Welcome To The Rangers Bandwagon Continued …

Posted on May 19th, 2009 2:21pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Baseball, Rangers notes, Texas Rangers

Reason No. 2: The baseball version of the Herschel Walker trade.

Maybe you checked out on the Rangers after GM Doug Melvin was fired. Maybe it came some time during the John Hart era. Or maybe you are even aware that Jon Daniels took over as the youngest GM in baseball following the 2005 season. To date, all the “credit” he’s received is for some pitching trades gone awry.

He should be getting toasted as the next Jimmy Johnson. Between the draft class he manuevered to get in 2007 and the trade of Mark Teixeira to Atlanta for five players, he rebuilt the farm system overnight. The Rangers are now ranked as the No. 1 farm system in baseball, according to industry publication Baseball America. The Teixeira trade has a chance to be one of baseball’s all-time steals. The Rangers acquired C Jarrod Saltalamacchia and SS Elvis Andrus (both regulars in the lineup now), LHP Matt Harrison (a member of the starting rotation), RHP Neftali Feliz (the organization’s top prospect) and LHP Beau Jones (who has a chance to pitch in the bige leagues as a reliever). That is simply an overwhelming haul.  The number of players from the trade contributing so quickly in the big leagues makes it an even more amazing cache of talent. And when you consider, Atlanta had Teixeira for less than a year, won nothing and shipped him off to the Los Angeles Angels adds yet another level to the deal.

So, if you are still referring derisively to Daniels as “Boy Wonder,” or any of those other names that were so 2006, it might be time to update.

Bookmark and Share
25 Comments to “Welcome To The Rangers Bandwagon Continued …”
  • JohnnyMel @ May 19th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    Evan,

    What are fans in Atlanta saying about the Teixeira trade? Have they lynched the GM for the absolute fleecing they took on that deal?

  • Greg @ May 19th, 2009 at 2:44 pm

    And one more time everyone, NO MORE WAVE!

  • Jean Valjean @ May 19th, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    the bige leagues?

  • scooper @ May 19th, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    @evan: thank you for correcting me on something i wrote on one of the other posts about the Tex trade. I put that they had Tex for a year and a half, but I was wrong. They COULD have had him for that long if they hadn’t given up on signing him long-term.

  • David C @ May 19th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    Please forward this to Randy Galloway.

  • Hart2Hart @ May 19th, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    This is from “Talking Chop” an SB Nation Braves blog; I guess if you deny deny deny then maybe it won’t hurt as much:

    Elvis Andrus, Texas Rangers – Andrus was one of the big stuffs in the Teixiera deal a couple years ago. I’ve never been sold on the kid, but he somehow made Texas’ opening day roster and hasn’t been horrible, posting an OPS a little higher than his minor league career. He has been trending down lately though so we shall see how he holds up throughout the season.

  • James @ May 19th, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    It wasn’t just the Teixiera trade, but in that same year Daniels traded Eric Gagne for David Murphy, Kason Gabbard, and Engel Beltre and traded Kenny Lofton for Max Ramirez. Both very good trades.

  • David in Cleburne @ May 19th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    @ David C – Amen!

    Andrus is trending down, huh? You can tell that Atlanta fan is going off stats and stats alone. Batting, at that. Hey, I can think of two spectacular, game changing, I watched them in amazement at least five times, can you believe that?!? plays off of the top of my head. And so can you.

    That kid continues to play defense like that, he can hit a buck-eighty for all I care.

    I’ll have to look up that site, Hart. Sure sounds like denial to me.

  • alan @ May 19th, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    even is Elvis was “trending down”, which he’s not, the Atlanta blogger conveniently ignores the other players…I can’t believe they could even attempt to “spin” that trade

  • Jon @ May 19th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    @ James – Good point!

    It was the Teixiera, Gagne, and Lofton trades.

    Plus lest anyone forget JD put significant club resources into building up the scouting/drafting functions of the Rangers so the draft classes were simply outstanding.

    And then there were the one year signing of Gagne & Lofton (which were then flipped) as well as the current one year signings of Vizquel, Jones, Guardado, and O’Day.

    Poor Randy is looking mighty, mighty foolish these days.

  • scooper @ May 19th, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    @Hart2Hart: it’s all a matter of perspective. I realize that you already had McCann at catcher and Escobar at short. You didn’t mind giving up Harrison and Jones (you were glad you didn’t have to include Jo-Jo Reyes). And Feliz was in the low-minors. That’s fine. We’ll happily take all of them! Tex wasn’t going to re-sign with us, and what we got from you was far better than 2 draft picks! We’ll see how long it takes for you to change your mind about Andrus (I’ll take him over Escobar). And I’ll take Feliz over Reyes. Salty, Harry, Jones? I’m glad y’all were willing to throw them in! We are happy to have them here in Texas!

