Nostalgia, Romanticism and the Major League Baseball Trade Deadline

The following is from my friend Kevin “Lando” Landrum who is heard every day on the Hardline and loves talking baseball (and death metal) and would like to get his writing itch scratched again. I think that is a great plan. He may or may not write more pieces like this in the future, but for now, here is his Sturmstack debut! Enjoy! — Bob

Here we are, the end of July. A magical time in late summer when the potential energy of the down-trodden teams is exchanged for the kinetic drive of the playoff bound and the playoff hopeful.

A time when those less fortunate play the stock market, while the advantaged put it all credit.

The Major League Baseball Trade Deadline!

(cue the confetti)

Deadlines of my youth meant my team, the Texas Rangers, were going to be sending players away for prospects. When you’re in the cellar, without ever really experiencing success, you learn to look at things differently, knowing the present is dim, but the future could be…dare we dream?

Being a Rangers fan from birth taught me that my favorite players will some day wear different colors (probably pinstripes), the colors of teams that actually matter. And by the time they were finally lifting the commissioners trophy in 2023, I was closer to 40 than I was to being a JR Ranger again.

Trades aren’t won or lost immediately, they’re marathons. This year’s big name targets include a two time Cy Young winner in Tarik Skubal and a fire baller closer Mason Miller. Which team is willing to sacrifice a bevy of unknown talent for that one piece to maybe, possibly find themselves in the fall classic? And will the Tigers and Padres scratch the right lottery tickets?

It can sometimes pay to be a seller.

Take the 2007 version of the Rangers and the deadline move that completely reshaped the future of a mostly forgotten baseball franchise.

In the first season of Ron Washington’s impressive run with Texas, his 2007 team was out of it by the deadline. 15 and a half games back in the west with a 46-59 record. They spent exactly zero days in first place. Texas hadn’t been to the playoffs in 8 years to this point and were getting contributions from their ace Kevin Millwood, a 38 year old Sammy Sosa and a yet undiscovered Nelson Cruz.

Enter the kid. Jon Daniels.

In his second full season as the general manager, this Yankee made the biggest and most impactful move in the franchise’s unsuccessful history.

Daniels sent Mark Teixeira, the no. 5 overall pick in 2001 and lefty Ron Mahay to the Atlanta Braves for a haul of prospects. Matt Harrison, Jarrod Saltalamachia, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz and the forgotten piece in the deal, Beau Jones

Three of them were key contributors and All-Stars on a two time pennant winner. Harrison pitched for 8 seasons and won 35 games for Texas from 2010-2012. Feliz, immortalized forever as the man who froze A-Rod with a curveball to slay the evil empire of the Bronx and win their first American League pennant. And Elvis Andrus is now a Rangers hall of famer. His impact continued even after his career ended.

Prior to the 2021 season, Andrus was traded to the A’s in a deal that brought over a little known minor league catcher, Jonah Heim. Heim would go on to be the starting backstop for the world series winning Rangers in 2023. So in an indirect way, the Mark Teixeira trade paid off its dividends with a world series title a full 16 years later.

Three pennants, multiple playoff appearances, being taken seriously by baseball writers for the first time and one glorious title. Not a bad return for a guy they were never going to be able to pay anyway.

Total combined games of major league experience headed to Arlington in the deal: zero.

But that’s just one half of the move.

Let’s take a look at how those 2007 Braves turned out. This is the type of trade deadline play we as baseball fans yearn for. THE BLOCKBUSTER. The Braves thought that by adding a young, power hitting first baseman, they could win the pennant.

It’s a leap I would have also made considering that every National League team that season was separated by a total of five games by the end of July. October was shaping up to be anyone’s for the taking. Look at who represented the senior circuit in the world series. An expansion team that found their way into the playoffs thanks to the wild card, Jeopardy contestant Anupama’s favorite team, the Colorado Rockies.

Consider this. At the time of the trade, Atlanta was four and a half back of the Mets in the east; they found themselves in a similar spot that the present day Rangers do. Close but not there yet. They had missed the playoffs the previous year after an NLDS exit. But the juggernauts of the National League were floundering. Six teams won at least 90 games that year, four of them in the American League and the two in the National League both came out of the west, Arizona and those pesky Rockies. Currently, the Rangers are first in their division, the league itself is underachieving. The Braves needed an impact player and adding Big Tex is the exact type of move contenders make.

Teixeira had established himself as a true middle of the order slugger, four seasons of at least 25 home runs. He was, for a time, a must watch at bat. Teixeira did his thing in Fulton County, .317/.404/.615 in 54 games with 17 homers and 56 RBIs. But the Braves big swing didn’t quite work out as they went 29-27 down the stretch. A winning record but not enough to make the postseason.

Almost one year to the day later, Atlanta traded him to the Angels in what could be perceived as the opposite of the Rangers deal. The Braves sent four future big leaguers to the Rangers for Tex only to flip him to Anaheim for first baseman Casey Kotchman and pitcher Stephen Marek. If you’ve never heard of them, you’re not alone.

But that’s the risk you take. And it can be really fun.

This is the kind of trade that both starving and fervent fan bases dream of. Rebuilding teams only have hope that the next move is the one that will bring the next prospect that could turn into the next franchise cornerstone. Contenders have a more focused goal, the objective is much more clear, and always will be. And so the wheel keeps turning.

As this year’s version of the Rangers weighs difficult decisions, they sit in a good position to entertain visions of October baseball. At the very least, hopefully, a 60 day playoff race. It’s fair to say that the Chris Young front office gets a pretty big pass from fans, as he should and taking chances at the last few deadlines show that at least they believe 2023 can happen again.

Chris Young and GM Ross Fenstermaker only have to look back in recent memory to find a deadline deal that didn’t work out the way they had hoped. Trading three pitching prospects to the Diamondbacks last year for ten starts of Merrill Kelly. Kelly wasn’t terrible, 3-3 with a 4.12 ERA down the stretch but the Rangers missed the playoffs for the second straight year and Kelly bolted in free agency back to the objectively hotter climate of Phoenix.

Time will tell if Arizona fans will feel romantic about that trade 16 years later, if Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt, and David Hagaman become those sought after cornerstones. But that’s what we love about the deadline, the unknowns and the what ifs. To feel romantic about what could be and to feel nostalgic when we finally reach the ultimate prize, paid for not just in baseball prospects and big money sluggers, but also in the currency of a fan’s heart.

I don’t know what the Rangers will do at the deadline in 2026. I have my own opinions, but that’s not what this piece is about. Baseball is a long season and it’s always comforting knowing that no matter how my team is doing, there is one mile marker left on the road to 162, the true final holiday of summer, the trade deadline.

(Take that Labor Day)