The Texas Rangers made plenty of news ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, but perhaps the most important item didn’t appear in their transaction report.
In between announcing a flurry of trades, Texas general manager Chris Young said injured shortstop Corey Seager could return in the next few days. However, he’s unlikely to be activated on Wednesday, when the Rangers continue their three-game series against the Chicago White Sox in Arlington, Texas.
Texas snapped a three-game skid with a 2-0 win on Tuesday. Mitch Garver and Adolis Garcia homered while four Rangers pitchers held the White Sox to three hits.
The Rangers entered Tuesday’s game 2-7 over their previous nine games.
Chicago struck out 16 times in the loss and fell to a season-high-matching 22 games under .500. The White Sox traded several players before Tuesday’s deadline, including reliever Keynan Middleton and infelder Jake Burger, who was second on the team with 25 home runs. Burger was dealt to the Miami Marlins for starting pitching prospect Jake Eder.
“How much (Burger) has improved this year, it’s definitely tough to lose him,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said. “At the same time, there’s an area of need in the organization, and that’s pitching. We were able to acquire a guy we feel we can develop into a top-of-the-rotation [starter], or close to it.”
Offense has been an issue of late for Texas, which has scored a total of six runs in its past four games. Seager could help remedy those issues.
The four-time All-Star landed on the injured list July 22 with a sprained right thumb, but his recovery reportedly is ahead of schedule.
“He’s doing some modified baseball activities,” Young said. “All signs point to him being back sometime shortly thereafter the 10-day period, but again, that could change. One step at a time. But everything right now is going very well.”
Seager is hitting .350 with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs for Texas, which added Max Scherzer, Jordan Montgomery, Aroldis Chapman, Chris Stratton and Austin Hedges in trades.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was excited with each of the additions, including Scherzer, who is scheduled to start Thursday’s series finale.
“We’re getting an experienced guy with a tremendous resume,” Bochy said. “We’re very excited to have Max join us. I think that message is sent from up above, ownership and the front office. What a great job (Young) did. We mean business, and we’re here to win.”
Texas will send right-hander Dane Dunning (8-4, 3.28 ERA) to the mound on Wednesday against his former team. He allowed three runs over five innings in a 7-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Friday.
Dunning, 28, has gone 0-3 with a 6.10 ERA over his past four starts covering 20 2/3 innings to raise his ERA from 2.61 to a season-high 3.28.
The Florida native earned the win in his most recent outing against Chicago on Aug. 6, 2022, when he allowed one hit over seven scoreless innings. Overall, he is 1-0 with a 4.66 ERA in two appearances, both starts, against the White Sox.
Chicago will counter with right-hander Dylan Cease (4-4, 4.15), who yielded four runs over 5 2/3 innings in a 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians last Thursday.
Cease is 3-0 with a 2.73 ERA in five career starts vs. Texas. He received a no-decision in his most recent start against the Rangers on June 20, when he allowed two runs over six innings and struck out nine.
–Field Level Media
