Texas Rangers trade Michael Lorenzen to Kansas City Royals, acquire Carson Kelly from Detroit Tigers

after a horrible weekend in Canada the Rangers have already made two trades ahead of the trade deadline does that mean they're buyers or sellers about all that and more on this episode of Locked on Rangers let's get into it you are locked on Rangers your daily Texas Rangers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day you are locked on to the World Series champion Texas Rangers I'm Bryce Patrick a cripplingly addicted Texas Rangers Fan covering this team for 11 seasons including all six as the founder and host of this podcast thank you so much for making lockon Rangers your first listen every single day you're not already you can follow me on Twitter at Bryce Patrick you can follow the show at lockon Rangers Hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and on YouTube where the best way you can help cow the show is to comment nearly any single thing below now before we get into the couple of Trades the Rangers have already made in a disastrous weekend in Toronto this episode is brought to you by supply house supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to get parts fast shop for your next Plumbing HVAC or electrical job and get fast shipping from coast to coast at supplyhouse.com now the Rangers have already made a couple of Trades ahead of this deadline acquiring the Tigers catcher Carson Kelly they gave up prospects Liam Hicks and Tyler Owens Liam Hicks is a 25-year-old catching Prospect to very much on base first decent uh defensive catcher not anybody that was in my top 30 prospects he was maybe would have been if I went all the way to to 50 I think he would have been somewhere in the 35 40ish range little bit on the older side not a whole lot of power really not much of any power in that bat but decent or guy but the Rangers needed some help offensively and Carson Kelly can provide that this year at least as the Rangers backup catcher giving Jaheim some more days off his feet while being able to put a catcher behind the dish that is not an offensive absolute zero like they have gotten out of Andrew kizner this year I mean a 394 Ops is just just about as bad as I've seen from a semi-regular big leager and Kelly this year has had a good year offensively his 16 Ops is right around League average seven home runs this year decent walk numbers decent strikeout numbers a very good defensive catcher as well not as much with the framing which I think Bobby Wilson can definitely help with that but in terms of throwing out Runners which is not something the rinders catchers have done well this year he is one of the better run control run prevention uh catchers in baseball his blocks above average are also fantastic as well so that is kind of the value that Carson Kelly is bringing he can also hit right-handed pitchers better this year than he has against left-handed pitchers you may remember the Rangers just stunk against Lefty pitcher for the first couple of months of this year and then since June 1st it has turned the other way around and that they can't hit righties which is a bigger problem and so they bring in Carson Kelly hoping that giving Jonah Heim some more days off or at least half days where he just dhing can maybe get that back going be a little bit less draining on him and get something out of the catcher spot the backup catcher spot offensively it's obviously not you know an impact bat they're not trading for a one SoDo or or something like that but it gives them just a little bit of something to get some kind of marginal Improvement uh don't give up very much at all I think that's a good trade it is something that the Rangers needed to improve an area that they addressed and did so without having to sacrifice too much really much if anything in terms of the long-term focus of this team I'm not sure what it means for kizner I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting DFA when the Rangers need to start making some more 40 man roster spots um but this is a decent trade I think it's a good upgrade and the other trade the Rangers made one that I kind of saw coming you might think that oh because the Rangers got swept this weekend it means that they're sellers that is not the case Michael lenen has been traded to the Kansas City Royals for left-handed pitcher Walter Pennington this was not the best weekend for lorensen not his best start by any means um but what he did in his final outing as a ranger was so impressive so selfless and had me honestly stunned after getting just battered around on Saturday just eaten alive by the Toronto Blue Jays lineup a Toronto Blue J's team that is was in the middle of selling off they traded like three players during this weekend series and the Rangers lost all three games to a team that was actively selling not great really not what you're looking for by any means but after just getting two outs in that game on Saturday and giving up five hits four runs just knocked around the Rangers depleted all of their long relief options in Aria and Dane Dunning each of them threw three or more Innings three Innings from Dane Dunning four and a third from Aria and then on Sunday absolute disaster strikes in John Gray leaving the game with a groin injury on the final warm-up pitch that he threw just incredibly horrible look they didn't get a single pitch out of John