MLB insider makes Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi trade deadline prediction for Rangers originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Texas Rangers are nearly playing .500 baseball in a very winnable division.
As of Friday morning, just 5.5 games separate the first-place Athletics and last-place Houston Astros.
For Texas, they’ll need to prioritize offense instead of pitching at the trade deadline if they are in postseason contention. Their plus-8 run differential needs improvement if they want to maintain a Wild Card pace.
FanSided’s Robert Murray agrees that the Rangers will need to add a few bats. Murray wholeheartedly disagreed that the AL West club could trade one of Jacob deGrom or Nathan Eovaldi.
“The Rangers are absolutely still in the playoff picture and in a division that looks very winnable. They have the flexibility to move a starter after trading for MacKenzie Gore, of course, but this is a team that wants to win with its pitching,” Murray wrote Thursday. “
MORE: How son Justin Crawford made history like his father, Carl, with Don Mattingly
“Right now, they feel much more likely to add a bat rather than subtract from the major-league roster, let alone move one of their star pitchers. Let’s put this one to bed. I just don’t see it happening.”
deGrom, 38, owns a 2.01 ERA with 40 strikeouts through six starts. Eovaldi is off to a much slower start, but he threw seven scoreless innings against the New York Yankees a few days ago.
Trading either veteran wouldn’t make much sense for the Rangers.