Episode #38 Trade Deadline and more

Jeff and John discuss the trade deadline and more

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the DLS Rangers Weekly Podcast, now part of
the All City Network. Hit the subscribe button for YouTube
and also become a DLS diehard at www dot all
DLLs dot com. Now here's Jeff and John. Everybody, Welcome
to the DLS Rangers Weekly Podcast. This is episode number

(00:23):
thirty eight. Sorry, we kind of it's been a while.
We had a week before last. We got one in
with Kip Fag real quick, and then Jeff has been
out of town last week. He was on vacation and
now you're in Seattle, and we had to look. We
had a couple guys we thought we were gonna get on,
but the trade deadline was really kind of Cognizant of
that and whether or not we could do it. We decided,
you know what, let's just do it ourselves. We'll get

(00:45):
somebody on next week.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, you were there.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
For trade deadline. I mean, it looked like the Rangers
were gonna stand pat for a while and then let's
just talk about tell us about exactly what happened.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, you know, I don't know that they were.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
They were definitely trying, you know, there was no intention
of standing hat, but things didn't look good. You know,
you saw the talk before the deadline was that they
were going to get you know, a closer. They wanted
a real impact type of reliever, and then maybe.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
A little help for the offense.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
You know, they only got two catchers right now, and
one of them is banged up, so there's some catcher talk.
So anyway, all this, you know, they they see that
all the top closers go off the board and for
a very very high price. You know, these are these
are teams that took advantage and leverage their situation. And
they did it with teams that really have no regard

(01:44):
for the farm system or for their payrolls. I'm talking
about the Mets, Yankees, Phillies. And I think when Bednarm
went off the board, you know, apparently the Rangers were
a finalist for him. I think once he was off
the board, the Rangers had to shift their focus. They
could go to and I'm sure they were still working

(02:04):
on maybe a setup group, you know, the setup guys,
that group, but then they shifted to starting pitching. And
that's where you see Meryl Kelly come in. And really,
you know, I had talked to a couple of club
officials the week before the deadline, and I said, what
about a starting pitcher, and they're like, well, if it
falls in our lap. You know, they weren't looking for

(02:26):
a starting pitcher. But you know, I don't think things
didn't go according to plan. I thought that they thought
they had a good chance to go ahead and get
a bed Nard type.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Didn't happen, so they had to shift.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
And then Meryl Kelly, you get a guy who's very,
very good starting pitcher.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
And you know there are always.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Third punch, right, and that's your third punch in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
Sure, and then they'll figure out the fourth spot if
they get to a seven game series. Got to get
to the playoffs first, of course. But Kelly Kelly can
help the bullpen because he can go sick since seventy indies,
you know, And and so these guys who've been overworked,
like you name it, you know, Garcia, Milner, Martin who's
on the I l not really, but all of these

(03:10):
guys can can get a little break.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
And before Milner was a choir arm, not Milner.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
Before Kelly was acquired, Danny Cooloh came from the Twins,
and then right before the deadline, Phil Mayitan came over
from the Cardinals. And that's an interesting one because he's
a former Astros pitcher and he broke Josh Young's arm
last year at Tampa Bay. So they may have to
have a little pow wow here to talk it out.

(03:37):
But obviously nothing intentional. But still I'm sure I'm sure
Josh Young sent him a Christmas card.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, Josh may have some new baseball cards in his
locker when he gets there and they get back in town. Yeah,
I forgot about that. Maton was the one that yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, And so anyway, this is what they got. You know,
we'll talk about the prospects they they gave up.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
It was it was a little bit steep, I thought,
but that's what happens when you're trying to win a
World Series, you know, and that's the price you pay.
But you know, it turns out, oh, hang on, one more,
one more point that we need to make. It turns
out that Ray Davis did allow the Rangers to go
over the luxury tax. Now I don't know how much

(04:23):
he allowed them to go over or when he said
it was okay to do it, you know, because at
the start of the week, the Rangers were operating as
if every you know, teams had to pick up all
their money of the players they were given up, and
the Rangers had like two million dollars to work with.
So it appears that at some point Ray Davis came around,

(04:47):
and maybe it was when when all these relievers were
going off the board, and maybe the front office said, hey, right,
we can't, we can't, we can't make a big deal
because teams don't want to pick up the money. And then, honestly,
that might have been the difference between the Yankees and
the and the Pirates. Now, I know the Pirates got
a good catcher, good young catcher out of it. But

(05:08):
if the Rangers asked them to pick up money and
the Yankees weren't, well, that probably settled it right there.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, without a doubt, because clearing payroll is part of
the you know, when you're selling off. Look what the
Twins did picking up seventy million of the Carlos or
thirty million of the Carlos Korea deal, but they cleared
seventy million off their books right there. I've seen a
lot of stuff on that with the Twins. We'll talk
to other teams and what they did in a minute.
Because man Man, unlike the last couple of years. It

(05:34):
went kind of nuts yesterday. I mean it just I
mean every time I turned around, I was getting these flashes.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, it was. It was hard to keep up with.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
And if anybody was watching the Daily Show that started
thirty minutes before the deadline, as right when the Merrill
Kelly stuff was hitting. But there were just a flurries
a deal, a flurry of deals. And every time I
refreshed my uh my, you know, twitter feed or whatever,

(06:04):
there was something new.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
So it was it was it was a kind of
a crazy, crazy day.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Okay, so let's talk. We've got three new guys coming in.
We got Maton, we got we got how do you said, Colombe,
Couloamb couloam, and then we got Merrill coming in. That
means there's going to be Look, they opened up the
the forty man spots by DFA and Krim and Harris,
who I think will clear waivers and if they do,
we'll probably head back down to Triple A. Uh but

(06:32):
if not, good luck to them. I mean, I mean
they may look at Crim and see what he's doing,
so may pick him up. I don't know. Harris is
intriguing too. But on the big league roster. On the
twenty five man active roster, they are going to have
to move three people out. Who do you think that's
gonna be?

