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MLB’s trade deadline is over and the Rangers are done messing around
Tuesday’s Say Hey, Baseball recognizes the Rangers’ busy deadline, Andrew Benintendi’s call-up from Double-A, and a weird Pirates trade.
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
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The Rangers are in first place in the AL West and have the best record in the American League, but getting to that point has not been easy. They’ve had to deal with another awful season from Prince Fielder — one that also ended in neck surgery — while somehow scoring runs despite a lineup with a gaping hole where a catcher should be and only one lineup position with a well above-average player. The rotation has had injuries, the bullpen needed some rearranging and a dose of Matt Bush ... all of that, and Texas still managed to make it to the top of the AL.
Now, though, they’ve plugged some holes. Carlos Beltran gets to be the designated hitter and mash, which is where he belongs at 39 despite a successful past as a center fielder. Jonathan Lucroy is the new backstop, and takes over with a .299/.359/.482 line that is better than anyone on the Rangers except for Ian Desmond. Switching catchers mid-season might be a little weird for the pitching staff at first, but his bat should tide the Rangers over, and it’s worth pointing out Lucroy’s defensive reputation is stellar.
They didn’t get the major pitcher they needed, but they plugged another hole by adding Lucas Harrell to the back-end of their rotation. Yu Darvish is back, joining Cole Hamels atop the rotation. Texas needs to rely less on their rotation going forward thanks to this improved lineup, so while things still aren’t ideal, they’ve certainly gotten better. Whether this makes the Rangers win more often or just helps them keep winning at the same pace remains to be seen, but they’re clearly one of the deadline’s true winners. And they even got to keep Joey Gallo and Jurickson Profar to get there.
- In non-trade news, this Dodgers’ ballgirl saved a fan who wasn’t paying attention.
- The Giants traded Matt Duffy for Matt Moore, and Grant Brisbee will explain why.
- The Pirates made a weird trade, sending Francisco Liriano to the Blue Jays for Drew Hutchison. Bucs Dugout is not pleased with the deal at all.
- Like, really not pleased with the deal at all.
- The deadline passed with odd silence from the Braves, who had otherwise been active in trade markets all season.
- Here’s every trade that went before the non-waiver trade deadline, since you wouldn’t want this newsletter to be pages long by including them here.
- To put a bow on the deadline, here are your winners and losers.
- The Red Sox made only one minor trade after a month full of them, but still came away with a major roster move: Boston is calling up their second-best prospect, Andrew Benintendi, and are having him skip Triple-A in the process.
- The Sox aren’t the only team bumping a prospect post-deadline, as the Brewers are calling up shortstop Oswaldo Arcia.
- The Phillies didn’t make a trade on deadline day, but they did tease a future top prospect call-up. So, that’s ... something. Right?
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