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Rangers go deal-less at deadline - on purpose
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Rangers General Maganer Jon Daniels
If only more people in this world would show the kind of restraint Jon Daniels did under the pressure of this season's non-waiver trade deadline, the world would be a better place.
The Rangers general manager did not make a single move before yesterday's 3 p.m. deadline. Nothing. Not even a Topps trading card.
And it was exactly what Daniels wanted.
Today's Fort Worth Star Telegram lays out what Danies heard during the trade talks, and explains why nobody had to make a sappy farewell-to-Arlington speech today.
Daniels said he was willing to deal away some of the prospects in one of baseball's top minor league systems for a quality starting pitcher. But most of the available arms will be free agents after the season, and Daniels wasn’t willing to sacrifice the future for a pitcher the club might have for only a few months.
I'm not sure if I've ever heard the GM of a Major League club make that much sense.
There was obviously no need for more bats in the lineup (see: Manny Ramirez), as Texas has the most explosive bats in the American League. And there was no pitcher left on the market (see: CC Sabathia) that could make a big enough impact in the Rangers' win column.
So trading for the sake of trading was obviously not the right move. The Rangers began today 4 1/2 games out of the AL wild card, though they're fourth in line for that playoff berth. There's one of two ways to look at that: Either they are too far out, so it wasn't worth losing any big-time prospects (see: Taylor Teagarden), or they have a team that has put them in serious contention for the first time since 1999.
I'm an optimist, so I'll go with the latter theory. Either way, Daniels made the right move thursday by making no moves at all.
