Will Weekend Sweep Push Rangers Toward Selling?

This weekend couldn’t have gone much worse for the Rangers, who were swept by their in-state rivals. Today’s 7-3 loss at Daikin Park was a fifth straight defeat for Texas. They’re down to 55-57 and have fallen 2.5 games back of the Astros after relinquishing the top spot in the AL West during Friday’s opener.

The recent skid undercuts a lot of the optimism that Texas had just a week ago when they took three of four from the Mariners. They’re still very much in play for both the division or a Wild Card spot (1.5 games back with two teams to jump for the latter), but that’s more about the state of the American League than a credit to the Rangers. Texas has been outscored by 36 runs, the fifth-worst mark in the AL.

It raises the possibility of pushing the Rangers into surprise late sellers with the deadline 18 hours from now. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic wrote Sunday morning that the Rangers weren’t ruling out a sale, especially if they lost today’s series finale. ESPN’s Jeff Passan similarly suggested this evening that there’s at least a chance Texas could make Jacob deGrom or Corey Seager available. That’d hardly guarantee a trade gets done, as there’d be various contractual complications to sort through in a short amount of time, but would make for a fascinating deadline day at Globe Life Field.

Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reports that Texas has received some recent trade interest in each of deGrom, Seager and designated hitter Joc Pederson. Texas would probably get calls on rental reliever Jakob Junis as well (though he’s currently shelved by an adductor strain). Speculatively, they could also entertain interest on Nathan Eovaldi and MacKenzie Gore if they decide a reset is necessary.

The Rangers were acting as modest buyers as of a few days ago. They acquired middle reliever Chase Silseth and depth catcher Logan O’Hoppe from the Angels on Wednesday. Texas continued to explore the market for bullpen/catching help while looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder and potentially a second baseman. All those would remain logical targets if they look to buy. However, they’re also reportedly operating without much payroll flexibility from ownership and have a bottom-tier farm system beyond top shortstop prospect Sebastian Walcott.

Most of their significant commitments run beyond this season. Seager is playing on a $31MM salary (around $9.3MM of which is still to be paid) and owed $155MM over five seasons after this one. He’s 32 years old and having easily his worst year, batting .192/.301/.383 with a 27% strikeout rate across 226 plate appearances. Seager just returned from his third injured list stint of the year, two of which have been related to his lower back.

It’s clearly not an appealing contract. If Seager were a free agent next offseason, he’d have a tough time commanding half of what he’s actually slated to make. Texas would need to eat a big chunk of money and/or take back other undesirable contracts. They could be motivated to do so this summer, though, as Seager has over 10 years of service time and is in his fifth season with the Rangers. If he completes the season in Arlington, he’d receive full no-trade rights at the beginning of the offseason as a 10-and-5 player.

Seager currently has an eight-team no-trade list built into his contract. Those clubs aren’t publicly known, though Rosenthal reports most of the teams to which he could block a trade wouldn’t have interest in acquiring him either way.

The Rays have gotten no offense out of shortstop but are highly unlikely to take a significant portion of Seager’s contract. The Braves could fit but already have one unattractive deal on the left side of their infield (for third baseman Austin Riley). The Padres (Xander Bogaerts) and Red Sox (Trevor Story) are also paying a significant amount for their shortstops. Boston could theoretically look into some kind of swap that’d see Texas take back Story’s deal — along with kicking in cash for the 2029-31 seasons — but that’s complicated by the presence of top shortstop prospect Franklin Arias.

It’d be easier to find teams willing to acquire deGrom, as his contract only runs through next year. He’s playing on premium annual salaries ($38MM this year, $37MM in ’27) and no longer the best pitcher on the planet. deGrom remains highly effective, though, working to a 3.96 ERA with an excellent 28.8% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk percentage. He was a top 10 Cy Young finisher as recently as last season and hasn’t gone on the injured list since 2024.

Teams are willing to pay huge annual rates for late-career aces. Zack Wheeler, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander have all commanded upwards of $40MM annually. The Tigers are paying Framber Valdez a $38MM AAV (around $36.5MM in net present value after accounting for modest deferrals). It’s not out of the question a big-market team would take most or all of deGrom’s salary if Texas simply wanted to dump the back end of the contract for a minimal prospect return.

However, deGrom’s deal came with a full no-trade clause that’d give him complete control. Rosenthal and Grant each suggest that the Florida native might be willing to waive the NTC for a contender in the Southeast. The Braves and Rays would be the obvious geographical fits, though Tampa Bay would again need Texas to eat a lot of the salary. Atlanta makes the most sense if anyone is to pull off a long shot blockbuster, but taking deGrom’s contract would send them into the third tier of luxury tax penalization unless they offload some money themselves.

Pederson is playing on an $18.5MM salary in the second season of his two-year deal. He’s essentially a rental, as his contract contains a mutual option that almost certainly won’t be exercised. Pederson had a dismal first year in Texas but has returned to his righty-mashing ways in 2026. He entered today’s game with a .255/.344/.514 line with 20 homers in 335 plate appearances. Pederson can’t hit lefty pitching and barely plays defense, so it’s a limited profile, but fewer players are better at his specific role.

The Diamondbacks have gotten nothing out of the DH or first base spots. They’re plenty familiar with Pederson, who had a huge year there in 2024, but might not be keen on taking the remaining $5.5MM+ on his salary.  They’re around $10MM shy of a luxury tax line which they don’t want to cross. Arizona also has needs on the pitching staff and potentially in the outfield. The Guardians, Padres or Braves could upgrade the DH spot. Maybe the Pirates would check in after losing Ryan O’Hearn for a couple months to a quad strain.

It’ll be interesting to see where president of baseball operations Chris Young and his staff focus their attention. They’re only a few months removed from sending five prospects to the Nationals for two years of control over Gore, a win-now move designed to make a run while deGrom and Eovaldi were still excellent pitchers. They’re in the hunt but haven’t played especially well and have a lot of big contracts. Do they believe in this core, and if not, are they able to reset some of their payroll without completely tearing things down? It seems safe to assume they’re not trading Walcott or Wyatt Langford, but virtually anything else could be on the table in either direction of the buy/sell line.