Texas Rangers Should Make More Trades Similar to the Giants Deal

The Texas Rangers made their first real trade of the summer on Sunday with the Giants and should continue to make similar moves moving forward.

July 8th marked the first day of summer for the Texas Rangers. Or at least the first day of the summer trade season. Texas made a move with the San Francisco Giants acquiring three players for cash or a PTBNL. This deal isn’t going to make any front pages but it marks the precedent that the Rangers should follow in deals moving forward.

In the trade with the Giants, Texas acquired OF Austin Jackson as well as RHP Cory Gearrin and Jason Bahr. Up front, the name most people probably recognize is Austin Jackson who had a few very good years for the Tigers. However, he hasn’t had the greatest of years for the Giants and they were looking to move on from his 2 year deal as well as Gearrin’s contract to open up space for Triple-A call-ups. This gave Texas the perfect opportunity to acquire the name they wanted in this deal, Jason Bahr. Bahr is a 23-year old righty who they have assigned to Single-A ball. Despite not being a highly touted prospect, Bahr has impressed this year in Single-A for the Giants posting a 2.55 ERA and an 8-4 record in 16 starts. To go with that he’s racked up 103 strikeouts and just 23 walks this year.

Why This Was a Good Deal

Essentially, the Rangers bought Jason Bahr in exchange for taking on the contracts of Austin Jackson and Cory Gearrin. Jackson, who is in year one of a two year deal worth $6 million, likely won’t even report to the team as the Rangers look to send him in another trade or release him. Even eating his salary is a relatively small price to pay. Gearrin, who is in a one-year deal worth $1.7 million adds some depth to the bullpen as a number of current relievers hit the trade block.

Even though Texas still owes San Francisco cash or a PTBNL, this likely will be an insignificant exchange as the meat of this deal for the Giants was offloading the two contracts to open up room under the tax threshold.

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Why Texas Should Make More of These Deals

Like we mentioned above, the Rangers essentially bought this pitching prospect from the Giants. As a team who isn’t competing this year and likely next, taking on a bit of salary doesn’t really hurt their ability to pursue free agents when their ready. And, by helping other teams out, they get to attach a prospect they like to the deal as incentive.

With Texas rebuilding and needing to replenish their pitching prospect pool, the Rangers should look to take on a couple of more contacts and try and add a few more low risk prospects to their system. With names like Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman and Adrian Beltre possibly headed out this month, their contracts go with them meaning the Rangers have a room to take on these bad contracts.

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This is the type of deal we need to see more of from the Texas Rangers.