Rangers’ choices: Complete rebuild or slow death?
By Reid Hanson
As the Texas Rangers approach the MLB trade deadline, they face the choice of suffering a slow death or undergoing a complete rebuild, anything else is pure fantasy.
Excuse me for being a pessimist but the day we all saw coming, for some time now, is fast approaching. The MLB trade deadline marks a sort of “D-day” for the Texas Rangers organization. Do they play their hand, hoping to sneak into the postseason as the final wild card team? Or do they start moving assets, hoping to rebuild a depleted farm system?
The result of the former is nothing short of dooming the franchise to a slow death for the next few seasons – and possibly more. The result of the latter is seeing our favorite players jettisoned overnight, forcing us cheer for new names on our favorite laundry (George Carlin shout out).
Slow Death
The Rangers could stand pat, continue the fight, and hope they can defy the odds and claim the final wild card spot. Then they must hope they can defy the odds again and win that wild card game. Then they must defy the odds…
Ok, you get it.
The Texas Rangers aren’t eliminated but they are still battling against the odds. That alone isn’t cause to sell off players but the status of a few key players is. Yu Darvish and Jonathan Lucroy are both set to become free agents and as of now, it doesn’t appear the Rangers will be retaining them.
Without them the odds look even more bleak next season – essentially meaning Texas will be in worse shape in coming years. And if that’s the case, the Rangers should consider moving other valuable assets like Cole Hamels, Rougned Odor, or anyone else who could return a king’s ransom in minor league returns.
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Let’s be clear, Texas can’t sell for the sake of selling. They need to get good value in return. They also can’t expect tons in return for players who are set to be free agents in a couple months.
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Complete Rebuild
The temptation to walk the line will be severe. We can fool ourselves into thinking if we just trade one or two players, we can conceivably be a postseason team next summer and rebuild the farm system in the process. This seems borderline delusional.
Too many young and improving teams are passing the Rangers by. With Texas going in the opposite direction, it will take more than just a couple moves to catch up. The Rangers must stop the bleeding, right the ship, and build for the future.
The Rangers could move a few lower value players like Mike Napoli, Carlos Gomez, and Jonathan Lucroy and get back a decent haul of prospects in return.
But that alone is only going to delay the inevitable.
It’s going to take more than just a couple moves to get this done. It’s going to take an injection of youth and time. The faster the Rangers start this process, the faster the rebuild can begin. It’s not unlike what the Dallas Mavericks have been going through in recent years.
Next: The Rangers must be willing to trade a player like Rougned Odor
All names must be on the table. If the Rangers aren’t going to re-sign Yu Darvish, then it’s time to think long-term. If that means fielding a team of Adrian Beltre and a bunch of kids, then so be it. There’s really not much middle ground in this situation.