The Texas Rangers traded for Max Scherzer, Jordan Montgomery, Chris Stratton, and Austin Hedges.
All of them have been successful for the club so far, and the Rangers are 11-2 in August.
Scherzer is 3-0 as a Texas Ranger, Montgomery has a sub-3 ERA, Stratton has been great out of the bullpen, and Hedges can frame pitches like no one else.
The knock on the Rangers for many years was that they fell apart after the All-Star break; that is not the case in 2023, as they have been one of the best teams in baseball since the break.
Chris Young should get executive of the year at this rate. Josh Jung would have been rookie of the year, and Bochy should get serious consideration for manager of the year.
While the Astros are not going away, the Rangers still managed to maintain or even stretch the lead in the American League West. The Texas Rangers appear to be for real.
The Rangers traded away some good prospects, including infield stud and brother to Ronald Acuna Luis Angel Acuna.
Texas also traded some good arms, but overall they did not give up as much as I thought they would improve the team.
It is easy to forget that the Rangers were missing Nathan Eovaldi, Corey Seager, Jonah Heim, and Josh Jung for a good portion of play since the All-Star break. And they still have a 19-9 record since the All-Star break.
The Astros picked up Justin Verlander at the break, have played great, and are still losing ground to the Texas Rangers. The Angels have fallen apart since the break.
Seattle and Houston are the Rangers’ main problems now. If they continue to take care of business, they won’t be much of a problem.
CY and the front office deserve a lot of credit for the moves they made both in the off-season and at the trade deadline. Scherzer, in particular, looks really comfortable in a Rangers uniform.
In my opinion, when Eovaldi returns to the lineup, this team becomes even better. Considering that they are 11-2 in August, it is almost scary to think they can be more efficient.
The Texas Rangers are a year ahead of the schedule that most of us predicted a few years ago.
Most of that is thanks to the work of Chris Young and the front office.
Some of that credit has to go to Jon Daniels and the work he did in preparing the rebuild before CY arrived. They are a legitimate contender in 2023 and beyond.
It will be a fun ride for the remainder of the 2023 season and beyond.
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