So are the Rangers better?

(For the sake of this post, we’re going to assume that Mike Lowell is now a Texas Ranger with Boston picking up $9 million of the tab)

A fair inquiry for any Texas Rangers fan. Do the acquisitions of Chris Ray, Ben Snyder, Mike Lowell and Rich Harden make this team better than it was three days ago?

I believe the answer is yes. Are there drawbacks to these acquisitions? Absolutely. There are drawbacks to just about all trades.

But these moves, if they all go through, make the Rangers a better team.

Find out why after the jump. Read more

Trade targets for the Rangers

Ten days remain before the trade deadline – baseball’s annual swapping frenzy. The past few trade deadlines have seen some pretty big names get moved, including Mark Teixeira twice over the past two seasons. Out there this year? The great Roy Halladay of Toronto.

Philadelphia has been the team most commonly linked with the Jays, although it seems that a trade makes too much sense for them. Whenever that happens, it never ends up happening. Maybe it does, but it sure seems like it doesn’t.

But the Rangers have been mentioned as a player in the Halladay sweepstakes (although I think the chances of the Rangers landing him are 5% at their absolute peak) along with a couple of other players.

So what do the Rangers really need? A couple of things. Just like everyone else. Read more