Texas Rangers Trade Rumors: Alex Rios still tradeable?

The Texas Rangers for the first time in several years were sellers during the July trade deadline.  Instead of trading away Alex Rios, Neal Cotts or other assets the team has they stood still and held tight on to what they have.

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Shortly after the trade deadline passed, Jon Daniels and the Texas Rangers placed outfielder Alex Rios on the revocable trade waivers, which he cleared and is now open to be traded to any team.  Several teams such Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and the Kansas City Royals all showed interest him prior to the July trade deadline.   

Around the trade deadline it appeared his trade value was pretty good.   Prior to injuring his ankle Alex Rios was on a 5-15 over his last 5 games and was batting .310 with 2 doubles for the month of July.  He was leading the majors with 8 triples and was among the league leaders in multi-hit games.

He appeared to be on his way back to full-recovery but during the Houston Astros game on Sunday he re-aggravated his left ankle while sliding into home plate.   Currently Rios isn’t making too much of the injury.

"“You can say it’s frustrating,” said Rios, who first injured the ankle July 19 in Toronto. “We’ve gone through too many injuries and I’ve experienced one myself, I wouldn’t call it an injury. I would call it more pain than anything, I think. It is frustrating to go through all these kinds of things and we’re going through it, it’s part of the struggle.”  (ESPN Dallas – Calvin Watkins)"

For the month of August he’s only batting .148 over 7 games/27 at-bats, which is way down from the amazing month he had back in June when he hit .312 with 3 doubles and 2 triples.   Overall this season he does have a 0.9 offensive WAR, but his defensive WAR is -1.0, putting his overall WAR at 0.4.

His recent performance and poor defense isn’t helping his trade value.  Also, he’s not a power hitter.  He peaked out at 25 home runs during the 2012 season, but he’s been on the decline over recent years.  Last year he only hit 6 home runs and currently only has 4.  For the season he has a .415 SLG/.738 OPS.   That is another key indicator that his power and performance is down from previous years.   Overall, his slugging percentage is still considered good, just shows a decline from previous years.

Overall, it appears that his trade value is decreasing.  Mainly because of his injury and his recent struggles at the plate.  Although, his injury is more than likely the reason he’s struggling this month.

He is still a very good player who has a very solid bat.  But, for the Texas Rangers they could us additional pitching and another big power bat in the line up.  This season the Rangers only have 88 home runs, which is near the bottom in the league.    Last season the Rangers finished the season with 176 and the year before that 200 home runs.

The good news is that Alex Rios recently went to a specialist for an MRI on his left ankle which showed only a sprain.  He should return to the Texas Rangers lineup tonight.

Note:
Alex Rios is currently owed about $3 million for the remainder of the season, plus a $1 million buyout on next season’s $13 million option.