Probably the worst thing about good being a player on a bad team is that every single talking head on every single media outlet targets you for a trade.

Now that the Rangers are in freefall mode with the trade deadline two weeks away, Mike Minor’s name is bandied about by everyone in trade rumors.

It’s bad enough being a Rangers fan and hearing that, now that your team finally has a quality, competent pitcher, they are shopping him around, giving you even more reason to avoid going out to the old ballgame, but imagine what it must be like for the player.

Mike Minor is not thrilled by any of it. And that’s no surprise. He expressed some frustration about it to mlb.com’s T. R. Sullivan. 

“It does make us mad,” Minor said. “We’ve played well all season, then we lose a couple of games and we’re supposedly ready to deal guys when we have two-and-a-half months left in the season?”

He wasn’t finished airing his feelings: “I don’t want to go anywhere,” Minor added. “It seems like ever since I signed, I’ve been a topic. It’s like I signed here just to be traded.”

As a fan I get this quest to build for the future. But eventually you have to tend to the present. 

Under the Jon Daniels regime, the Texas Rangers are monumental failures at developing pitching. There is no debate or argument about it. He sucks at that. Sorry to sugar coat it. 

So, when they finally have a pitcher of the caliber and quality, and character, of Mike Minor, you don’t get rid of him. You build around him. 

Of course, I get the argument that you could get a haul of prospects for Minor. But so what? What is the guarantee that any of these prospects works out? The Rangers track record for that suggests they won’t. And don’t you eventually have to quit herding fog? 

And, really, what is more valuable? Three prospects that each have less than a ten percent chance to be anything at all? Or a quality top-of-the-rotation major league starting pitcher? 

For the answer to that, look at the price teams pay for pitchers like Mike Minor.

Trading Mike Minor would be foolish. Talent like that doesn’t come around often. Not in Arlington, at least. 

They finally have not one, but two seriously dominating starting pitchers. This is something the Rangers haven’t had for years. This is something you build around, not tear apart. 

Trading Mike Minor would be foolish. Which is why there’s a huge likelihood that’s exactly what Jon Daniels will do. 

*****

NO GAME TODAY.