  • scooper @ May 19th, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    @James: you are right. it was all of the trades AND the draft AND the Latin American signings. And don’t forget to give credit to our scouts! They are the reason that Beltre and Feliz were included in those deals.

  • Juboon @ May 19th, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    @Jon, re Randy: Can’t happen soon enough, imho.

  • David in Cleburne @ May 19th, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    Found this comment on Choptalk:

    “+1 for those not attempting to defend the salty trade
    I’ll admit that at the time, I thought it was close and maybe even the Braves got the best of it, but it’s not even close now.

    1. Buzz hit it on the head when he noted that most of you are totally ignoring these prospect’s trade value. Andrus is blocked by Escobar, but he is one of the top, if not the top SS prospect in baseball right now. There’s a lot of value in that, and his value has gone up since the trade, making it even worse. Feliz is also worth a piss pot right now, although the Braves would have definitely kept him if they had known.

    2. It simply didn’t work. Tex was brought in to win last year or this year. That didn’t happen. That’s where much of his value was, and it simply didn’t pan out.

    3. As mentioned above, Andrus and Feliz have skyrocketed in value since the trade. The Braves sold low on them, and you never want to do that. Feliz is one of the top 5 pitching prospects in baseball right now. It’s sick.”

    Yep. Give JD some love, Galloway. How’s Gallaraga looking right now?

  • Last of the Romohicans @ May 19th, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    Why is anyone still reading Galloway’s stuff? I haven’t read one column in like 3 years and I didn’t die of boredome or anything.

  • Last of the Romohicans @ May 19th, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    boredom*

  • I'm With Incaviglia @ May 19th, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    Evan, when was the last time you saw Galloway at the BPiA?

  • David in Cleburne @ May 19th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    Actually, Romohican, Boredome could be the name of Galloway’s new blog site. You know, Inside Corner, Sportatorium, Boredome. has a sports tie-in relevant to the content or history.

    Accidental greatness on your part.

  • Ranger_Rick @ May 19th, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    Those three trades made in 2007 are what turned this club around and may have saved JD’s job. At the time some of us weren’t so sure if he was doing the right thing but looking back now the Tex trade is definitely the Herschel Walker trade of baseball. This one will go down in the annals of the game. Congrats JD and Rangers mgt., scouts for this. You are finally bringing winning baseball to town again. I’ve been attending games (3-4 a year) since 1972 and have never felt this great about the teams future. This team has it all and more is on the way.

  • jb @ May 19th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    joey galloway has a dallas column and blog? sweet

  • Buck @ May 19th, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    Once JD stopped listening to Hart (Hicks, “… he’s the smartest mind in baseball”), he did fine.

    The Beckett trade was one that got away, and the Young trade still smarts. The jury is out on the Danks-McCarthy trade although the pendulum is leaning conspicuously north. I’ll give BMac a little more time. He’s shown some flashes of brilliance and I believe a full season w/ Maddux (and perhaps Ryan) will make him a quality No. 3 or even No. 2.

    No matter how you look at it, the Tex trade really worked out for the good guys and will continue to pay dividends for years.

    I am no expert but it seems like the short-term trades like Atlanta trading for Tex work out about 20% of the time. I don’t think any of the Ranger’s short-term trades ever worked out.

  • bertie @ May 19th, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    while that was undoubtedly a great deal, let’s not forget the awful soriano trade and the HORRIBLE eaton trade

  • Brett in SD @ May 19th, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    For those of you who lament the loss of Chris Young, consider that his ERA since the beginning of last season away from Petco is 6.11. He pitches on a regular basis in Los Angeles and San Francisco, also pitcher-friendly parks, so there’s no telling how high his ERA would be if he still pitched for the Rangers.

  • dooleyindallas @ May 20th, 2009 at 12:13 am

    A friend of mine who works for KRLD/TheFan says that neither Galloway nor Reeves even go to the games.

  • Pigskinnie @ May 20th, 2009 at 9:09 am

    Can’t argue that the Tex deal, along with the Gagne and Lofton deals, really helped to restock the farm system. And yes, those happened after the Danks/Young/Gonzalez/Soriano trade fiascos. But keep in mind that AFTER the great Tex deal, Boy Wonder gave away Armando Gallaraga and lost our first round pick and $12 million to sign Frank Cat. So let’s not say that Boy Wonder is now a genius ever since that idiot Hart got out of here.