The Rangers did several trades last week right before the deadline, including dealing Jake Diekman, Keone Kela, Cole Hamels and Jesse Chavez. So what did the Rangers get in return? And when in the world will they be good again? Can they be relevant soon?
The Ranger (IMHO) will not be relevant again until at least the 2021 season. Just a gut feeling. The offense is coming together this season with Profar and Rougie looking good at the plate, but others like Elvis, Beltre, and Choo probably won’t be here when the rebuild is finished. So the question is, will the pitching they acquired (and will continue to acquire) turn out to be what they need?
Lets look at the trades one at a time:
Jesse Chavez to Cubs for LHP Tyler Thomas. Thomas is a A ball pitcher, currently with the Hickory Crawdads. In Chicago at A ball he was 3-5 with a 2.88 ERA in 14 starts. He had 81 strike outs to 14 walks in 75.0 innings pitched. Since moving to the Rangers organization he has three starts, and is 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA. He has struck out 14 while walking 4. It will be a few seasons until we hear much about him.
Next, The Rangers traded Cole Hamels and cash considerations to the Cubs for RHP Eddie Butler, RHP Rollie Lacy and a player to be named later. Butler is combined (CHC and Texas) 2-2 with a 4.56 ERA (6.00 ERA with Rangers) with 13 strike outs and 9 walks. Lacy is in A+ ball with the Rangers, the Down East Ducks. For A+ ball with the Cubs he was 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched. He struck out 10 while walking four. For the Ducks, Rollie is 0-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 10 innings pitched (two starts), striking out 9 while walking six. The Rangers plan to develop him as a starter.
After that, the Rangers traded Keone Kela to the Pirates for LHP Taylor Hearn and a player to be named later. Hearn was sent to the Frisco Rough Riders from AA ball in Pittsburgh. In 2018 for the AA affiliate for the Pirates, Hearn was 3-6 with a 3.12 ERA in 19 starts. He had 107 strike outs to 38 walks. Now with Frisco, Taylor is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 1 start. We should hear from Hearn in the next year, I would project him to be in the majors either later this season as a September call up, or at least by 2019 in some form or fashion.
Lastly, the Rangers traded Jake Diekman to the Diamondbacks for RHP Wei-Chieh Huang and a player to be named later. Huang reported to the Rough Riders. He was 2-1 with a 2.00 ERA in 10 games (27 innings) for the AA affiliate in Arizona, and since joining the Rough Riders he is only thrown two innings, but has a 0.00 ERA in those innings.
The important thing to me is the Rangers still have three players to be named later in these deals. They are still researching who they are going to get, and I think this was a good choice by Daniels. Just some information for you guys on who the Rangers got in return for their July trades.
