Texas Rangers: Revisiting 2019 New Year’s Resolutions One Year Later

Resolution #4: Continue To Acquire Prospects, Even If It Means Unpopular Moves

As any rebuilding team knows, organizations must continue to acquire prospects if they want to build sustainable success. For the Rangers, acquiring these prospects could mean making unpopular deals in the short-term to build for the long-term.

The Rangers did a fairly good job with this resolution making a few moves to acquire young talent. One major move was sending reliever Chris Martin to the Braves at the deadline for young starting pitcher, Kolby Allard. Allard has a long-term reputation as a top tier prospect but dropped off lately. The young lefty has already got some big league time with the Rangers and has a shot at being a long-term starter for Texas.

The biggest move Texas made was a prospect for prospect trade sending Peter Fairbanks to the Rays for young slugger Nick Solak. While prospect for prospect isn’t usually a move rebuilding teams make, moving a right-handed relief prospect for a guy who hit .293 with an .884 OPS in 33 games post trade seems like solid business. Texas had an overstock of Fairbanks-like relievers and were able to turn that surplus into a player that filled a need.

They made a few acquisitions via waivers of young players and capped off their moves by bringing in young outfielder Steele Walker in exchange for Nomar Mazara. While Walker isn’t the highest ceiling prospect in the system but he has the makings of a big league outfielder, even if it’s just as an average contributor.

Verdict: Completed. But is this thing ever really completed?