How did national pundits rate the Texas Rangers trade deadline acquisitions?
Now that the MLB trade deadline had passed, how did national pundits rank the Texas Rangers trades?
The Rangers made several trades aimed at improving their starting pitching rotation and bringing in more help at the catcher position to offset Jonah Heim’s injury. The Rangers’ deadline moves show that the team is trying to contend for a World Series title this season.
CBS Sports, R.J. Anderson
The Rangers were able to secure Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery, two above-average starting pitchers, plus a potentially useful reliever in Chris Stratton without compromising their ability to make further additions, be it through trade or free agency. That’s a win in our books.
Jim Bowden, The Athletic
The Rangers dramatically improved their chances of making the playoffs and also making a deep run in October — that’s the potential impact of adding a future Hall of Fame starter in Max Scherzer and a solid No. 3 type starter in Jordan Montgomery (3.42 ERA in 21 starts) to a first-place team.
Kristen Wong, Fansided
With one of the best farm systems in the league, giving up shortstop Luisangel Acuña won’t hurt the Rangers too much in the long term. Still, the question must be asked: did the Rangers have to give up a top-five prospect?
David Suggs, Sporting News
Still, with Jacob deGrom injured, Texas had an ace-sized crater at the top of its rotation. That stuff can catch up with a team, if not during the regular season, then in the pressure chamber that is the playoffs.
Scherzer fills that void. He’s a valuable player, even with a contract that pays him a record AAV (at least until Shohei Ohtani inks his deal this winter).
Chris Landers, Draft Kings
Credit to Texas GM Chris Young: He knows that this team’s contention window is right now — the core the Rangers have assembled over the last couple of offseasons isn’t getting any younger or less expensive — and despite injuries dealing him a crappy hand, he’s managed to aggressively address the holes on his roster while hanging on to almost all of his top Minor League talent.
Josh Wilson, Fansided
While other teams like the Mets and Padres have seemed to add just about any players that have notoriety regardless of fit or efficiency in their contract value, the Rangers have added players that they truly need that work well, not merely flashy names.
John Whittle, Sportsnaut
Austin Hedges won’t knock anyone’s socks off. He’s a defense-first catcher with a batting line of .180/.237/.230 with one home run in 187 plate appearances in Pittsburgh. But that’s why the Rangers didn’t have to part with a prospect for the platoon player.
Michael Augello, Full Press Coverage
Texas took a big step towards replacing Jacob deGrom with the deal for Max Scherzer but needed to bolster their rotation depth to fend off Houston for the lead in the AL West. Montgomery has pitched clutch games with the Yankees and Stratton is a journeyman righty coming off a good performance last year after being acquired from Pittsburgh.
