To Trade or Not to Trade? That is the Question for the Texas Rangers

Mike Minor has been exceptional so far this season for the Texas Rangers, and his name has constantly been appearing in trade rumors. For a team that is currently just half of a game out of the second wild-card spot at the time of this writing, it would seem that the best move would be to hold on to him.

Mike Minor has been, without a doubt, the best pitcher for the Texas Rangers so far this season, and even going back to the All-Star break of last season. In ten starts this season, he is 5-3 with a 2.64 ERA and has even started to gain attention for the Cy Young race. Minor is also under club control until the end of next season and is on a very reasonable deal (owed a little under $20 million over the next two seasons).

The Rangers are now 24-23 and have experienced a lot of highs offensively and with Mike Minor and Shawn Kelley, but the rest of their pitching staff has seen just about as many lows, as it has really struggled from game to game.

A great example of this occurred on Monday. Mike Minor was terrific as usual over six innings, striking out 11, and only allowing two runs. The Rangers were up 10-2 going into the 8th, before the bullpen gave up seven runs, and made it a lot more interesting than it should have been.

That being said, the Rangers offense is for sure ready to compete, and is definitely a playoff offense, while the pitching staff, outside of a handful of guys has been holding them back.