Texas Rangers: Made A Move But There Must Be More

Texas Rangers make their first move to try and provide a boost to a contender in a rut but will that be the only trade before the trade deadline quickly approaching?

The Texas Rangers have acquired Dario Alvarez and Lucas Harrell from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for A ball 2B prospect Travis Demeritte. This can’t be the only move that the Texas Rangers are looking to make due to their lack of starting pitching which manager Jeff Banister strongly suggested while discussing trade talk with 105.3 The Fan Wednesday.

We’ll start with what we gave up in Travis Demeritte, this 22 yr old was the 20th pick of the 2013 MLB draft. He played at the single A level and put up strong numbers with a batting average of .272 and hit 25 HRs in 88 games but his strike out rate was a staggering 33% of the time. Demeritte did play in the Futures Game this year and had a good showing, he was ranked as the Texas Rangers 20th prospect and has had experts suggest his big league comparison would be Dan Uggla.

The Two pitchers the Texas Rangers received for this prospect had only been with the Braves since mid to late May. Both players have gone through being cut and picked up this year by a couple of teams but have obviously performed well enough for a contending team to give something up for them. Dario Alvarez is a strike out machine, through 15 innings pitched this year he has 28 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.00 and will be a welcomed asset to the bullpen.

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Lucas Harrell has only started 5 games for the Braves but has a 2-2 record with an ERA of 3.38 and looks to be the starter for the Texas Rangers game against the KC Royals on Sunday. This addition to the rotation needed to happen because at this point the team really only knows that it has 1 strong chance to win every 5 days and that is when Cole Hamels starts. Harrell has worked with Texas Rangers pitching coach Doug Brocail while playing for the Houston Astros so the familiarity should work in the Rangers favor as well.

Even with this trade there is obvious needs for another trade to happen. A difference maker would be nice but that could take some big time young names from the Texas Rangers to make happen. Another starting pitcher would be a help in the meantime while waiting for Colby Lewis and Derek Holland to get back to a healthy playing level.

If there was a trade that was similar to the Cole Hamels trade last year then make it happen and give up one top prospect and some lower ones. If a trade includes a few different top prospects then no, don’t do it and the Texas Rangers should be able to weather the storm this season.

Next: Texas Rangers: Let's Talk About Trade Packages

I think the Rangers could move forward with Jurickson Profar, Nomar Mazara, Joey Gallo, and Delino DeShields making appearances in the lineup daily and perform at a high level. Not only could this strategy potentially be a momentum boost with young power encouraging a strong push to keep the Houston Astros from catching them.