Thanks to an epic fire sale, Rangers should have company at bottom of AL West
Good news is streaming to Arlington from the Pacific Northwest for the Texas Rangers: They should have company at the bottom of the American League West.
The Seattle Mariners are in the midst of a fire sale, well beyond anything the Rangers have attempted in the past year of rebuilding. Gone are Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, James Paxton, Jean Segura, Mike Zunino and a bevy of other relievers.
The Mariners have shed salary, mostly in the Cano-Diaz trade with the New York Mets, and still have other higher-priced players they are open to trading away. A team that won 89 games in 2018 is in full tear-down mode.
The result is general manager Jerry Dipoto building up the Mariners’ farm system, which has been among the worst in the majors the past few seasons as Dipoto traded away prospects to bolster the big-league club.
Like the Rangers, though, the Mariners’ top prospects aren’t close to contributing enough to make them contenders. Though Dipoto told reporters that he is going to acquire quality players and that the Mariners are not giving up on 2019, they aren’t going to be very good.
Neither are the Rangers, barring some serious growth from the young players who are being counted on to be the club’s nucleus in the coming seasons. Oh, and the rotation needs at least two more arms and those arms need to be really good, too.
The Rangers will be looking for pitching next week at the winter meetings in Las Vegas. They have some players available in trade – closer Jose Leclerc, maybe left-hander Mike Minor, and their lefty-hitting corner outfielders – and enough money to sign just about anyone.
They just don’t have any intentions of doing so.
Dipoto also told reporters that it’s unlikely the Mariners will pull off any more deals before the winter meetings open Sunday. He certainly needs the rest.
But he will do something, probably lots of somethings, to continue to shed salary and acquire prospects or young players.
Each time he does it, he moves closer to the bottom of the AL West.
The Rangers will gladly keep out the welcome mat.