Friday Newsletter time: If this is Joey Gallo, why would Texas Rangers want to trade him?
It's a big if, based on track record, but he's on pace for another 40-homer season as his talent oozes out.
MLB scouts and executives are going to have a July unlike any other, including last season. Most of July 2020 was spent with spring training 2.0 until the very delayed start of the season July 24.
This month, MLB teams are laboring through preparations for the MLB draft July 11-13, during that is normally a chance for everyone to catch their breath during the All-Star break.
Teams will then put away their amateur scouting reports and get onto the business of the July 31 trade deadline. Some of that has started, but not necessarily in earnest.
Over on the Twitter, a follower said to “trade Gallo now.” It’s not that easy.
As was written at this little outlet Wednesday, the Texas Rangers have a difficult decision to make. They need to do some soul searching and come up with an honest answer to if they can contend in 2022.
If so, they don’t need to move Joey Gallo or Kyle Gibson, the Rangers’ two most enticing trade pieces. If Gallo and Gibson are going to be this good going forward, a pretty big if, the Rangers need to look into contract extensions.
It’s not like they can’t afford to trade quality players.
If the Rangers decided 2022 isn’t their season to contend, the Rangers need to talk extensions but also listen to what other teams are willing to throw at them.
Teams have been and will be calling during a very busy July.
A dirty dozen
T.R. Sullivan, the official historian of Jeff Wilson’s Texas Rangers Newsletter, went back to work Thursday with a look at pitchers who were either Rangers and flopped, Rangers who went on to star elsewhere, and a few they Rangers could have had.
My initial takeaway is that manager Doug Rader wasn’t great to pitch for.
The Rangers have the No. 2 pick in the MLB draft next weekend, and the latest mlb.com mock has them selecting Vanderbilt right-hander Jack Leiter. He has pedigree and talent, and the Rangers could use a pitching-development success story.
(It sure looks like Cole Winn is headed that way.)
The Rangers have drafted good pitchers in their history. The problem is many have had their successes elsewhere.
Happy 41st, Nellie!
Former Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz is still pumping home runs, now with Minnesota for those who have lost track of him. He also turned 41 on Thursday.
No matter what you think of Cruz’s time with the Rangers, from Game 6 to the 2013 suspension, he’s a wonderful person who gives back to communities wherever he is playing and in the Dominican Republic.
I bet gets a good laugh out of this from Bally Sports North. Take a close look. It’s exceptional work.
Excited Dak
Rangers and Nick Solak super fan Dak Prescott might like his alma mater’s baseball team just a tad more.
The Dallas Cowboys quarterback spent part of his week at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., stationed safely in a suite away from the riff raff, watching his Mississippi State Bulldogs capture the first team national championship in school history.
But Prescott wasn’t safe from the ESPN cameras, which showed him celebrating (and cursing) after the Bulldogs wrapped up a 9-0 one-hit victory in the clincher over Vanderbilt.
(Jeff Wilson’s Texas Rangers Newsletter is a huge fan of cussing, but won’t be diving too deep into those waters in stories.)
With training camp only three weeks away and only one Rangers homestand remaining before the Cowboys leave, Prescott might not be seen at Globe Life Field again this season. But he has made two treks in 2021, and at the second one in late May against the Astros was spotted in a Solak jersey.
It turns out that Solak’s fiancee played volleyball at Mississippi State for a few years, becoming friends with Prescott, before transferring to Louisville and meeting Solak.
Doggy video!
Have a safe, cool Fourth of July, and try to have as much fun as this pup. The Newletter returns Monday.
