Texas Rangers Trade Todd Frazier, Robinson Chirinos to Mets

The Texas Rangers made a pair of deadline moves that sent veterans Todd Frazier and Robinson Chirinos to the New York Mets.

The MLB Trade Deadline has come and gone with the Texas Rangers making a pair of moves in the final hour that sent veteran catcher Robinson Chirinos and infielder Todd Frazier to the New York Mets. The deals, which has been announced via the club’s official channels, were separate moves and each netted the Rangers a Player To Be Named Later respectively.

Both players were veterans who joined the club this offseason in one-year deals and each had a team option for the 2021 season on their deals.

Moving on from Chirinos was not something there had been much talk about prior to the deadline but Texas needed to make a move with one of their veteran catchers moving forward. With the emergence of Jose Trevino as the likely number one catcher moving forward, Texas was either going to have to let Jeff Mathis or Robinson Chirinos go.

Mathis provides a bit more defensively than Chirinos and whatever expected offensive advantage Chirinos would bring hasn’t arrived this season. Keeping Mathis was the cheaper option and Texas likely values his rapport with what is a fairly young pitching staff moving forward this year.

Frazier on the other hand was a player that had been tossed about in trade ideas but there were questions over whether a market would materialize for him. Frazier has been helpful to Texas splitting time at both first base and third base when needed and providing an offensive spark, particularly against left-handed pitching.

With Texas not heading towards the postseason this year, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they moved on from both guys in favor of playing time for younger players. It was not set in stone that Texas would pick up either of their options for the 2021 season so netting a prospect each is better than paying for them to go at the end of the year.

In terms of return, both deals netted Texas a Player To Be Named Later. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News is reporting that Texas is sending $360,000 with Chirinos to help offset some of the cost of his deal and in return will get to select off a “list of Mets minor leaguers”. Frazier’s PTBNL could already be decided but with current 60-man roster rules, cannot officially be traded at this point. Neither PTBNL is expected to be a prospect of significant value.