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Latest Rangers Trade Rumors

As of the time of this article being posted, the trade deadline is just over 36 hours away. Expect business in the Rangers front office to pick up dramatically - and soon.

T.R. Sullivan reports tonight that Texas and Arizona are discussing a deal that would send first baseman Conor Jackson, AA outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and a pitching prospect to the Rangers for Mark Teixeira. The Arizona Republic also confirms the Diamondbacks’ interest.

Meanwhile, FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal says that according to major league sources, left-hander Matt Harrison has been shut down due to left shoulder tendinitis, and is no longer part of the Braves’ offer. Atlanta has reportedly sent the Rangers a list of pitchers to consider as Harrison’s replacement, which does not include Jo-Jo Reyes, and Rosenthal writes that the deal could potentially become a 4-for-2 swap, with Teixeira and a reliever presumably headed Atlanta’s way.

Although Rosenthal says that Arizona’s offer comes up short of Anaheim’s and Atlanta’s, I’m not quite so sure. Conor Jackson projects as a solid, if not spectacular first baseman, with PECOTA projecting him for an EqA in the .285-.295 range over the next five years. Jackson is hitting .274/.372/.430 with 7 HR in 277 AB for the Diamondbacks this year; he projects to top out at around 20 HR, but his ability to draw walks and hit doubles could make him an above-average offensive first baseman in Arlington.

Carlos Gonzalez is a toolsy corner outfield prospect, who ranked 18th on Baseball America’s Top 100 rankings this spring and 31st on Baseball’s Prospectus’s Top 100. He’s been less than great this year at Double-A Mobile, batting .271/.312/.469 with 15 HR in 377 AB, but the fact that he’s just 21 years old certainly plays a big factor here. John Sickels ranked him as the 3rd best prospect in the Diamondbacks organization last December, rating him a B+ and noting that “weak plate discipline prevents A- grade.”

PECOTA isn’t too crazy about Gonzalez, projecting him as a 25 HR type power hitter but with less than optimal walk rates, and with EqAs in the .265-.270 range over the next five seasons. His questionable plate discipline is probably the biggest knock against him at this point. Meanwhile, Adam Morris thinks that the pitching prospect is the key to Arizona’s offer, while naming Brett Anderson as a player of interest.

Anderson, a 19-year-old lefty who was just drafted last summer, has compiled a 3.18 ERA in 116.1 innings between low-A South Bend and high-A Visalia this season. He’s struck out 120 batters, and has walked just 19; I think that ratio speaks for itself. Jamey Newberg notes that Anderson would have to be included as a player to be named later in any trade, since he just signed last September 7th and cannot be traded until this September 7th.

If the Rangers have no intentions of dealing Gerald Laird, there is a reasonable argument to be made that the Diamondbacks’ offer may be close to surpassing Atlanta’s and Anaheim’s, especially if Brett Anderson is among the pitching prospects made available by Arizona. Although there are reports to the contrary, I have a gut feeling that the Harrison injury may be a dealbreaker for the Rangers. That’s all conjecture right now, though.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News believes that Arizona’s entry into the Teixeira sweepstakes could bring the Dodgers back into trade discussions, although GM Ned Colletti is still refusing to part with Highland Park’s Clayton Kershaw. However, he’s apparently willing to deal James Loney and Andre Ethier. At this point, I don’t think you can argue that Kershaw is the Rangers’ #1 target, and if Los Angeles puts him on the table, Teixeira is likely going to be a Dodger.

Grant also says that Anaheim’s offer of Casey Kotchman and Joe Saunders is still standing; unless Angels GM Bill Stoneman steps up with Nick Adenhart or Brandon Wood as the third player, I seriously doubt Anaheim will get Teixeira.

For what it’s worth, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman still believe that Teixeira will be traded to Atlanta.

ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark also believes Teixeira will go to the Braves in the end, and includes this curious quote:

So now it’s time for the Rangers to close this deal, because yet another front-office man who is close to Braves GM John Schuerholz predicted Sunday that Schuerholz won’t wait much longer, saying: “This is just my gut feel, from knowing John for so long. But I’ll be very surprised if he lets this thing get past midday Monday. Midday on Monday leaves him 24-28 hours to go complete another deal, using one or more of the same players. And I can just about guarantee you he’s working on something else.”

As I said yesterday, Schuerholz putting a deadline on this whole thing really wouldn’t surprise me, because it shifts the pressure back onto the Rangers. However, if Jon Daniels believes he can successfully create a bidding war between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, then that deadline may very well come and go without a trade being consummated.

And finally, from the original T.R. Sullivan story at the beginning of this piece, there’s this quote:

The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and New York Mets are pushing hard for closer Eric Gagne. A source described the situation as “pretty warm.”

Gagne can veto a deal to the Red Sox, but cannot block a deal to the Yankees.

I’ll close out this trade rumor wrapup with a quote from one of Jayson Stark’s updates on Sunday, which seems to perfectly describe the kind of leverage the Rangers have right now in the baseball world:

“My theory,” said one AL executive Saturday, “is that Texas is controlling the market, and may even be stopping the market. They’ve got the best reliever and the best player on the market. So until they act, everything is stalled.”

Bold prediction: Expect to see Texas make at least one trade on Monday.

Even if it’s only to rid the Rangers of Sammy Sosa, once and for all.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 30th, 2007 at 12:45 am and is filed under The Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.