Rangers view potential Mike Minor trade as way to help catch up to Astros, MLB elite
The eight-game losing streak the Texas Rangers’ finally snapped Tuesday night has made their decision-making ahead of the July 31 trade deadline a whole lot easier.
Reaching the playoffs isn’t impossible. It just feels that way after a 5-12 start to July.
General manager Jon Daniels now can justify becoming a deadline seller, but the Rangers would have considered selling had they entered Wednesday a bigger piece of the postseason picture.
Despite the spirits-lifting first half to the season, the Rangers aren’t any closer to the Houston Astros. There’s more to that than just the American League West standings.
The Astros remain loaded, in the big leagues and in the minors. Meanwhile, while there has been improvement in both areas for the Rangers, this season hasn’t made much of a dent in the overall landscape.
That is the No. 1 reason why the Rangers could trade All-Star starter Mike Minor, who might have made his final start for the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon in a 5-3 loss to the Mariners in Seattle.
Of course, the Rangers would seek a package coming back that includes some difference-makers.
No Eddie Butler, in other words.
He was the big-league piece last season in the Cole Hamels trade with the Chicago Cubs. Butler is now pitching in Japan, and another part of the trade, Rollie Lacy, was dealt away in the Jurickson Profar trade.
The third and only remaining player from the Hamels deal is 17-year-old outfielder Alexander Ovalles, currently hitting .377 in the Arizona League.
To part with Minor, the Rangers would want young controllable players already in the majors and/or top prospects knocking on the door.
Reports from around MLB suggest that the trade market has been slow to develop, outside of a few deals. Selling teams, reports suggest, are asking for the moon.
That could lead to last-minute deals next week, as buyers wait to see if the sellers will back off their demands.
The Rangers should not. As one official said, if Minor is their Opening Day starter next season, great, though the team would seemingly be no better than the 2019 version.
But with Minor scheduled to start again Tuesday, teams might want to strike sooner to make sure they get every start they can out of him. That could work to benefit the Rangers.
So could this: Minor is not just some rental. He comes with another year of control at a club-friendly $9.5 million. That what gives the Rangers a better chance at a big deal for Minor, or at least bigger than Hamels last season and Yu Darvish in 2017.
Both of them were headed to free agency. Minor is not.
So far, the teams reported to have interest in Minor are the Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees. Minor can block a trade to the Yankees, reportedly.
Would he exercise that power? He genuinely likes living in Arlington and playing for the Rangers, despite some comments he made last week about their rush to trade him.
He does not like change, especially when he hasn’t had time to contemplate it.
Then again, he has been on the trading block since the off-season and has had a lot of time to consider what it might be like to be dealt.
Say Minor is traded. Then what?
The Rangers would still have work to do to catch the Astros (and New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and, probably, the Boston Red Sox). Those clubs are loaded at most positions, and the Astros, Yankees and Dodgers have talent-rich farm systems.
Not the Rangers, whose best prospects are at Double A or lower. The big-league club has questions at three of the four infield positions, behind the plate, in the outfield corners and throughout the pitching staff with the exception of Minor and Lance Lynn.
It might just be Lynn after the trade deadline.
Maybe the Rangers should consider trading Lynn, too.
This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 7:11 AM.
