The Rangers best trade deadline asset just turned to dust before their eyes

Tyler Mahle's 2025 season has been easily the biggest storyline for the Texas Rangers. From the 2.34 ERA, which would be top in the league, to the 56 strikeouts, the 30-year-old was shining to kick off his contract season.

However, being relied on to the maximum still shortly after being fully recovered from Tommy John surgery in 2023, Mahle was sidelined on June 15 with right shoulder fatigue. It only got worse when the team announced the injury would sideline him further, moving him to the 60-day IL.

Besides missing him from the rotation, why is this such a big deal? Well because he's perhaps the team's biggest trade chip in the midst of a disappointing season and his injury will likely sideline him well past the July 31 trade deadline.

Tyler Mahle's injury throws wrench in Rangers' deadline plans

At 42-44, the Rangers are 10 games out of first place in the American League West and facing a critical point in their season. They want to continue to be competitve and return to the postseaosn but they also need to keep their options open.

Due to his strong start, Mahle is easily among the team's top trade candidates alongside outfielder Adolis Garcia and a plethora of veteran relievers. But his injury could change things.

A trade is not impossible as Mahle can still be dealt while sitting on the injured list but due to a uneasy feeling of where Mahle is at in his recovery other than he likelt won't be until August when he gets back on the mound, other teams might be inclined to look elsewhere.

Given that Mahle was a rental, he wouldn't have drawn that big of a return but for a Texas team with an ever-depleting farm system, those are still valuable pieces for the future.

No Mahle trade still does have positive news

In a perfect world the Rangers start to turnaround and close the gap either in the AL Wild Card or AL West divisional race and Mahle makes a return to the rotation to close out the regular season. But we don't live in a perfect world and a lot of things would need to go right to make that happen.

If the Rangers couldn't find an appropriate trade piece for Mahle, his injury likely signals less work for Mahle which would free them of Mahle's contract incentives, which would call Texas to pay the right-hander $1.5 million for throwing 140 innings this season.

That would effectively help keep Texas below the luxury tax, which was a massive goal of Rangers' ownership heading into the year.