Texas Rangers Should Try to Trade Shin-Soo Choo

The July 31st trade deadline is just days away and the Texas Rangers roster could look a lot different come next week. Should the Rangers consider moving outfielder Shin-Soo Choo to shred some payroll?

It’s clear the Texas Rangers are heading in a new direction and should heavily consider a rebuild. They have one of the oldest rosters in the MLB, and could move some veteran talent to open up their future budget.

General manager Jon Daniels is looking to trade both Yu Darvish and Jonathan Lucroy who are on one-year deals. Both players are pending free agents and have not reached an extension with the Rangers.

The future in Arlington will likely involve Rougned Odor, Joey Gallo, and Nomar Mazara. The rest of the hitters should be on the trade block. Especially veteran outfielder Shin-Soo Choo who is owed $20 million or more over the next three years.

More from Nolan Writin'

• Framework for a potential Max Fried trade to the Texas Rangers
• Early 2023 MLB mock draft has Texas Rangers selecting an Ohtani-lite
• 3 Texas Rangers outfield trade targets not named Bryan Reynolds
• Did Jacob deGrom really mean what he said at his Texas Rangers press conference?
• Where do Texas Rangers prospects Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker stand after the DeGrom signing?

This season Choo is hitting .246 with 14 home runs and 51 RBI in 92 games. He is second on the team behind just Adrian Beltre in OBP. The 35-year-old has likely hit his peak and the Rangers should consider trading him to save him cash.

Finding a team that will eat a majority of Choo’s contract could be difficult. Many organizations are looking to cut down their payroll. Moving the huge Choo contract could give the Rangers enough money to get some big-time talent in the off-season.

Currently, the Rangers have Darvish, Lucroy, Carlos Gomez, Andrew Cashner, and Tyson Ross as their main pending free agents. The Rangers already have plenty of large contracts on their books with Cole Hamels, Beltre, Choo, and recently extended Odor.

There is really no good reason to keep Choo on the Rangers at this point. If the Rangers can find an organization willing to eat a majority of the contract then do it.

There are two directions the Rangers could go this off-season. One is to acquire established talent and go for the postseason and the other is rebuild. Neither plan requires the Rangers to keep an aging Choo on the roster.

Next: Can Closer By Committee Actually Work?

General manager Jon Daniels will have his hands full the next few days. Hopefully he can find a home for some of these veteran players. The Rangers roster could look completely different in a couple of days.