Texas Rangers Trade Deadline: High Price for Lance Lynn Reported

The Texas Rangers opted not to move Lance Lynn at the MLB Trade Deadline due in large part to no team meeting their reportedly high price for the starter.

Leading up to the MLB Trade Deadline, the Texas Rangers were expected to move prized starting pitcher Lance Lynn. With the 2020 season lost in terms of a postseason chase and the odds for 2021 not looking much better, moving the right-hander seemed a logical move for the future. However, it seems the Texas Rangers reported asking price got in the way of making a deal meaning Lynn will stick with the club for at least the remainder of the season.

Texas is reported to have had an astronomical price for the Cy Young candidate ahead of Monday’s trade deadline. Not to say an astronomical price was unfair. Lynn has arguably been a top 10 pitcher in baseball since the start of the 2019 season. He finished 5th in AL Cy Young voting last year and could be considered second in that same race this year behind Cleveland’s Shane Bieber. But ahead of one of the strangest deadlines in recent memory, nobody gave Texas an offer they considered acceptable for their ace.

Texas Wanted High-End Package from Atlanta

Of the rumored asking prices we’ve seen tied to specific teams, the Braves might have been the highest. David O’Brien of The Athletic reported Tuesday that in discussions held with the Atlanta Braves, it was rumored that the Rangers were asking for either Christian Pache or Drew Waters plus other high end prospects. Both Pache and Waters are considered elite prospects with both falling inside the Top 30 prospects in all of baseball per MLB Pipeline.

The reported ask though didn’t stop there as Texas, and likely Cleveland who was trading Mike Clevinger, were pursuing multiple players from the group of Atlanta’s top young players with RHP Ian Anderson and INF Austin Riley named alongside Pache and Waters. It’s unknown exactly what the packages discussed were but the Rangers clearly had specific players they wanted from Atlanta and the teams weren’t able to get anything done.

Rangers Wanted Big League Ready Duo from Yankees

The high asking price from the Rangers wasn’t exclusive to the Braves. Andy Martino of SNY.com reported sourced information that the Rangers and Indians were asking for two of either OF Clint Frazier, RHP Deivi Garcia and RHP Clarke Schmidt in return for their frontline starters.

Both Garcia and Schmidt are the top two pitching prospects in the Yankees’ organization with Garcia making his big league debut just a day before the deadline throwing six innings against the Mets and allowing zero runs with six strikeouts. The 21-year old is ranked 99th in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects while his 24-year old counterpart Schmidt clocks in at 95th.

Frazier, while no longer a prospect, is not far removed from being considered among the best in that category. The 25-year old has struggled to cement a role with the Yankees since the Indians traded him to New York in 2016. However, that’s more due to the depth New York has than a wholesale knock on Frazier’s ability.

Since he debuted in 2017, Frazier is hitting .259 in 138 games with a .793 OPS. Those numbers have improved over the past two seasons with Frazier posting a .271 average and 118 wRC+ since the start of the 2019 season. The question for Frazier will always be his defensive fit but his bat profiles as a top end one at the big league level.

TR Sullivan gave us some insight into the Rangers’ talks with New York on deadline day with a report that Texas was wanting Deivi Garcia in a potential Lynn deal but that the Yankees were not inclined to move him.

Asking Price Exceeded What Indians’ Got for Clevinger

Just after the deadline hit, Jon Daniels talked with media about the Rangers action over the period and why Lynn wasn’t moved. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Texas was looking for a package in excess of what Cleveland got from the Padres for Mike Clevinger early on Monday.

In the Clevinger deal, San Diego was able to hold onto their top five prospects and instead moved for a volume deal which centered around six players, many of which are highly regard prospects but not considered elite level.

Based on reports after the deadline, Texas had very specific ideas in mind when entering into Lynn discussions. The Texas Rangers find themselves at a point where they need impact level prospects who can feature prominently at the big league level sooner rather than later. Clearly, nobody hit that mark keeping Lynn in Arlington at least until this offseason.