A few Texas Rangers have bought themselves more time

Nomar Mazara

It seems inevitable that the Texas Rangers will have to shake-up their outfield as some point very soon. Outfielder Loedy Taveras, Texas’ #5 prospect, is working his way through the minor leagues and could make his way to the big league club as early as next year. The 20-year-old is a center fielder through and through, so, if all goes according to plan, he’ll force Joey Gallo over to left field by 2021.

That takes care of two outfield spots, leaving right field to be determined. It’s Mazara’s to lose, but he has been far from convincing this season. Defense is not his specialty; therefore, he is not worth a whole lot when his bat is lagging. Willie Calhoun is not defensive wizard either, but he’s been more consistent with the bat in 2019. Calhoun will be fighting hard for a starting spot somewhere next season.

If you look further down the road, Texas has Bubba Thompson and Julio Pablo Martinez as high potential prospects who have not progressed as aimed for in the lower levels of the minors. The most updated Texas Rangers prospect rankings has Thompson at #8 and Martinez at #25. If either picks up the pace, the future outfield will be even more clustered.

The key takeaway is Mazara has some heat on him really for the first time in his young career. If the Rangers aren’t completely sold on him soon, he could be sent elsewhere.

Danny Santana

Danny Santana has been absolutely phenomenal this season. It seems like he records multiple hits every night. In 282 at-bats, his batting average is approaching .330. In the month of July, he hit .378 with 7 home runs, a .400 OBP and a 1.156 OPS. If he maintains anything close to his current pace, he’ll be guaranteed a starting spot on opening day of 2020.

The only crutch to Santana’s stellar year is the concern that it’s a fluke. After posting impressive numbers with the Minnesota Twins as a rookie in 2014, he essentially had no major league impact in the following four seasons. In fact, he combined to play in only 332 big league games from 2015 to 2018. That equates to 82 per season.

The optics are there, which should be enough for the Rangers to pencil him into the roster for next season. If Santana finishes the year strong, he’ll undoubtedly head into the offseason as a favorite to be a starter in the coming campaign.

Rougned Odor

What a headache Rougned Odor is. He’s terrible about 85% of the time, but the other 15% he’s tremendous. Those percentages aren’t adding up for the Rangers. As the club looks to contend for a playoff spot in 2020, they can’t be messing around with a player who is only good 15% of the time.

Odor has become such a liability that the protective shield over his hefty contract has weakened. He MUST have a strong finish to the season or else Texas may have to do something drastic over the offseason. They can’t send him to the minors and they can’t afford to play him everyday if he’s routinely below the Mendoza line.

The Rangers could waive him, or they could toss his name into modest trade, in which they’ll surely have to eat the majority of his contract. They’ll do whatever they can to avoid both, but Odor has practically no credibility at this point. More than anyone on the current Texas Rangers team, Rougned Odor needs to go into the offseason with some serious momentum. He needs to leave positive thoughts in the heads of the front office representatives.