Gray in this game and so it was a bullpen day the day after depleting your two long relief options that probably wouldn't be available for another 2 3 days that's not ideal but the Rangers got two in the third Innings out of Jonathan Hernandez the fact that he was able to get that much coming in out of nowhere honestly hat tip to Hernandez even though he did give up five runs not great but getting that kind of length out of him was huge getting Jacob Latz to come in there and finish off through the fourth inning was huge and then Michael Lorenzen coming in in relief the day after his start to get you four Innings of run on one run ball to give you a chance to get back in this game which the Rangers did late on against a bad Toronto Blue Jays Bullpen that was getting worse actively by the weekend they got back into it and having Lorenzen come out there and throw those four Innings of work the day after his start I mean that's heroic stuff that is Elite teammate stuff that is not something I have ever seen but it's what the Rangers needed and it's what they got that's who Michael lenen is he is a guy who is a selfless teammate who will go out there and do whatever the Rangers need from him whatever his team whoever his team is now it's Kansas City needs from him that's huge and Lorenzen ended up being the odd man out in this rotation it seems like Tyler Mali is going to be ready fairly soon I'm anticipating he has one more Rehab start uh probably tomorrow I'm thinking that is that is my estimation he threw four Innings and 55 pitches in his last Rehab start for Frisco if he's on that normal rest kind of pace that he has been for the last couple it'll be July 30th uh in Roundrock against Sugarland probably 65 to 70 pitches and then his next time through the rotation would be August 4th where he'd be at 80 85 pitches I'm thinking maybe more than that maybe less not entirely sure depends on how that start goes but if he's at 85 80 to 85 pitches on August 4th that might be the time that he comes up to the big leagues that would be a key Series against the Houston Astros would be a difficult way to start your season but Mal's just about ready don't know the exact timeline on Jacob deg Grom but with Lorenzen since his stuff probably wouldn't play up as much in the bullpen I think this was The Logical odd man out now lorenzen's season has not been amazing but it has been exactly what the Rangers needed getting 101 and 2/3 Innings out of him with a 381 erra he has been above League average he has given them length he has given them depth he was healthy when the rest of this rotation was on its deathbed metaphorically speaking I mean the amount of injuries that ravaged this rotation kind of forget about that of having ivaldi and gray and Dunning and sherzer and Mali and everybody and Bradford as well hurt but Lorenzen kept making those starts kept showing up to the ballpark every day and at times provided some real length in his starts to kind of save this pen that had been overtaxed because they been so many starters on the iil so the guys that were starting in those games were not able to provide the length that you would expect and you would hope for lorenzen's outings were sometimes maddening sometimes frustrating but he was the Rangers at this point number five starter and if you have a number five starter with an ER south of four that's giving you five to six Innings pretty much every time out there and for the most part Saturday was not the case but for the most part giving you a chance to win games that's absolutely all you can ask for that's what lenen provided that is what the Rangers needed and getting him right before the start of this season when it seemed like they definitely needed some more depth in the first half and could not survive any kind of injuries to the starting rotation and ended up Surviving many injuries to the first half starting rotation I mean hats off to Lorenzen for the job job that he did coming up we're going to talk about the guys who the Rangers the guy who the Rangers got back in that trade and what else is left to do at this trade deadline and does it possibly make more sense for the Rangers to be fullon sellers talk about all that and more right after this for for sponsors this show is brought to you by Stitch fix you know the instant confidence boost you get from an outfit that makes you look really good that's what I got with Stitch fix you can easily upgrade your wardrobe this year with a professional stylist help you find new on Trend favorites that will work for you I just give my stylist my size style and budget preferences order boxes when I want how I want with no subscription required they send me five just for me pieces plus outfit recommendations and pro styling device I keep what works and I send back the rest stitchfix makes it all so easy because I don't like to shop and I like to save that time and effort that's what Stitch fix does for me plus I get outfits that make me look good and feel really good style that makes you feel as good as you look get started at stitchfix.com MLB and get $20 off your first fix that's stitchfix.com MLB for $20 off stitchfix.com MLB must redeem within 7 Days of sign up offer does not include kids fixes now the return the Rangers got for Michael arenson is left-handed pitcher Walter Pennington he is a 26-year-old reliever from the Kansas City Royals he was drafted out