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Well, that's that's kind of the thing we were we
were bandying about. You know.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
You you would think that Louise Cervello, who was was
really fun to watch last night, think that his time
is up. Caleb Bosley and then and then really it'll
come down to Cole Win or one of the star
whichever starter is gonna lose his rotation spot, don't I
don't think. I think I think Lats would be fine,

(07:20):
although although with cool ohmb and that would plus Lats
plus Garcia plus Milner that's four left handed relievers.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
But but cool Ohm is a reverse splits.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Guy, so I don't know, you know, maybe maybe you
can throw Lats in there though the Rangers think he's
awfully valuable, you know, And and you are gonna have
I if it is Win who goes, and and then
that means that probably Rockers is gonna go to the wullpen.
They're gonna have some kind of quase, you know, a

(07:55):
five plus one rotation, not really a six man. I
don't know what they're gonna do, and I'm not sure
they know what they're gonna do. So, uh, they're going
to talk to Kelly when he gets here. They'd like
him to start this weekend, you know, depending on when
he gets to town today, he gets here in time
to go through his normal you know, pre day routine,

(08:15):
pre start day routine, then he could go tomorrow, which
would then.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Buy the grom an extra day.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
And then keep in mind, these guys are also pretty
cognizant of the fact that, you know, de Groam, they
still want to limit his innings. Lighter and Rocker never
pitched into U have never pitched this far in their
careers this many innings, and they're gonna keep going and
theoretically have to pitch deep into September, which.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
They haven't done yet.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
So there are some there are some real concerns here
about that. So I think they're gonna they're talking about it.
I don't know if they can get a clear answer
until they get Kelly on the phone. I'm sure they have,
but and then you know, get his travel plans, uh
finalize and all that stuff. So there'll be some news

(09:03):
this afternoon when we get get into the clubhouse and
talk to the manager and hopefully talk to all three
new guys.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah, and so what do you grade this? I mean, honestly,
look it. If it's not an A, it's a B plus.
I mean they went out and look, I think we
all wanted the bigger splasher deal. They did not add
a bat to it. But there are possibly some bats
that that can in within this organization phill a spot
if absolutely necessary. I think right handed bats what a
lot of people were looking at, or some sort of

(09:31):
platoon d H type thing for for Peterson or whoever there.
Although Peterson, you know, he needs to do something to
get this thing going. But where where do you grade this?

Speaker 3 (09:44):
I'm not sure. Obviously it's it's uh, it's an error B.
You know, if if you look at the totality of
the packages that were sent off and and the fact
that these are three rental guys. These guys aren't back
next year unless the Rangers re signed them after they
test free agency.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
You know.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
But but on the other hand, they got maybe the
best starting pitcher available. So and and you know, I
know some people out there upset that the Rangers added
to a strength. Look, if you look around the division,
what what happened. The Mariners added two big bats. The

(10:27):
Astros added Korea, who's not having a great year, but
probably I don't think he ever wanted to leave Houston,
you know, And and I don't think Houston ever wanted
to leave. It just didn't work out. So I think
he'll be rejuvenated a little bit. So they they kind of,
you know, canceled out the loss of the peedees. So
you're you're talking about, you know, how do you beat him?

(10:53):
You you out pitch him, you know, pitching in defense.
So I think that that that's an interesting way to
go about it. And and again I think it surprised
a lot of people, including me. You know, I thought
they would just load up on the bullpen and that
would be that.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
But you're gonna you're.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Gonna see the Rangers try to win with starting pitching.
And starting pitching's kept them alive so far this year. Yeah,
you know, you're starting to see a few bumps with
the two rookies. I think, uh, the gram Evo and
and and God blessed Patrick Corbin been been terrific, you know.
So now you're adding Merril Kelly and uh, you know,

(11:32):
theoretically you could start you know, uh, the three game
series in September against the Astros and start the Gramavaldi
and Kelly and say, if you can beat that, good
for you.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
So we'll we'll see, we'll see how it plays out.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
But you know, it's clear the two the paths that
the other two contenders in the West took offense. And
now it's clear that the Rangers believe that to beat
them or to counter that is with pitching.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, because I still say this roster, it's still somewhat underperforming.
Even though they've they've really wow, it's been fun to watch.
They're starting to get some stuff going now. And uh,
and I tell you what it's it's put up or
shut up. You're seeing that too. Jock Peterson came in
and had two not so great looking first two starts
when he came back off the ail, which I honestly

(12:24):
I think he needed just he needed a few more
games in the minor league in a rehab stance. That's
just pretty obvious. And so he was sitting against the
right hander all of a sudden, I mean, look, they're
not they can't afford let's see if we can work
him out of this. I think they're like yesterday they
put basically, you know, they I think it with the
young injury. That's one of the reasons Jock came in.

