Grading the Rangers previous two trade deadlines under Chris Young's leadership

Now in his third full season as the Texas Rangers' president of baseball operations, Chris Young has helped transform this team into a World Series championship organization. Thanks in large part to drafting and free agent signings but there is one angle he's heavily involved in that finally brought Texas a title.

The trade deadline. As part of the organization since 2020, under Jon Daniels, Young has seen five trade deadlines come and go but just three as the team's sole baseball decision maker.

This year he finds himself at a strange point. All season the team has underperformed and even a month ago were on their ways toward selling. Now they are four games over .500, closing in on a playoff spot and one of the hottest teams in baseball. That requires reinforcements but the luxury tax might cause troubles.

In that time the trade deadline has been kind to him acquiring key pieces to bring that title to Arlington. That in mind, let's take a look back at his deadline deals as the top go-to man in Texas.

Grading the Rangers' previous two trade deadlines under Chris Young

2024 Grade: C-

The 2024 season was a wash for the Rangers. Coming off the franchise's first championship and adding rookie phenom Wyatt Langford to the roster, many expected the Rangers to make a legit run at a repeat. However, from the get go it turned out to be as far from that as possible.

We know Chris Young knew that, which made his moves at the trade deadline a bit stranger. His big move was trading right-handed pitcher Michael Lorenzen to Kansas City in exchange for left-hander Walter Pennington. Not needle moving whatsoever but at that time Pennington was still in his pre-arbitration years.

The other moves were getting catcher Carson Kelly and left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin. Which were a bit shocking giving the Rangers were 52-57 at the time and falling fast. Both were also on expiring contracts.

But what made this deadline non-notworthy was the lack of moves. The Rangers had Kirby Yates and Nathan Eovaldi both on expiring contracts that would have made sense to move to a contender for something in return. Yet, Young fell flat and failed to make the move.

2023 Grade: A

This was his first full season as the head decision maker for the Rangers and he made the most of it. After Texas got off to an electric 40-20 start to the season, they started to falter before the trade deadline with injuries and bullpen woes. They needed to make valuable moves to get them through it.

Young was the first to make a move in MLB in June when he traded young, lefty Cole Ragans to the Royals for flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman. Then closer to the actual July 31 deadline he sent infield prospect Luisangel Acuna to the Mets for future-HOF righty Max Scherzer. However, that wasn't the end for Young, he went to St. Louis and acquired pitchers Chris Stratton and Jordan Montgomery for a handful of prospects.

These acquisitions helped the Rangers down the stretch, with Montgomery being the team's top pitcher in the second half. They ended up taking that roster into the postseason and winning the organization's first title.