The Rangers’ search for rotation help at the trade deadline is pointing toward a familiar kind of target: a right-hander who can steady the middle and back end of the staff without emptying the farm.
With August 3 approaching, Texas is clearly after pitching. The need is obvious, with the club trying to patch over the inconsistency of Kumar Rocker and MacKenzie Gore while also waiting on an injured Jack Leiter. Leiter remains a long way from returning, which only sharpens the urgency to find someone who can bring some stability.
That’s where Cincinnati enters the picture. The Reds are sitting at 45-54 and last in the NL Central, 16.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, which makes them look like deadline sellers.
They have an appealing arm available, but it’s not the name most fans would jump to first. Not Hunter Greene.
The more realistic fit is Brady Singer.
Singer doesn’t come with the same buzz as Greene, but he brings something the Rangers’ lower half of the rotation badly needs: reliability. Over his seven-year career, he has worked at least 153 innings every season since 2022, and that kind of workload matters when a team is trying to survive the grind of a season.
His overall 2026 line is solid rather than eye-popping. Singer is 4-9 with a 4.56 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.
But the recent trend is what makes him interesting. Since June 1, he has settled in with a 2.76 ERA after a rough start.
In his last eight outings, he has turned in four quality starts and allowed more than two earned runs just once. That stretch has pulled his ERA down from the high 5s to the mid-4s, and he has also missed more bats, striking out 46 hitters over 45.2 innings.
There’s also the context around those numbers. Singer has not had much help from the offense, with the Reds scoring 414 runs this season, which ranks 26th in the league.
He’s also been pitching in Great American Ball Park, a hitter-friendly setting that can make life tougher on any starter. And because his contract expires at the end of the season, he becomes even more attractive as a deadline piece.
The price tag would still be manageable for Texas. Singer would not require the Rangers to part with any of their top five prospects.
A deal would likely center on players such as Frisco outfielder Dylan Dreiling and current Ranger utility man Cameron Cauley. That’s the kind of cost that stings, especially when the names are homegrown, but if the Rangers are serious about pushing in this season, they’ll have to be willing to pay for help.
Singer looks like the sort of move that could make sense without draining the cupboard. And if Texas can land him, it could still keep enough prospect capital around to chase other needs, including a right-handed reliever and another bat.
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Seagers eventual return would matter for the lineup and could open up more flexibility elsewhere, but it does not directly solve the front offices most obvious holes. Texas still looks like a club that could use help in the bullpen and in the rotation, which is why the deadline picture feels a little more complicated than simply counting on one star to come back and fix the rest. [Read more 🡒]