(12:46):
I don't know that Jock would have played yesterday if
they had to have done the young thing.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah, I don't I don't know. I think they need
They're going to give him a chance, you know, to
get going, you know, and he he had a.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Walk a good wall, I guess, yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
And then you know he hit the ball hard light
in the game, but it was against a lefty, so
you know, they they keep saying, oh, yeah, he just
needs to get his timing. Well, you know he didn't
have for the first seven weeks. Yeah, and and you
can go to Triple A and get your timing and uh,
you know, see see good stuff from guys who've been
in the big leagues.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
But I don't know.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
I mean, if he isn't going by let's say the
end of next week, they're gonna have a real tough,
tough decision to make because that's a ton of money.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yep, it's it's next year too.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
And uh, you know, now in the off season, you
can make some changes.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
He needs to. He needs to get in shape. There's
no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
No cigars underneath the.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah that that I you know that that looks that
looked like Angel Stadium in the background, I mean did, Yeah, But.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
It's not good for the eye to puffing on a cigars.
Not a big deal quite honestly, it's not smoking a cigarette,
but it doesn't look good when you're kinda you know,
let's be honest, you and I are in that locker
room a lot, and there are guys that are an
unbelievable shape, and it's not a nine point nine percent
of them. Then they're guys that don't look like they're
an unbelievable shape. And let's just say he kind of

(14:19):
falls on that other side. You know, there's some guys
that are just jacked and he doesn't look it.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, and it and it it affects us his body movements,
which affects a swing and you know if if he
and he hasn't he hasn't been able to counter that yet.
So there are just some things that need to take
place in the off season. But more the more media
concern is the final two months of this season absolutely
not for producing. You know, I don't think they take

(14:45):
the they want to take the financial hit. But you know,
you know, you bury him on the bench and you're
basically playing with a three man bench. I'm not sure
how how it's going to work out, but I do
know that he's going to get He's going to get
some more opportunities here in the short term to get
strained out.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
They put too much money in him.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
And again, if if he does get going, Okay, let's
say he does get going, that's a good hat.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
The offense gets better.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yep, it does, I'm saying right now, And I know
guys don't want to hear that, but I'm like, if
he ever gets it going, right now, I guess you
can give him a little leverage just because the rest
of the offense seems to be doing good. At one
time when he was really struggling, the whole offense was struggling,
and that just compounded everything right now, And you know what,
I give him credit for this. He puts together and
that's one of the On one of the strikeouts last night,

(15:31):
it was a ball that was inside. He got called
third strike on him. That was an inside pitch. Everybody
can hate on him because they every rock, Yeah, every
right to hate on Jock Peterson right now and where
he's at. But that was that was an inside pitch.
He's a guy that's that works the plate and works
the count, and uh, you know they got him on
a pitch that fulled the umpire. I'm not gonna hold

(15:51):
that one against him, so but the walk was important
at the time. Uh, get pitches on that boy. What's
his name, Kirby, Just that guy could if if I
heard it, say it said on the TV show. You
didn't hear it. They were doing the TV broadcast last night.
Mike Massett goes, I wonder if you know, maybe his
strategy should be every time he plays another team, just

(16:12):
imagine they're wearing Ranger uniforms and he goes, there's no
telling what to do because he is he's just lights
out against the Rangers.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
I think he's eight and zero now in his career
against him. And I mean, he was a really good
pitcher last year. I'm not sure what the deal was
this year, if he was heard or what, but uh,
he was really good last year. And he pitched one
game one, sixty two and twenty three against the Rangers
and then toss six or seven scoreless innings. Yeah, and
and you know, look, let's you know, when it comes

(16:40):
to the offense, it is doing better, there's no question
about it. There are going to be teams in series, though,
and this is one of them where neither team's going
to score a lot of runs.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
And I know the.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Mariners scored six last night, but this is going to
be a low scoring series and all that.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah, and last night was an aberration. I think that
was just look lats what on? Rocker ended up gaining
a little composure, but he gave up a couple of
the knocks and then you know, what, what what if
he goes five.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
And two thirds and born two thirds, four and.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Two thirds and and it had only given up two
runs at the time or was it three? When when
he came out he looked okay, though he did not
look as bad as he has looked on the road.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't very efficient. That's the issue.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
And that's that's two straight starts now, where it's been
four in ninety plus pitches. So that's a bullpen guy
that has to be worked on. And it might be
you know, or or could you.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Know they still he can go to triple A and
just they still don't have a ton of depth in
the in the rotation.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
I know they added a starter, but are you calling
calling up for Triple A to start. Yeah, no, but
it's either John Gray or Jake Lasts who goes into
the at that point, there's no one.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
I think Locker Rockermunt, he's gonna not gonna like it,
and see how it reacts to it. But it maybe
you know what, We're gonna need you down the stretch.
You got to go down there and get get more efficient,
get figured out, and then we need you to go
six or seven, get down there and got your because
he look, he can look amazing when he's especially at home.
He's better at home. Any of the splits are crazy,
you good at home versus away. But he's he's he's

