Tex's Ranger Days Are Done

It appears Mark Teixiera is headed east and switching leagues. Personally, I love this move for the Atlanta Braves. They get another big bat in the heart of their order, plus veteran lefty reliever Ron Mahay to shore up their bullpen.

As for the Rangers, we'll see if they actually hold onto the players they acquired in this deal. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is a teriffic talent behind the plate, but was blocked in Hot Lanta by McCann. Elvis Andrus (what's with Braves prospects who can't spell Andrew, A-N-D-R-E-W?) is a raw, high-A shortstop who can fly, and field. Plus, at 18 years old, he's one of the youngest players in the Carolina League. Matt Harrison is a 6'4'', double-A lefty with good numbers (3.39 ERA, 1.30 WHIP 2.6 K:BB in 20 starts), and 19-year-old Rookie Ball righty, Neftali Feliz is a strikeout machine with a terrific fastball, but has been known to have command problems.

In the last few high-profile trades the Rangers have made though, they've been absolutely robbed. They gave A-Rod (and his contract) to the Yankees for Alfonso Soriano and Joaquin Arias (who's a career .289 hitter in almost 2,200 minor league at-bats, and is out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery a few weeks ago). They promptly traded Soriano to the Washington Nationals for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge, and Armando Gallaraga. Wilkerson hasn't been healthy and hasn't been good. Sledge was shipped to the Padres (more on that trade in a moment) and Gallaraga was pretty good in double-A (8-5, 3.95, 3.06 K:BB in 19 starts) and was just recently promoted to triple-A. Then there's the now-infamous "Adrian Gonzalez, Chris Young, and Terrmel Sledge to the Padres for Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka, and Billy Killian deal." Eaton threw 65 innings before getting hurt and heading to Philadelphia in 2007. Otsuka is a good reliever, who's been relegated to set-up duty this year, and Killian is a young catcher in the low-level minors who's now blocked by Saltalamacchia.

Add that all up and it means in the last three and a half years, the Rangers have traded Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soranio, Mark Teixeira, Adrian Gonzalez, Chris Young, Terrmel Sledge, and Ron Mahay, and only have Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Akinori Otsuka, Brad Wilkerson, Armando Gallaraga, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, Joaquin Arias, Billy Killian, and Neftali Feliz to show for it. Repeat after me...eew.

If nothing else, this deal makes the NL East race interesting, because it gives the Braves a lineup that, while perhaps not as potent as the New York Mets', is a whole lot more competitive. Ideally, the Braves would go with:

LF Willie Harris
SS Edgar Renteria
3b Chipper Jones
1b Mark Teixeira
RF Jeff Francoeur
CF Andruw Jones
C Brian McCann
2b Kelly Johnson

while the Mets would counter with:

SS Jose Reyes
2b Luis Castillo (also newly acquired)
CF Carlos Beltran
3b David Wright
1b Carlos Delgado
LF Moises Alou
RF Shawn Green
C Paul LoDuca

Atlanta is 4.5 out in the East and 2.5 back in the Wild Card, so the question is, does Tex (a Jim Biggs look-alike if you ask me) make the Braves a playoff team? I think it will be pitching, not offense, that determines the answer to that question.