The Texas Rangers are a surging team in Major League Baseball and have turned their season around in the last month. They are now firmly in the American League West race and are acquiring the Arizona Diamondbacks’ coveted starter Merrill Kelly. ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first on the news. They are also acquiring a southpaw reliever from the Minnesota Twins.
The Diamondbacks and Twins are clear sellers at this deadline, and they have shipped off arguably two of the best pieces in Eugenio Suárez and now Kelly. Texas is just five games back of the Houston Astros in the AL West.
Rangers Get Big Rotation Boost
Kelly is a huge get for the Texas Rangers, who already have a great rotation with Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. Kelly has made 22 starts this season, and over 128 innings, he has an ERA of 3.22 and 121 strikeouts. He has been extremely consistent for the Arizona Diamondbacks this season, whereas his former fellow starter Zac Gallen has struggled mightily. Kelly has spent all seven of his professional years with the Diamondbacks, but now he heads to Arlington, Texas, in a huge blockbuster deal. Kelly had been regarded as one of the best starting pitchers on the market, and many other teams were also in on the 36-year-old, who is a late bloomer in his professional journey. There were no rumors of the Rangers being linked to Kelly before today.
The players going back to the Diamondbacks are LHP Kohl Drake and right-hander David Hagaman.
Rangers Also Add Bullpen Help in Danny Coulombe
The Texas Rangers also acquired Danny Coulombe from the Minnesota Twins earlier today. Coulombe has a 1.16 ERA in 31 innings thus far this season and is putting together one of the best seasons of his career, and the best year for a reliever this season.
Nick Deeds of MLBtraderumors.com was on the news and wrote a little bit about Coulombe’s journey:
“Coulombe, 35, made his big league debut back in 2014 with the Dodgers. He was a fairly pedestrian middle reliever with the Dodgers and A’s throughout his 20’s, and posted a 4.27 ERA and 4.09 FIP across his first five seasons in the majors before being outrighted off the A’s roster back in 2018. He spent the 2019 season in the minors and re-emerged with the Twins during the 2020 campaign. Since then, he’s looked like an entirely different pitcher with a 2.40 ERA and 2.96 FIP across 161 1/3 innings of work between the Twins and Orioles.”
Coulombe is in his 11th professional season and is arguably having his best season as a pro. The Twins weren’t going to make the playoffs, but the Rangers certainly have a shot if they finish strong in a tough American League West.
“Over the last three seasons, Coulombe has posted a 2.17 ERA with a 2.59 FIP while striking out 27.6% of his opponents and walking just 5.9%. He’s paired that quality strikeout stuff and strong command with a knack for missing barrels with a minuscule 4.5% barrel rate to go with a 36.2% hard-hit rate, and his 3.07 SIERA in that time is on-par with top-shelf leverage relievers like David Robertson and Emmanuel Clase,” Deeds also wrote.
Rangers Make Trade for Diamondbacks’ 3.22 ERA Starter, Twins’ Reliever