of the Colorado School of Minds he has made the big leagues this year pitching in one game getting two outs one of them a ground out one of them a strikeout and uh yeah he is a controllable relever he is on the 40 man roster listed at 62 205 lb the velocity is not anything crazy by any means fast ball in the low 90s averages 92.8 miles hour on the Sinker for his two pitches that he's thrown in the big leagues and 92.6 on the four seamer also throws a slider and a cutter decent numbers uh this year in triaa uh Omaha for Kansas City a 226 erra in 59 and 2/3 Innings 79 strikeouts just three walks per nine nearly 12ks per nine with that 226 erra now he has gone multiple Innings uh he has averaged more than an inning per outing almost two uh 59 and 2/3 innings in 37 games he's also had two starts there um so he's maybe a guy who could give the Rangers some length he is on the 40 man roster so he will take up a roster spot there not exactly sure what's going to be going on with all the 40 spots whenever Mali gets back and whenever young gets back and whatever other trades the Rangers are going to consider making they're also probably going to need to make some moves today to just get some kind of length back in that pen because uh having two starters combined for two-thirds of an inning on Saturday and Sunday when you still got three games in a row this week it's not ideal hopefully the Rangers can get some length out of their starters in this series cuz they desperately will be needing it from eoli from Sherer and I believe Heeney is going to be the final game starter of the series in St Louis but they're AER to get a guy who is a reliever with multiple years of control which is something that they wanted um so getting that in this kind of selloff a little bit move in Michael Lorenzen Lorenzen was clearly the odd man out and it made sense for the Rangers to make this move still a little concerned about them making this move not knowing what's going on with John Gray and his injury in the total extent of that but the Rangers weren't going to get another start out of lorensen anyway so this was probably what was going to happen um whether or not he came back for those four Innings on Sunday which the Rangers most desperately needed and just a little fun fact about Walter Pennington him being from the Colorado School of mes he is only the second player in major league history to come from the Colorado School of Mines of course as we all remember the first one uh Roy harzo back in 1906 making his debut playing 1900 or 12,90 games um back in the day so the first guy in over a 100 years to play for the Colorado School of Mines uh to play the big Le from the Colorado School of Mines just a little fun little tidbit for you there now the Rangers have been buyers and sellers at this deadline should they be sellers it's it's possible because this sellers Market has been downright phenomenal especially selling off guys who are relievers the Padre's made a trade for Jason Adam from The Rays now Jason Adam is a little bit on the older side in 32 but he is controllable through the 2026 season and my goodness the Padre's just paid through the nose to get him they gave up Dylan Lesco who I would say is their top pitching Prospect Homer Busch Jr and JD Gonzalez Dylan leco is by far the headliner in this group by far he was the best pitcher out of the high school class back in 2022 I believe it was when Brock Porter was also in that class and uh letco has most definitely separated himself as being a little bit better of a prospect at least right now Porter still got plenty of time he's still very young um but Lesco has been outright downright phenomenal he does have multiple years of control in jayon Adam and I don't think that the Rangers would be able to get a package like something headlined by Dylan Lesco if they moved on from either Kirby Yates or David Robertson or Jose L clerk but it's worth considering there have also been a lot of kind of by for now and next year kind of moves a lot of players with multiple years of control like Randy Rosena and like the Cubs acquiring ESO bres who was one of the Rangers possible targets the third baseman for the Rays he was also a pro a target of the Houston Astros now if you may remember Paredes he is the guy who gets a lot of home runs that are all polls side and uh that would play very very well in Houston into those little Crawford boxes because he is a right-handed hitter the Rays gave up uh peratus and they got in return Christopher Morel who is a French Big League third base he's kind of a quad guy right now but he's got some uh some good potential he is 25 years old still two years away from uh reaching arbitration not having the best year this year hitting one point below 200 but 18 home runs a guy who's definitely got some upside he also got a couple of other prospects in this deal I'm sure the rays are very happy with that yandi Diaz is still on the market but some other guys who have been traded that are off the board Jesse Winker who is a lefty who mashes righties who is going to be a free agent after this year I would have really liked the Rangers to have kicked tires on him but alas that's not happening Danny Jansen Catcher from Toronto is heading to Boston jazz chichim is heading to New York with the Yankees he is actually already there I think that's an interesting move for the Yankees and in terms of