Jacob deGrom is hitting the 60-day IL, and the Texas Rangers should at least consider making a trade to backfill his role in the starting rotation.
The Texas Rangers might need to look for even more starting pitching in the trade market this season. Though they have an impressive staff headlined by Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, and Jacob deGrom, the last of that trio has hit the 60-day injured list after only starting six games so far this season.
As a team, Texas has the third-best ERA and the fourth-best field-independent pitching. Looking at starting staffs specifically, the Rangers starters are second to just the Tampa Bay Rays and fourth in FIP.
The Rangers have fortified their 2023 attack primarily with their pitching. deGrom is out for the foreseeable future, and though Texas ultimately has to hope they can get him back later in the season, they shouldn't necessarily count on that. An added pitcher could help bring them through this period and also give another strong arm later in the season, whether deGrom makes it back in full health or not.
This year, especially, there are plenty of great pitchers who appear to be available in the trade market that Texas should consider trading for. Even better, several of them are on one-year deals which allows Texas to not necessarily commit to them for too long. deGrom, obviously, is here for the long haul, signing a five-year deal this past offseason.
The right move at the trade deadline could keep the Rangers on track and possibly make them stronger contenders for the postseason.
Let's look at some of the best names they could consider trading for.
Pitchers for Rangers to trade for: Michael Lorenzen from Tigers
Michael Lorenzen is the crown jewel of a struggling Detroit Tigers team. Signed to a one-year deal this December, it would make a lot of sense for Detroit to cash in while they can with Lorenzen's strong performance this year. His 3.21 ERA is his best since 2019, and his 0.994 WHIP is the strongest season of his career so far.
I have Lorenzen listed first here because I think, though he's a strong pitcher, he would be the worst option of the few we're going to discuss in this article. Lorenzen has relied on his defense the last two seasons, with a higher FIP than ERA both years. He's also allowing a home run per nine innings, though he's still below the league average of 1.16 in that metric.
Ultimately, Lorenzen is a strong pitcher and would be a reasonable addition to help backfill the loss of deGrom. He's performing above average and would fit seamlessly with the Rangers' approach of pitching first.
With the Rangers, some of his strong, low-runs-allowed starts could finally be capitalized into wins. He has a mild 2-2 record that could easily be higher if he had some offense behind him to help support.
Fans in Texas should be thrilled if they can get Lorenzen, but I think there are better options available.
Pitchers for Rangers to trade for: Marcus Stroman from Cubs
Marcus Stroman has a strong desire to keep playing at Wrigley Field for the Cubs, but the inevitable outcome might be for Chicago to trade him. For whatever reason — most will point to manager David Ross — the Cubs' pivot to competition has not exactly gone to plan this season.
The additions of shortstop Dansby Swanson and pitcher Jameson Taillon haven't moved the needle. Chicago finds itself toward the bottom of one of the league's more difficult divisions, and it's a lot easier to see a team like the Cardinals moving up the ranks than the Cubs in 2023.
With that in mind, Chicago might be forced to look for trades to make on its expiring, attractive player deals in order to get some assets to help fuel its continued return to competition.
Stroman, while a fan favorite and a player that would be kept in town ideally, might be an inevitable trade to make. Stroman is pitching one of the best years of his career and is on an expiring deal. He's the best trade bait they have.
For Chicago, the calculus also has to consider Stroman's age. A decline is surely in front of him, and committing an extension he wants that rewards him enough to keep his interest in Wrigley might not be wise given his best baseball might just be behind him.
But that trepidation is the Rangers' gain. They don't need Stroman to be good for the next several years, they need him to be good for this year. And this year he has been. His 2.39 ERA/3.49 FIP are some of the best results of his career. He's given up just eight barreled balls in total this year with a solid ground ball rate.
Stroman uses a heavily varied arsenal with six pitches, none that are used less than five percent of the time. He doesn't necessarily fit the archetype of a standard starting pitcher but he could be a strong, complicated (for opposing batters) addition to the mix of the Rangers rotation.
Pitchers for Rangers to trade for: Dylan Cease or Lucas Giolito from White Sox
Let's stay in Chicago, going just down to the southern part of the city for our final two players the Rangers should be considering trading for. This negotiation might take just one phone call to see what the White Sox want to part with and for what price.
The Chicago White Sox have at least two arms they might be looking to cash in with at the deadline: Dylan Cease and Lucas Giolito.
In my opinion, either of these players would be stellar adds for Texas, and are better than both Stroman and Lorenzen.
The White Sox are 22nd in the MLB in runs per game, so the pitching staff has gotten very little run support in their starts. They'd be instantly better somewhere like Texas.
Giolito gets the slight edge for his veteran experience over Cease, but both pitchers are capable. If the Rangers sign Cease, they'll be committed for a few extra years as well. If Texas strictly wants a rental, they should push for Giolito.
Giolito's main pitch, his 4-seamer, also has a -6 run value, whereas Cease's most-used (also the fastball) has a run value of +6. Cease mixes in his slider almost as much with a strong -5 run value, but Giolito is surely more of an ace replacement for deGrom than Cease is at this time.
Cease's fastball could come back up to where it once was. In previous years that was a statistically strong pitch, and it still sits in the 81st percentile in velocity and 94th percentile in spin rate. It has 2.2 inches of drop more than the league average, so there's potential for the pitch to be quite deadly.
That's the upside with calling Chicago, there are options on the table and multiple different things they can consider all in one phone call. For Texas, they would need to decide if they want a trade that serves as just a stopgap for this season or also a potential longer-term acquisition as well.