(18:20):
so inconsistent. But man, you can see that he is
potential to be definitely a long term financial or long
term rotation piece for sure.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
I don't think anybody right now is suggesting that he's
not a starter going forward. But you know, the goal
is to win in the big leagues, and how do
you do that? You do whatever it takes. And you know,
and and and I made this point yesterday and I
kind of believe it, you know, and John Gray has said,
other guys have said it. When you go to the bullpen,

(18:53):
you have to attack. You don't have to save any bullets.
You have to be attack and me and the strike
zone and trust your stuff. And that might that might
pay dividends to these guys, uh to Lighter to go
into the bullpen and be told, go in there, you
got two innings, don't fart around, don't get anybody on base,

(19:15):
trust your stuff and throw a strike. It might it
might teach them how to how to you know, attack
in a start. So there there are negatives to it,
but there are positives. And again, you know, the Rangers,
the big big complaint about the bullpen is they don't
have any big time velocity guys who can right guys out. Well,

(19:38):
Jack Lighter and Kamar Rocker could do that, you know,
when they attack and trust their stuff and throw it
in the zone, it's.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Really really good. Uh. The bullpen can get better that
way too.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, So let's look at what some of the other
teams did. We talked about what the A L U,
the A L West teams did h and kind of
where that sits they I think they all even at
they all improve their teams. They're all neck and neck
right there together. The Astros are down to what is
it five games or four games with well five games
on the Rangers, but maybe six now, but in either
case they made up a lot of ground on there.

(20:11):
They're like a game and a half out of the
wild card. It's crazy where they're all bunched in there together.
But boy, what about the Padres. Does a J Peller
just not value minor league players or what?

Speaker 3 (20:23):
Well, you know, it's pretty interesting because when he was
with the Rangers, he was in charge of the international side,
and it was very aggressive and too aggressive apparently because
it got him suspended once.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
And you.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
And there are people who when he left in fourteen
who were like, oh, this is a huge loss. And
then as he started making wild trades in his first
year as GM, people are like, oh, well he was
John Daniels, you know, the devil on John Daniel's shoulder.
He's just that way. And look, there's there's no telling

(21:05):
how long he's gonna have his job. You know, he's
he's been there now what ten years, and they haven't
gone to the World Series and won the World Series
they've expanded payroll. They've added you know, Machado on a
huge deal, Tease, they extended him on a gigantic deal.
They have you Darvish, they have Dylan Cees who they
traded for. All these aggressive moves that they make, and

(21:29):
you know, unfortunately for them, I guess they're in the
Dodgers Division against the team that spends more, and at
times we'll trade more so. But but I think the
Dodgers are susceptible. I really do. And you know, you
saw all these guys who are hurt. I know, like

(21:49):
Still is coming back this weekend. But they have a
ton of pitching injuries, and they have not run away
like everybody thought they would. Everybody thought that they would have,
you know, win one hundred and twenty games this year.
I don't even have the most wins in the majors
right now. And they're close, but they don't have the
best record in baseball. And and then you look at
the pot Rays. They're only three games back, and I
don't know what they're what the schedule that holds going

(22:12):
forward for them head to head, Let's say they have
six or seven games left. Shoot, you know, the Potters
will take their chances. You know, the Division series last
year is probably the best series of the postseason between
those two teams. So I think I think the pot
Racins are close, and they might be, They really might be.
But yeah, aa Aj is just a gambling man, I guess.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
And he out there, but it caught up to him.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
You know, they they had one Soto, right, they had to.
They ended up trading him. They had at times, you
have to. You have to recoup the prospects that you
give up. And he recognizes that. But this team's built
to win too.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Mm hmm geez. I mean the guy that that he
traded off, that the shortstop dere Devrees who they they
were saying he was a candidate to be the number
one overall prospect next year and now he's in Oakland system.
But boy, they got to they got they got Sears
and Miller. I mean, good lord.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
I mean, well look where where we as Rangers media
and fans are are skewed to think JP Sears is
a cy young candidate. The guy's very very ordinary, except
when he faces the Rangers. Well, yeah, you know, that's
that's kind of I wouldn't worry about JP Sears.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
I think that deal was strictly.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
To get it done.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
Who gives them a dyna my bullpen? Now?

Speaker 3 (23:44):
So anyway, Lord's kind of where that's where I what
I think about that deal?

Speaker 1 (23:49):
You know, I need it. I I don't know if
I've heard this. I don't know the answer. What is
Tyler Malley's status? Is he going to come back this year?

Speaker 3 (23:58):
That's the expectation throwing he's what he's traveling with the team.
He's with the team right now, but it's it's like
late August, early September, and.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Then at that point, you know, what do you do
with him?

