Voices. 189 comments


 

 

On this day in Rangers history, July 28, 2015, the Texas Rangers were in third place, five games under .500.

Today, the Rangers are in third place in the West, and only three games under .500.

In 2015, the Rangers traded for Cole Hamles, caught fire, went 39-22 the rest of the way, and caught the Angels and the Astros and won the West.

The Rangers aren’t going to catch the Astros this year. But if they can do what they did in 2015, who is to say they can’t do that again in 2017 and make it into the wild card, where anything can happen?

That is the what the little nagging voice in the back of Jon Daniels’s head is saying.

Does he listen to it, or ignore it?

Does he let the most valuable pitching asset he’s ever had walk away at the end of the season for nothing, or trade it now to restock a farm system that is as fertile as the surface of Mercury (which is not fertile at all since it is so close the the sun and nothing can grow on it)?

In the past when he got to the trade deadline, he had a nice stack of chips in front of him when he sat down to the poker table.

Now he has no hand and no chips. Only a gold watch named Yu Darvish that he can pawn for a ride home. And, if he chooses, a pair of tin cufflinks named Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Gomez, and a beat up money clip named Andrew Cashner he might be able to turn into meal money.

I have a feeling that somewhere in the back of Daniels’s mind that little voice is also telling him he can trade Darvish and still add some parts to make the playoffs this year.

Here’s hoping he listens to the voice of reason.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Chris Tillman (1-5, 7.61) vs. Andrew Cashner (5-8, 3.64)
Game time: 7:05

How the Orioles hit against Cashner.
How the Rangers hit against Tillman.