Texas Rangers Trade Deadline: Grading the moves

The MLB Trade Deadline did not go as many had expected for the Texas Rangers. How did they do on the moves they did make though?

I remember, when I was a kid, how excited I got when my mom took me to the arcade. I loved playing the redemption machines, especially skee ball, trying to get all the of the tickets. That’s what yesterday’s trade deadline felt like. I believed the Texas Rangers had enough tickets to get that brand new Sega Dreamcast. Instead, we got troll doll pencil toppers. Well, it just felt that way.

Had the Rangers traded Mike Minor a year ago, when his value was immensely higher, they would have had a nicer haul. Technically the return for Minor was a pair of Players To Be Named Later but those PTBNL have already been reportedly identified.

Even though Texas seems to have a bevy of outfielders it can’t hurt to add more and Smith and Harris could be pieces to flip in the future. Another thing to keep in mind with Harris is that the A’s organization was working with converting him to a corner infielder.

Dustin has a career minor league slash line of .325/.403/.407 while Marcus is hitting .361/.466/.433. Both are impressive, however you must keep in mind that Smith has only played in the rookie league and Harris hasn’t made it past high-A ball. They are called “prospects” for a reason. Still not a bad return for Minor and also not as good as it would have been in 2019.

This one made sense as Jose Trevino has assumed the everyday role at catcher and Jeff Mathis is still a good veteran presence who works well with the pitchers and can offer advice to Trevino. Along with Chirinos the Rangers reportedly sent the Mets $360,000 to offset the cost of his deal.

In return, Texas gets a PTBNL who isn’t expected to be a high-end prospect. Evan Grant reports that the Rangers will have a list of Mets’ minor leaguers which they can choose from in the Chirinos deal.

Yes I could have lumped the Chirinos and Frazier deals together but technically they happened separately so I’m listing them that way (yes, I stuck my tongue out when I typed that). This one kind of hurt because he was becoming a fan favorite, was one of the few offensive bright spots, and was apparently mentoring Joey Gallo concerning plate discipline.

Texas will get another PTBNL for Frazier but unlike Chirinos, Texas reportedly already knows which prospect they will be receiving from the Mets. An announcement is likely to come at the end of the season when the prospects can officially join the organization.

It’s really hard to grade the Texas Rangers trades’ without fully knowing all of the players we’re getting in return. But based on the Minor deal and the other minor deals (see what I did there?) plus the fact that Texas was unable to move Lance Lynn and Joey Gallo, I will temporarily give them a C+.

And if you were wondering, the Sega Dreamcast was eventually won by A.J. Preller in San Diego. He had this Seattle Mariners machine that he kept playing until it malfunctioned and got lucky with a couple of others as well.