Speaker 3 (24:12):
But but they are they are expecting him to return.
I don't know why he put him in the bullpen.
He was great as a starter.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
Great as a starter. But I mean, yeah, I guess
get him out on some rehab starts and go. But geez,
that that really that makes that takes ship, That takes
your depth. But the depth by then, if you're in
the playoffs, some of those guys have to go to
the bullpen, you know. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy. Is Malley's
a free agent after next year too? Right, so they're
they're gonna lose.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Kelly.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
Now we got to consider Kelly, and then basically the
entire bullpen is free agents except for garc.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
So so I think some of them will be cut
be back.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
I think so too.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
You know, you'll you'll free up a ton of money
with Gray and Malley. You're going to free up around
third million dollars there just for those two guys alone.
And you know, if you if you decide to to
trade Garcia, you're freeing up another you know ten let's say,
so you're gonna have and and then some of these

(25:15):
relievers won't be back. I don't think the Rangers are
gonna resign Chris Martin. He's just too brittle right now.
So you might be looking at fifty million dollars to
work with and and depending on how aggressive you want
to be on the offense, I think the focus would
be trying to, you know, re sign. There's nothing wrong

(25:35):
in resigning Patrick Corbin, all right, right, you know Kelly's
great number five started. If you want to give Meryl,
Kelly's gonna get a pretty hefty raise. But he's not
as young as you think for a guy who's testing
free agency for the first time, so that that'll that'll
knock down some of his his value the age factor,

(25:55):
so you know, and then Kyle Tucker is the big
dog out there, and you know, I'd at least want
to see what it looks like.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
I'd have him in to sit down. Let's sit down,
Let's go walk around the stadium and remember how well
you did here.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, I'd make some phone calls on him.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
But you know, if you're gonna sink thirty million into
that guy, then you're really gonna be piecing some things together.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yeah, no doubt. Good lord, well, I mean it was interesting.
It was so fine. I mean the outlook right now.
This team is so in it. I mean, good lord.
We were not talking about it a few weeks ago.
It's not that we were saying they were out of it.
We said they were right there. But man, they are
in it now. Boy, when they get Mally back too,
they're gonna have some depth at pitching for sure. Get

(26:43):
these bats rolling somewhere or another. It's interesting, it's interesting.
This should be fun. That's just what it's about. Meaningful
baseball down the stretch is what we wanted, and it
certainly looks like that's what we're gonna get.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Yeah, in the next I mean the next ten days
are gonna be tough. You know, three more against the.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
The Mariners, the Yankees, and.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
Then the Phillies. Uh, then then the Diamondbacks. So you know,
they're they're not going to be too fired up. But
it's it's a tough little stretch here and and it
may not it may it may not look good when
that stretch is done, but there's still gonna be a
lot of baseball left. And again, nobody's running away in

(27:23):
the American League, and the Astros are having their issues
right now. The Mariners probably have the most momentum, I
would think, but uh, you know, like, are you scared
of the Are you scared of Cleveland?

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Not really?

Speaker 3 (27:36):
The Royals, not without not without Cole Reagan's the Rays, No,
because that division is too tough. So I really think
that the Rangers are in a really good spot here.
They just have to, you know, figure out a way
to get and and they and they and they think
they've done it with what they did at the deadline.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
Yeah. And speaking of that trade deadline stuff, they not
only was good what they picked up, but they they
did send out some very high, well thought of prospects.
And we're gonna get to that when we go down
in the bus leagues next. All right, now it's time

(28:16):
to go down in the bus leagues, and this one
we need to get things again, the whole show, not
just down in the bus leagues. It's brought to just
by the Round Rock Express, the Triple A teams for
the Rangers, and big thanks to those guys down there
for doing what they do for us.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Yeah, we love those guys. You know, Chris and Tim
are so much fun. And Ryland does a great job.
And I don't want to leave out Aubrey either, she
does an awesome job. I don't want to leave anybody out.
But good people, uh, you know, good baseball family. They've
been together for a long time. And again this is
a big year for them as a franchise, the twenty
fifth year, and you know, you're you're gonna see some

(28:53):
some good players go through there. You're going to see
some good teams come and good prospects come and there,
so you know, make sure you go to randrockexpress dot
com and and uh check them out because they're they're good.
They're good people and we love them and they like.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
What we do. So it's a it's a nice partnership
we're grateful for.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah. And Okay, before we get going on each level
and what's going on with each level and where they're
standing right now, let's talk about who the Rangers dealt yesterday. Uh,
there were some big names that we liked, both of
us that we talked to. Both of them we talked
to this season on Cold Week and Mitch Bratt tell
us about everyone that was dealt and kind of where

(29:38):
they were in this organization.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
Uh, for first up, in the Danny cool Ohm trade,
the Twins got Garrett Horn.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
He was in a ball.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
He was the six round pick last year, didn't make
his pro debut until really a couple months ago if
that from Tommy John surgery.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Rangers drafted him from Liberty. He had the.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
Injury and he was a left hander kind of an
intriguing arm. So anyway, he's gone. And then we'll skip
to the Phil Maton trade and the Rangers sent out
Mason Molina, who the Rangers had just gotten in the

(30:23):
off season in the Grant Anderson trade with the Brewers.
And Melina just pitched his tail off in his last
start for for Hub City there at the High A level,
So audios, to mister Molina.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Unfortunately, I was honestly.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Thinking about trying to trying to get him on the
show because he was doing so good and kind of
an interesting guy, an interesting story. Went to Arkansas, so
we won't be getting him on the show. They sent
some international slot money there as well, and then.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
Gosh, the.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
Oh it's escaping me, John help a brother alb ke No, no, no,
they sent somebody else in that film matan deal that's
completely blind signing me. And you've heard of him, I
don't know he's been on our show. Oh yeah, Skyler Hales,
Yeah he's been on our shows.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
Yeah, yea, yeah, yeah, we've been on the show.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah yeah, hard, hard throwing right hander, part of the
twenty twenty three draft from Santa Clara. He's a fourth
round pick, super super kid. And you know, the Cardinals
traded Ryan Helsley, who throws about as hard as a
scholar Hales does. So maybe maybe the Cardinals see something there.

