A few Texas Rangers have bought themselves more time

The majority of rumored Texas Rangers survived the trade deadline. Three of them could reemerge in trade talks this offseason if not finishing the season strong.

It’s tough to avoid trade rumors for just about any player on an average or below average team. The Texas Rangers are an average team this year. That’s why selling quickly became the expectation as the deadline neared. That’s why you heard names like Nomar Mazara, Danny Santana and Rougned Odor spattered in trade talks.

None of those guys were dealt, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are safe. What it means is each player has bought himself more time to prove that he’s worth keeping around.

There’s Mazara, who has not had the season the organization or fan base expected. There’s Santana, who has set the bar extremely high after being signed as an “irrelevant” minor league addition last winter. And there’s Odor, who is hanging by the thinnest of threads after yet another stretch of miserable months prior to July.

Let’s dive into why the next two months are so important for the trio.

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.