fit well I'm a little worried about jazz and and how he fits with the New York Yankees and their whole vibe him wearing number 13 makes me cautious that he might have a similar stint there as my large adult son Joey Gallow did and that he was a talented player with some personality who uh got absolutely just treated horribly by the New York fan base and media I'm I'm a little worried about jazz there but Nate Pearson a right-handed relever also on the Move Ryan stanick Zack effin yimy Garcia and James Paxton it is very much a sellers Market there have been plenty of guys who have been moved including guys that don't have much control and Carlos Ste from the angels for the left-handed pitching Prospect Samuel Al aliger and right-handed pitching Prospect George clawen both from the Phillies so the angels are now without their closer which made sense um Phillies making some big old moves there but getting those two pitching prospects who were drafted a year ago and have been some of the fastest risers in the Philly system the Phillies have done a good job of developing pitching prospects over the last few years heading into last season they had two of maybe the top two right-handed pitching prospects in all of baseball and Andrew painter um is one of those guys he has suffered some injuries that have kind of set him back a little bit but still they've got a good development system there and seeing guys like this you know go for Prospect Capital like this it's it makes you think like maybe this year is one the Rangers just punt on but at the same time the Rangers still are only four and a half games out in the a West but seeing the kind of returns that guys like Nate Pearson fetched guys like well Ryan stanik uh asking price was not all that high but guys like yimy Garcia I mean heck even that interesting trade between the Orioles and the Phillies two contenders making a trade which you don't see very often Sir Anthony Dominguez the right-handed reliever and Christian pase from the Phillies heading over to Baltimore in exchange for Austin Hayes a guy who is probably going to platoon with Brandon Marsh in left field a right-handed batter who hits left-handed pitching very very well but this is just such an interesting marking Market I'm sure the Rangers are at least listening on all kinds of different offers I know that Chris Young already said that this team was going to be buyers but coming up we're going talk about what it would mean if they are Sellers and why that might be helpful or it might send the horribly wrong message right after this fre from our sponsors get supplies from the site that's made for the skilled trades supplyhouse.com supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to order Plumbing HVAC and electrical products online their 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Rangers are coming off of a sweep against a team that is no longer trying to compete for this year or at least the front office does not think that this team should be competing for this year that's Toronto not Texas but I charge you to think back about the last few years before last year about how long it took how many years of mediocrity it took for this reindeers team to get back into contention and the fact that they were able to do it in such staggering fashion last year just from 96 losses and 100 losses the year before to the World Series champions it doesn't happen all that often and the reason it happen because the Rangers were able to sell free agents two three four five six few key free agents that this was a team that was going to compete during that window during their Peak mainly Marcus Simeon and Cory Seager the Rangers said hey we are going to put together a winner around you you're not just going to be here to beating mediocre and that's what sold them same with deg Grom same with yaldi heck same with trading for Max Sherer they said hey you are going to be on a contending team this is we had to convince he had to be convinced to wave his no trade cause to come here which he said he wouldn't to go somewhere else this year because he assured that this team is going to compete and they only have so many more years of peak Marcus Simeon and Peak Cory Seager thankfully Simeon has been on a heater as of late Seager the Rangers need to get on a Cory Seager like level of heater this year and they need Josh youngb back who has played in three games for Frisco and been by hit been hit by pitches twice in those games which have some words for the Tulsa Drillers but back to that note the Rangers cannot afford to punt a window of contention year with Peak Simeon and Seager this is Cory seager's age 30 season this is Marcus simeon's age 33 season if they get to the playoffs and have a fully healthy rotation big if on both of those but they would head into those playoffs with a top three in their rotation of Jacob deg Gro nathany evaldi Max Scherer maybe number four is Tyler Mali that is a rotation that can go up with quite literally anyone in Major League Baseball anyone even the Mariners rotation which I think is the best in baseball but if the Rangers rotation is fully healthy Jacob deg gr is the best pitcher on the planet when healthy Nathan yaldi is one of the best postseason pitchers we have ever seen Max sherzer one of the best pitchers of his generation when one of the best pitchers the game has ever seen oh and your number four