(31:41):
I know the Rangers like them as a potential, you know,
closer option in future years. All right, now we can
go to MARRIW Kelly and this is this is the
one that stings us, and it stings some of the
other guys in the organization too. Cole Drake, who who
had been on our show. He was in Big league
spring training.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
Uh, he thought did not make his debut this year
if possible.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
He was up to He started it Frisco, went to
Triple A recently and has been pitching really, really well.
He's from Wiley, so the hometown kid gets traded by
his hometown team. And he was as high and I
think in some prospect rankings for the Rangers as their
fourth or fifth best prospect. Mitch Bratt was also traded
in the Kelly deal, and this is the one that

(32:23):
stinks because Mitch is such a good kid and he
is just a kid at twenty two. He just turned
twenty two. Left hander was in Frisco pitching well, and
there's some debate internally which one would be better, and
some people think it's Bratt a little more pitch ability
maybe right now. And then David Hageman went as well,

(32:46):
same kind of like horn fifth rounder last year. Also
Tommy John Surgery West Virginia, throws hard. The guys really,
the guys really liked him. I remember Kip when he
was on our show last year after the draft he said,
keep an eye on David Hagman. Well, now in Arizona,
I think Bratt, if I'm not mistaken, is rule five eligible.
So the Diamondbacks are going to have a choice, a

(33:09):
decision to make. Do they put him on the forty
and if they don't, they leave him exposed.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Hey, maybe the Rangers can get him back. Let's let's
be positive here.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
But anyway, so six prospects, you know, we we kind
of forget the little trade with the Tigers of Cody
Howard Hue were however, he says his last name.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
He had been pitching his tail.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
Off, why ground rock, but he wasn't a prospect.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
Uh he you know, he was not a prospect.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
And the Rangers cleared a forty man spot and got
some salary relief there. So anyway, that's that's who was
giving up. The pharm system took a hit, There's no
question about it. Absolutely positively took a hit. They traded
six pitchers for crying out loud, so that you know
you're you're now you're leaning on this year's draft class.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yeah, transactions, there's some guys that are probably gonna be
especially some arms that might be.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yeah, and and this does allow the Rangers to not
have to release as many guys when they start putting
the you know, the draft picks the guys from the
recent draft picks into action. And so anyway, uh, you know,

(34:23):
this is the system took definitely took a hit, you know,
and but you can always reacquire amateur talent or acquire
amateur talent, and so this offseason, you know, again, if
if Dolad Scarcia gets traded, there's an opportunity for the
Rangers to recoup some prospects there. And uh, you know,
they'll they'll make some. They always seem to find some

(34:47):
some make some heady, smart, affordable minor league signings internationally,
at least you know, the Dominicans. So uh, there's a
lot that can happen here. Uh for the time being, though,
you you you're going to miss the guys that were
sent out, and you hope the best for them, and
you hope obviously that the players that they were sent

(35:09):
out for helped the big league club get to the
get to the promised Land.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah. Absolutely, and you know, pro scouting get pro scouting
a lot of props because we were talking mount in
our leagues right now. But pro scouting at the major
league level did a hell of a job, because did
you see what happened to Hawser yesterday. I know, I'm
bringing it up in the minor league. Howser that set
at Triple A and finally took his free agency goes
to the White Sox, and he ended up getting traded

(35:33):
to the Rays, you know, for a prospect. And I
mean the Rangers had him here and they didn't want
to let him go. He was good at just they
were blocked at the big league level. But let's go
to Triple A.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Now.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
We're going to start where they're at right now and
talk about some guys there. And I want to talk
about one guy there because I did get to see
him before he went back Triple A. We got the
round Rock Express. They're fourteen and three right now, they're
like in fourth place. They're four and six in their
last ten. They didn't win last night. A few names
to talk about there. There's a few more they're gonna
be coming there, I think with everything that's happened in

(36:06):
the last twenty four hours. But you know, Freeman, I
caught Freeman the day got sent down, but I caught
him before and got to give him a big hug
and congratulate him. Boy, you talk about taking what you
did here going down to the minor leagues and going
you guys made a mistake. That guy did it. Look
what he's done in the last week. Geez. He had

(36:28):
four home runs. He's just hit, had three hits a night.
Whatever he's doing, he's killing the ball.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
And and maybe he got the taste and he wants it.
Maybe maybe they gave him something to work on when
he goes back to the minor leagues and he's he's
finding success with it.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
I think he'll be back pretty soon, you know.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
And if the offense languishes it all, then you know,
there's an opportunity for him. And also you know, and
I know he hasn't caught in two years. And one
thing that while I was on vacation is when Higashioka's
hamstring started to hurt, and uh, and they said, well,
you know, Cody Freeman's a backup catcher. It's like, well, God,

(37:09):
and what circumstances are you gonna put him in? So
I don't know how much faith they have in him,
but there there is always that in his in his
back pocket.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
But and you know it's a it's an easy switch.
Him and Duran are the same player, and they can
switch out immediately if Duran. You know, I think a
lot of people wanted if Duran would get moved. They do.
They do still have control of him, but he's got options,
and he could get Cody Freeman can come up for
that right handed bat. You know that if you wanted
to put up here, he can because they've got some

