On July 7, the Texas Rangers were 44-47, trailing the Astros by 11 games in the AL West, and had just lost in a walk-off to the Los Angeles Angels. With less than a month to go before the deadline, it seemed pretty obvious what direction they were headed: sell, sell, sell.
Since then, they’re 13-5, and despite two more losses to the Angels this week, they’re tied with the Mariners for the third and final AL Wild Card spot. The sale is off, and the acquisition of LHP Danny Coulombe (1-0, 1.16 ERA) from the Twins was a buy. We’re still waiting to learn two things:
The first: what was the prospect price for Coulombe? But more importantly, with just over an hour left to the deadline, is this … it?
Sure, they needed a reliever, particularly with Chris Martin (calf, 4-6 weeks) and Jacob Webb (back spasms, 10-day IL) out of commission. But it sure seems like they could use one more bat to boost an offense that flailed for the first 3.5 months of the year, even if they have been hitting much better of late.