starter is Tyler melli a pretty darn good major league pitcher not to mention this Bullpen of Kirby Yates who has been downright fantastic Jose L clerk then you have Jonathan Hernandez who is maybe not going to be on the roster at that point Jose L clerk who we've seen be phenomenal in the postseason and Josh spores who just last year with was Untouchable in the postseason and the clerk and spores are your seventh sixth inning guys you have four legitimately phenomenal topend back end rotation guy or back end Bullpen guys not to mention three phenomenal topend rotation starters that's even if Jacob deg Grom does not Pitch at all this year having a top three in your rotation for playoff series of nathany avaldi ma Scherer Tyler Mali that's really darn good and even though this lineup has not hit like it did last year it's full of the exact same guys that just went on an absolute heater last year this is the best offense in baseball last year you add back Josh Young to this lineup plus you get with Josh Smith is doing this year plus you get Adas Garcia and Cory Seager in a playoff atmosphere we've seen how incredible those guys can be in the biggest moments you think that this offense can't go on a heater like the bullpen did last year for a month why couldn't they why couldn't they it's basically the exact same team but with a better rotation and a better Bullpen nobody in Major League Baseball is really that much of a juggernaut this year the Phillies are the closest to it they're having a phenomenal season they have made some good trades at the deadline but they are a beatable team the Rangers have their fully healthy rotation I say the Rangers one through three one through four is better than that Phillies rotation the Rangers offense is hitting like we saw last year it is deeper than the Phillies lineup now there's a lot of things that have to go right for that to happen there's a lot of Health has to go right for that to happen but again like we saw last year it is just about getting into the dance and seeing what happens from there having Bruce Boi as your postseason manager gives you that extra something having that confidence of just having won the World Series last year gives you that confidence the road Magic from this team in the playoffs last year undefeated on the road makes them think who needs to win the stinking AO West we can just scrap in there as a wild card team or even if we win the AL West and we have the third best record among division winners oh no we had to play in that Wild Card round you see how good this team played in the Wild Card round last year right after that demoralizing end of the season losing the division on the last day flying all the way from Seattle to Tampa this is a team that knows what it can be in the postseason has known all year long how good they truly should be and granted hasn't quite lived up to that they know they've got that in them they know that that is something that they can do if they get to the postseason and I think that selling sends the absolute wrong message even though it is such a sellers deadline I mean the kind of packages that I'm sure are being put together for Kirby Yates who people forget has been pretty much the best reliever in all of baseball this season the best David Robertson who has been phenomenal and Nathan yaldi you think some team out there with some rotation lack of depth wouldn't want Nathan e evaldi possibly to be more than just a rental this year if he gets 156 pitches 106 156 Innings pitched this year he gets that vesting option for next year you think someone didn't watch what he did in the playoffs last year and think I want him doing that for my team every single Contender wants these guys but the Rangers have them and they have an offense that is capable of being fantastic as Nathaniel low said this weekend we can't suck forever I hope he's right I hope this is a start of a turn corner for this team because they need it I mean coming off of that five-game winning streak granted a lot of those were one-run wins four of those five wins came against the white socks who are maybe the worst team I've ever seen in mjor League Baseball in my lifetime and having this weekend this kind of a weekend in Toronto at the worst time it is not at all what you're looking for still got one more game between now and the trade deadline I'm several trades to be made between now and the trade deadline this team has the pieces to go on another world series run and if you punt on this year what kind of a message does that send to the two guys who helped you win that World Series that by signing those massive contracts in the middle infield what does that what does that message send to nathany evaldi and to Jacob De Grom and to everybody else in this organization of eh we don't need to go for it every year Chris Young said at the beginning of this year last year that World Series was great but what we were defined as as an organization is what we do from that point on so far it hasn't been great but they've done enough to stay in the mix and if this team is in the mix with this kind of a talent with this kind of a payroll there is absolutely no excuse to punt on this year that's going to do it for today's show thank you all so much for listening and subscribing and until next time don't forget to enjoy World Series champion 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