(37:36):
guys to play first base right now. I know that's
kind of Duran's right handed bat guy over there at first. Foscu,
you could come out and do that. But boy, Cody Freeman,
you keep hitting like that, they're gonna find a spot
for you.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Sure you're you're going to force her hands. And one
more on on Triple A with Harris and krim d Fade.
If they clear, it's their first time being dfaided, so
they'll be outright assigned back to Triple A. They can't
refuse the assignment, so they won't be on the forty
man anymore, but they'll still be in the organization, and

(38:10):
you would think they would be options. But you know,
if if I'm being honest, I hope they get claimed
because we like the guys. They deserve a chance to
be in the major league because they're just kind of
blocked right now. And especially still want playing Frame to
get that first We want that. We want for him
to get that first big league hit.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yep, and I think you will. And you know what
with with what some of the teams cleared yesterday, the
Minnesota Twins, look for them, this may be someone that
picks up him and just you know, they gave up
so much yesterday that he go over there. It's obvious
they're going to sell the team. And they basically cleared
out the entire locker room, geez, the clubhouse, and.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
They turned ten guys that were on. They turned ten
guys this week.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
It's crazy, unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
And I would pull for Blaine. I hope that that
you know in harsh too, Yeah, we both Carris, all right,
let's go down to double A Double A Frisco. They're
eleven and nineteen. They're the ones struggling a little bit
right now. They're three. They won last night, but you know,
they've lost a couple of starting pitchers, whether one of
the big ones Drake got moved up. They've got w
Leo there Now Brat's now gone, so they're not going

(39:18):
to have him and the rotation anymore. Let's see what's
going on. But they still got talent there, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
They just added Josh Trina dude, who's an interesting prospect
pitching wise, So we'll see what happens there. Abby Ortiz
has been swinging a big bat lately, a lot of
home runs. He's up to sixteen now. Cam Cowley's been
doing really really.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Well for our.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
You know, a former former guest on our show. We
need to get him back on. He steals bases. He's
playing center field now too, in addition to what he's
doing in the infield.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
That's something to keep note of.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
But the Rangers are I asked Ross fencer Maker about
Cam recently and they're really pleased with what he's doing.
Of course, all the all eyes are on Sebastian Walcott
as they always are, and he's just kind of hanging
in there. You know, he's not doing any worse, he's
not doing really any better, just kind of it's the
dog days and this is he's maybe fighting a little bit,

(40:22):
but he's surviving. He hasn't gone in the tank. He't
he hasn't really taken off. We got to keep in
mind nineteen years old, nineteen years old. So anyway, those
are the guys to watch there.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah, absolutely, all right, let's go down to Hyaua where
they are in first place. They're nineteen, they're nineteen and fourteen,
four and six in their last ten. They did lose
last night. Who's some of the guys there that are
I mean, who may not be there very long, but
we're still dryings there.

Speaker 3 (40:53):
Sure, you know Figuereo, he's such an interesting guy. If
he could, you know, make a little more contact. He's
basically you know, if you look, you look at his numbers,
seventeen home runs, all right, which is I might be
leading the organization three doubles, so like it's it's all

(41:16):
or nothing, you know, one hundred and eight strikeouts, which
is also pretty pretty high. But he does get on
base even though he doesn't hit. You know, you kind
of look at the difference between the average and the
on base and it's an eighty point difference.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
So there's something there.

Speaker 3 (41:31):
It's it's it's an intriguing, intriguing guy. I'm not I'm
not sure though that anybody's really screaming for a promotion.
I do wonder if Malcolmore doesn't get to double a
this year just because of where the Rangers are in
their catching h he's not hitting great since he's come
back from his injury, but I do wonder if maybe,

(41:54):
just maybe that's something that might happen. So anyway, and
then on the pitching side, well, they just lost you know,
trend A dude, and they lost Molina in the trade.
So who else do they have. Well, they still have
Jose Gonzalez, who's just the premium strike thrower. Uh, you know,
they lost Leander ro Lopez who's now at at at

(42:14):
Frisco too, so uh, the the.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Roster is in motion.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
And Dylan McClain, he he, you know, if he paid
attention to the trade deadline the Phillies. The Phillies traded
Mick Abel, who's a former first round pick and I
think a top one hundred prospect. Anyway, he and he
and McClain were high school teammates. So and that's how
the Rangers got on to McClain is because they went

(42:42):
to watch Abel throw a bullpen and and they ended
up also watching watching McClain. Left hander tall Wiry it
was gonna.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Take some time.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
But he's you know, you kind of look at his
numbers and they're pretty good. Uh not not double a
ready probably, but a guy to kind of look at
and keep an eye on.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
All right, let's go down to Hickory Loware. They are
twenty and thirteen. They're they're not in first place, they're
in second place. The four and six in their last ten,
they've lost a couple of games, same characters there. Although
I think some of the draft class this year could
end up out there, You think.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Well, yeah, I do.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
I think a couple of things, you know, with the
draft class could they could end up going there. Because
the the Arizona Complex League is over, We'll get to
that in a minute. But so you're gonna see potentially
this roster turnover pretty pretty significantly. H Braylan Morell has
has was promoted from the Complex League. He should have started,

