ANAHEIM, Calif. — With less than 48 hours to go until the trade deadline, one thing is clear: The Rangers are searching for relief help. ESPN’s Buster Olney even went so far as to call them aggressive, which is definitely better than “desperate,” but it is a priority.
Where the Rangers are concerned, it’s best to consider their approach to relievers thusly: Unless you hear otherwise, expect they’ve contacted any team with available relievers. But here is what we heard on Tuesday, according to multiple baseball industry evaluators monitoring trade conversations, on a number of specific fronts:
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Rangers are among a handful of teams in conversations with the Pirates about closer David Bednar, a Pittsburgh native, who has bounced back from a poor 2024 season. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Rangers, Tigers and Phillies are among teams that have reached out about Bednar, 30, who has a 2.37 ERA and 17 saves this season.
Rangers
Bednar, who has about $2 million left on his contract for this year, is also controllable through 2026, which will likely up the asking price. According to the Post-Gazette, the Pirates have been seeking a prospect from an organization’s top five to front the deal, but the Rangers system is thin beyond No. 1 prospect Sebastian Walcott, who is likely untouchable.
Colorado Rockies
The Rangers have spoken with Colorado about a trio of relievers – Jake Bird, Victor Vodnik and Tyler Kinley – that the rebuilding Rockies have made readily available. Colorado might make sense as either a team willing to move quickly or a potential fallback should other higher profile options not materialize.
Bird, 29, who had a 1.41 ERA as recently as June 10, would likely hold the most interest. He is pre-arbitration eligible and would be under team control for three additional years. He also averages more than a strikeout per inning and has the best strikeout-to-walk rate of the trio, a key metric for the Rangers. With less than $300,000 remaining in salary this year, he’d create no additional stress on the payroll, perhaps leaving room for the Rangers to further maneuver.
The issue with Bird is that he’s had a lousy month, which may actually play in the Rangers’ favor in trade talks because it has potentially diminished his value, allowing them to buy relatively low. Since July 1, Bird has allowed 14 earned runs in just 6 1/3 innings. He did not retire any of the four batters he faced in the seventh inning of Colorado’s 8-6 win over Cleveland on Monday, suffering a blown save in the process.
Vodnik, 25, is also pre-arbitration eligible, but he’s averaging over five walks per nine innings. He’s an extreme ground ball pitcher who ranks 15th in the majors among relievers in ground ball percentage. Kinley, 34, signed a three-year deal after posting a 0.75 ERA in 2022 and is in the last year of his deal. He’s got about $1 million remaining in his contract, plus a $750,000 option buyout to consider (because that would go on the 2025 CBT payroll ledger) and he struggled for the first two months of the year, but entered Tuesday with a 2.50 ERA over his last 18 innings during which he’s had 22 strikeouts and five walks. His rental status might make him the most easy-to-acquire of the trio.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rangers and Tampa Bay have had at least preliminary discussions about closer Pete Fairbanks. The Rangers drafted Fairbanks in 2015 and he made his major league debut with the club in 2019 before being traded to Tampa shortly thereafter for infielder Nick Solak.
While Solak’s time with the Rangers came to an end in 2022, Fairbanks, 31, has thrived in a late-inning role with Tampa Bay. Fairbanks has closed for Tampa Bay since 2023, converting 66 saves in 77 chances. Fairbanks has a 2.70 ERA this year for Tampa Bay with 18 saves.
He has about $1.3 million remaining in salary for the year, plus an option for 2026 with a $1 million club buyout.
Perhaps the most concerning issue around Fairbanks is the precipitous drop he’s seen in strikeouts over the last two years. He averaged 13 strikeouts per nine innings from 2020-23, but is averaging just 8.2 per nine innings over the last two seasons. He has seen his average fastball velocity drop almost two miles per hour from its 99-mph peak in 2022 to 97.3 mph this year. He’s also seen a gradual decline in swing-and-miss percentage on his slider in that time too.
St. Louis Cardinals
According to a report from MLB.com, the Rangers are among a half-dozen teams who have inquired about Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley, who has about $2.75 million remaining on his contract this year before becoming a free agent. Because he’s a rental, the 30-year-old two-time All-Star, who led baseball with 47 saves last season and has a 3.00 ERA in 36 innings this year, would likely cost less in terms of prospects than some others. But his remaining contract would cause some CBT issues for the Rangers. That would require St. Louis to pay most of his contract; to do that, the Cardinals would likely require more in player capital.
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