The Texas Rangers have a few areas they could patch at the MLB trade deadline, but one need keeps rising to the top even after they took three of four from the Seattle Mariners: the bullpen.
That’s the spot that still demands attention, and specifically, the Rangers are looking for a couple of high-leverage arms to pair with Jacob Latz and Jakob Junis.
The challenge is getting them without spending much. ESPN’s Buster Olney reported Sunday that Texas is not planning to take on a lot of money at the deadline, even with nearly $40 million sitting below the first tier of the competitive balance tax. That means president of baseball operations Chris Young is going to have to work the bargain bin.
He’s shown he can do that before. But this year’s market comes with a wrinkle: plenty of teams still haven’t chosen whether to buy or sell, and the possibility of a lockout after the season is making clubs even more cautious about adding payroll.
With that in mind, here are five bullpen options that could fit the Rangers and, at least on paper, shouldn’t cost a fortune.
The first name is Anthony Bender of the Marlins, a team that has lost 12 straight games, a franchise record, and may soon have no choice but to start moving pieces. If Miami does sell, Bender looks like the kind of reliever Texas would want.
He’s a right-hander who gets plenty of strikeouts without overpowering stuff, and the medicals would matter because he had Tommy John surgery three years ago. Still, he’s been excellent this season.
Bender is 1-1 with a 2.62 ERA in 35 games, with 41 strikeouts and 12 walks in 31 innings. He’s also affordable, with the Rangers responsible for the rest of his $2.81 million salary, and he comes with one more year of team control.
Alex Lange of the Tigers is another possibility, though Detroit may wait until the final day before deciding anything because it would prefer not to move Tarik Skubal. The Rangers obviously can’t chase that kind of deal, but Lange is the sort of reliever they could target instead.
He spent 2022-25 in the KBO before coming back to the States, and the results have been solid. Lange is 4-4 with a 4.25 ERA in 37 games, but the strikeout numbers jump off the page: 74 punchouts in 59.1 innings.
That kind of swing-and-miss can play at Globe Life Field. The question is cost, since he’s 32 and has a team option in 2027.
Texas would owe the rest of his $7 million contract.
Then there’s Gregory Soto, who could become more expensive the longer the deadline drags on. He’s having a strong season, averages 96 mph with his fastball, and the Mets are in sell mode. That said, they’re not just handing away useful arms, especially with multiple teams likely involved.
Soto also brings more than velocity. He gets ground balls at a strong rate and has traits that should translate well in Texas.
He’s versatile in the same mold as Tyler Alexander. Soto is 4-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 43 games, with 46 strikeouts and 22 walks in 50 innings.
The Rangers would only be responsible for the rest of his $1.05 million salary, and he’s under team control through 2029. He’s also 36 years old.
Camilo Doval is a different kind of gamble. He’s been uneven this season, and right now the results are leaning the wrong way.
But he’s also the kind of arm who can flip the script quickly with one good outing. The Yankees are trying to move him after acquiring him from the Giants last year, when he had already worked his way back to his 2023 All-Star form.
This year, Doval is 3-1 with a 4.74 ERA in 42 games, with 38 strikeouts and 15 walks in 38 innings. Texas would have to take on the rest of his $6.1 million salary. He has one year of arbitration left in 2027 before reaching free agency, and the Rangers would have to decide whether he can get back closer to the version that posted a sub-3.00 ERA in 2023.
The last name on the list is Amir Garrett, and Rangers fans know him well. He was a key part of the 2022 bullpen before his performance slipped and he later punched his fist into a wall after a rough outing. Now he’s back to looking like the old version in Cincinnati.
Garrett is among the league leaders in appearances and has gone 4-4 with a 2.66 ERA. He has 43 strikeouts and 29 walks in 50.2 innings.
He’s also a left-hander, and Texas already has several of those in the bullpen, which could make him a less obvious fit. But he’s cheap: the Rangers would owe the rest of his $2.33 million salary, and he becomes a free agent after the season.
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