(43:44):
maybe would have started the season there if not for injury,
you know, and you do just kind of look at
the roster. It's it's Max and Martin. Maybe he's due
for a promotion. Devin Fitzgerald, who's had a little bit
of a shoulder injury, hasn't played in a little while,
but he's they don't believe it's anything serious. Polino Santana

(44:04):
has has debuted at at low A after the Complex
League season ended.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
So you're going to see a lot of these names.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
That were in Arizona now transitioning toward the toward you know,
a full season affiliate, which is cool. And then you know,
keep in mind how young, how young Santana is. So
then you have Cayden Scarborough who had a really good, good,
really good July. He's really starting to come into his
own and the prospect hype is starting to look more

(44:38):
legitimate based on what he's done this month. So those
are those are the names to watch there. But again
this is this is a roster that's going to turn
over quite a bit.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
Yeah, and then we go down to the Arizona Complex League.
It is over. They did they they did end up
winning their division. They were thirty three and twenty seven,
and then they got beat by the Giants in their
little one game.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
It's just it's a one game playoff, you know, they
just they just go out there in one game and
they ended up losing like four to one or something.
So the you know, the Rangers a c L team
is a perennial playoff team.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
They are always good. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
Yeah, they have a lot of young international talent there.
And you know the thing that sucks about this being
over though, is there's not a you know, there's not
much of a.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
A way to ease in the new the new draftees.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
You know, is he gonna end up going to Hickory.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
He may not.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
I don't know that he's gonna end up making his
debut this year, but uh, you know that they'll there's
still gonna be daily activity out there, and they have
a lot of players out there, so it'll be inner
squad games and things like that.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
But it does stink in that.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
There's not the easy layup just you know, because they
all got Arizona to get onboarded Okay, all the draftees
go and learn the organization and all this u you know,
start working out, getting on their programs and everything. But
and then it used to be just like, all right,
just go play in this ACL game. But now it's like,

(46:13):
do we want to send you all the way to
low to Low A and And.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but we'll so we'll
see how that works out.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
You know, it's especially hard for the young guys like
like Fiend, you know, a first round er who.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Is in high school. And then you know, with the
month gap.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Between the end of the college season and the draft,
a lot of these college pitchers haven't thrown in a
long time, So do you want to risk building them
up quickly just so they can make their debuts. So
that's kind of that's kind of where their player development
is at, and you have some tough decisions. But I
think any of the college position players will probably get

(46:54):
sent out and maybe you'll see some of the like
the college relief college relievers may end up going to Well.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
It's really bad that they moved this draft into that
All Star weekend and everything together, because it was easier
when it was done in June and then you could
put your guys out there, put them in the A
cl and move them around. But okay, let's go down
to the DSL. The red team is in second place
down there. They're twenty eight and fourteen and the blue
teams thirteen and thirty. Uh, they're still playing down there.

(47:24):
But that blue team, who they treated, they will try
to tell you that they have they have split the
teams evenly they have not.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Yeah, they're not they're not they're not making any this year.
They're not making any any They're they're not saying that
this year it's loaded.

Speaker 3 (47:45):
You know, there's a there's a huge difference between the teams,
you know, and and you kind of look around, uh
and and it's again, it's the it's the guys who
you're you're glad that they invested the money in.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
You know.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
The Lorki Rodriguez has been fantas astic as you know.
And he was just signed a few months, you know,
in January, and here he is at seventeen and he
has he leads the team in home runs with six,
He has an a thousand and eight ops.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
He has.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
Walked more than he struck out. He's doing everything. He
he if you want to if you want to knock
the guy, he's he's only seven four eleven in stolen bases,
all right, So that's pretty good. The the the Kubano
who the Rangers signed late our goodin he's been fabulous.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
He's a little bit older. I would I.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
Would think they might think about getting him to to Hickory.
He has a one point eight four ops he's been
the he's been the league's player of the Week twice
this season, so there's an opportunity there for him and
John Simon, who is another key guy who who the

(49:01):
Rangers signed in January. Uh, third basement, big body has
it's shown a lot of power, but he's really picked
it up offensively.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
He's back. He's up over three hundred now. So there
are guys and and.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
You're gonna you're gonna hear about got them, and you're
gonna want to follow them, and their seasons not quite
over yet.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
And you said they're.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
Not in first place, right John, Right, Well they may
end up doing something.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
We'll see.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
All right, guys, let's wind this one down. We almost
won an hour. I didn't know if we would without
a guest, but we did.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
There was a lot to talk about at both the
big league and the minor league level because there were
people moving in and out of both places, and uh,
we still expect more to come. Let's watch the minor
league transaction while of guys. That might be something to
keep a hold of and see where players are going
and who moves around, because there are some spots to
feel now at the Triple A double A level and
on down. But Jeff, when do you come home Sunday?

Speaker 2 (50:00):
I'm I'm not.

Speaker 3 (50:01):
I'm not gonna uh stick around for the series finale,
so I'm gonna red eye it Saturday night and then
John Radigan and I will have a postgame show on
Sunday to wrap up the series. And then uh uh
and then and then the end of the town. So
ought to be ought to be some good baseball here
the next the next ten days or so.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Well, guys, that's it. We're gonna wind it down for
Jeff Wilson. I'm John Moore until next week, which we'll
get a guest on here. Guys will see at the
yard