Rangers ranked 23rd among MLB teams, and Yu Darvish trade case made
The Texas Rangers are a surprise team in major league baseball.
Not really a good surprise. They are ranked 23rd in SI.com’s The 30 for the 30 major league baseball clubs.
But that’s one spot ahead of the Los Angeles Angels, an AL West rival ranked 24th of 30. And two ahead of the Oakland Athletics.
Even though the Rangers’ 13-19 record entering Monday’s play was worse than either of those teams.
And even though the Rangers have played the easiest schedule in the majors, as tabulated by Baseball-Reference.com, which uses a Strength of Schedule (SOS) formula that goes by the number of runs per game their opponents are worse than the average team.
Good news: The team ranked 30th of 30 is the San Diego Padres, and the Rangers play them in their next four games, including Monday.
Bad news: The Padres’ front office is helmed by a former Rangers executive.
More bad news: Good, solid franchises can fall quickly. The Kansas City Royals are ranked 29th, after winning the World Series in 2015. Read how awful the Royals have been.
SI.com writer Jonah Keri gives hopes for the Rangers, but cites three reasons why the Rangers may be not be going anywhere from No. 23.
First, the math: The Rangers would need to go 77-53, a .592 clip, over the last 130 games just to reach 90 wins (but it is the AL West). Second, Cole Hamels’ injury (oblique, eight weeks). And, third, a tougher schedule.
Keri notes:
“If you like to wager gummi bears on sporting outcomes, a deadline trade of free-agent-to-be Yu Darvish looks like a better bet than a third straight division title.”
Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron reasoned last week (read the piece as he explains) that the Rangers’ slow start “at least has a silver lining.”
“If they continue to fall out of the race, they’ll likely get a chance to restock the talent base of the organization by dealing Darvish for a significant package. ... If they can’t get Darvish to sign long-term before July, playing the Cubs and Yankees against each other in a Darvish auction isn’t such a bad alternative.”
The Rangers have traded away current MLB.com top 100 prospects Lewis Brinson (rated No. 15), Luis Ortiz (No. 54) and Jorge Alfaro (No. 64) in deals that brought Hamels, Jake Diekman and Jonathan Lucroy. And they gave up Alec Asher, Jake Thompson, Nick Williams and Jerad Eickhoff in the Hamels-Diekman deal.
This story was originally published May 8, 2017 at 8:47 PM with the headline "Rangers ranked 23rd among MLB teams, and Yu Darvish trade case made."