Texas Rangers Nab Carlos Beltran from New York Yankees
By Ron Juckett
Needing to shore up their offense, the Texas Rangers traded for New York Yankees slugger Carlos Beltran. In return, the Bronx Bombers get pitching prospect Dillon Tate.
In a move to bolster their offense, the Texas Rangers grabbed Carlos Beltran and cash considerations from the New York Yankees for pitching prospects Dillon Tate, Erik Swanson and Nick Green.
Beltran is having a monster year for New York. With 22 homers, his slash line is .304/.344/.546. It represents his best production since 2011 when he split the season between the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants. He played right field and spent time as the designated hitter for the Yankees. Texas could slide him in at DH with Prince Fielder being injured the rest of the season. With Shin-Soo Choo back on the disabled list, they needed another catalyst on offense. Beltran will be a free agent at the end of the year.
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In return, the Yankees get the number-four pick in last year’s draft in Tate. Although he is struggling with the full-season A-Ball Hickory Crawdads, the Yankees hope his hard fastball and high strikeout rate will improve in time. Drafted out of UC-Santa Barbara, he is in his first full season in the minors at age 22. In 16 starts, Tate has an ERA of 5.12 with 55 strikeouts in 65 innings. On the downside, he surrendered 78 hits and 27 walks. Ranked 36th on the MLB.com preseason prospect list, New York is banking on Texas selling him too early.
For the Rangers, Beltran joins a powerful lineup needing a further boost. A team stocked with young bats, he is now the third player on the team with 20 or more home runs joining Rougned Odor and Ian Desmond. Although they are 62-44, the gap between them and the Houston Astros in the American League West has closed to six games as Texas played sub-.500 ball in July.
The Yankees were not expected to be sellers at the trade deadline, but they have accumulated quite the haul of prospects for Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and now Beltran. They are poised to go into next year with a restocked farm system and millions in contracts off the books.
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If the Yankees can find the right role for Tate as a starter or a future closer, then they have done well in this deal. Still within a shout of the AL Wild Card, general manager Brian Cashman felt the pitching was not strong enough to make a serious push. In moving those these players, the Yankees have options going forward.