Three Trade Deadline Needs for the Texas Rangers?

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OAKLAND, CA – APRIL 22: Josh Phegley #19 of the Oakland Athletics scores on a sacrifice fly sliding in ahead of the throw to Jeff Mathis #2 of the Texas Rangers in the bottom of the third inning of a Major League Baseball game at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on April 22, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

Find an Upgrade at Catcher

If there’s been one glaring hole in the Texas Rangers lineup this season, it’s at catcher. A mixture of Jeff Mathis, Tim Federowicz, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa have filled that role this season with varied results, none of them great. Jeff Mathis, an offseason free agent signing, came to Texas with all the focus on his defensive prowess. He had a career average below .200 but was known as a defensive wizard behind the plate which Texas coveted to help tutor catcher conversion project Kiner-Falefa. Somehow, Mathis has lowered the bar with a bat in his hand this season hitting just .152, with a .208 on-base percentage and a .425 OPS. That’s catastrophically awful and is holding back an already elite offense. Defensively, he hasn’t been as good as advertised either which really hurts his argument to get into the lineup. His saving grace is that as the primary catcher, he’s helped Mike Minor have a career year, Lance Lynn rebound phenomenally and helped Ariel Jurado and Adrian Sampson take steps forward. His influence on them should be noted but Texas cannot continue to have a number one catcher put up this kind of production.

Kiner-Falefa was slotted as the backup for Mathis this season as he tries to transition to that position moving forward. Currently, on the IL, he’s been poor as a catcher though and has been a net negative in run production defensively. He’s also taken a step back at the plate, not all that surprising for a player trying to learn and adapt to a new position. The idea is growing that he’s not a long-term answer at catcher and if it came down to needing a catcher in the playoffs, I can’t imagine it would be him.

As an insurance policy when IKF got injured, Texas acquired Tim Federowicz from the Indians Triple-A affiliate. A veteran who has bounced back and forth between the bigs and the minors, Federowicz has been an improvement on a very low bar at the plate. His OPS of .684 is his best argument for sticking around but I’d imagine the Rangers would like an upgrade from him as well.

Catchers are extremely tough to find on the trade market. A friend of mine noted that they’re like goaltenders in hockey as there are fewer starting-caliber catchers than there are teams in the league. And when a team gets one, they won’t just give them away because they’re rebuilding. Texas is going to have to work hard to find an upgrade behind the dish that doesn’t cost them a fortune. If there was a position to invest in a rental for, this would be the position.

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