Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers: The Game Within the Game

One could make the case that the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers are the two best teams in the American League this year, and that both could use upgrades as the trade deadline looms. This adds a bit of spice to the deadline this year.

As of this morning, the Texas Rangers have the third-best record in baseball at 47-27, while the Boston Red Sox, after beating Texas last night, have the seventh-best record at 41-32. While the Orioles, Blue Jays, Astros and just about every team in the AL Central will be active at the deadline, these two teams have a good chance of meeting in October as things sit.

With that in mind, there could be a game within the actual play on the field between GMs Mike Hazen and Jon Daniels this July.

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The Rangers are currently dealing with injuries in their rotation, losing both Derek Holland and Colby Lewis this week, while already having Yu Darvish on the shelf. This leaves Cole Hamels, Nick Martinez and Martin Perez as the healthy members of the rotation. Chi Chi Gonzalez is an option already on the 40-man roster that has some MLB experience, but the Rangers will likely need to look outside of their organization for upgrades in the rotation.

In Boston, knuckleballer Steven Wright has led the charge with a 2.01 ERA while the team has been getting decent support from Rick Porcello (8-2, 3.93) and David Price (8-4, 4.68). Price had been on a bit of a hot streak, lowering his ERA by over two runs over the last month and a half before the Rangers tagged him for six earned in just 2.1 innings last night.

Both teams will likely be in the market for a starting pitcher or two, and Texas will likely look to add a bullpen arm as well with their relief arms ranking 29th in baseball in ERA at 4.71. Only Cincinnati’s bullpen (6.01) has been more flammable this season.

Both Boston and Texas have stellar farm systems. Both teams need to make upgrades to help with their weaknesses. Which team gives themselves a leg-up for a potential postseason run will depend on a couple of factors: Timing and sacrifice.

As is the case with the trade deadline every year, teams that are out of contention gain prospects in order for those in contention to gain the services of a player that will likely be a rental for the rest of the season. While there are some rentals out there that could be appealing, like Oakland’s Rich Hill (likely to come off the DL next week), or perhaps Jeremy Hellickson with Philadelphia, the real assets could be those that still have some time left before free agency. Like Sonny Gray.

Oakland doesn’t necessarily want to trade away their ace in order to help a rival club, but if teams really ante up, which they’ll have to in order to land Gray, it would be difficult for Doug Forst and Billy Beane to not seriously consider an offer. The problem in this specific scenario is that Oakland and Texas are divisional rivals, so they would be at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to Gray.

This could lead to Texas being more ready to deal with Philadelphia, or perhaps the Yankees for Nathan Eovaldi, if he becomes available, or even Colorado for Tyler Chatwood (currently on the DL), who has a 1.25 ERA in seven starts away from Coors Field this season.

Whichever direction each team decides to go there will be competition, and if they really want a certain player, they’ll have to up their offer to outbid the other teams. You know, negotiations. In many cases, both Boston and Texas could be bidding against each other, which adds a white collar level to this on-the-field competition.

While both teams will have to sacrifice some of their depth in the farm system to make a deal happen, their timing could be everything. If one of these two teams wanted to make a move tomorrow, they would have to give up just a little bit more, but would also acquire the services of their addition for an extra month. Texas may want to hold off on adding players while they get a better idea of the timetables for their injured players, but by the time that happens it may be too late.

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Of the two teams, the Rangers should arguably want to make the bigger moves with some of their core players nearing the ends of their careers. Their window for contention has the possibility of shutting sooner than Boston’s, as the Sox are built around a young core of talent just starting to break out.

The sooner that a team is willing to part with a bigger crop of their prospects, the more it could help them down the line this season.

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