. Infielder Josh Smith<\/a> is a non-tender candidate earning $3.225MM this season, for instance. Right-handed bats are in demand but scarce on the market this summer. The Rangers could try to move Jake Burger<\/a> and his $3.2MM salary, then give Justin Foscue<\/a> more first base reps and\/or backfill with a more affordable option (e.g. Ty France<\/a>, a change-of-scenery candidate like Mark Vientos<\/a>\/Brett Baty<\/a>, or old friend Nathaniel Lowe<\/a>).<\/p>\n One way or another, if the Rangers want to push for a return to the postseason, president of baseball ops Chris Y oung and GM Ross Fenstermaker will need to be creative as they explore various paths back to October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rangers have rallied back from sub-.500 records in April and May, playing at a 27-21 pace since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-831886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}