DALLAS — Well, that escalated quickly.
The Rangers went from seemingly dead-in-the-water and trending toward a trade deadline selloff ... to just 2.5 games back of first place, and now reportedly looking to buy.
That's via The Athletic's baseball insider Ken Rosenthal, who reported Thursday: "It's official. The Texas Rangers are going for it."
Rosenthal wrote that Texas will be looking for a bat heading into the July 30 trade deadline, likely a left-handed hitting outfielder or designated hitter, or a platoon right-handed hitter.
Rosenthal floated Yandy Diaz, last year's American League batting champ (a tick ahead of Corey Seager, by the way), as a possible option. Diaz is smashing left-handed pitching this year, with an .879 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), but he's struggled against righties, with a .678 OPS.
As Rosenthal noted, Diaz has been on the restricted list for personal reasons and hasn't played since the All-Star break -- so it's unclear if that will complicate any potential trade possibilities.
In any case, it's quite the turnaround for the Rangers, who have won five straight games and are a league-best 14-6 in the month of July. A strong July was absolutely necessary to avoid becoming sellers at the trade deadline.
But with pitchers Tyler Mahle, Cody Bradford, Dane Dunning and Jacob deGrom seemingly on the return track, the Rangers still have a decent chance to win the American League West. They trail the Astros by 2.5 games and are behind the Mariners by a game and a half.
The Mariners, by the way, landed Diaz's Rays teammate Randy Arozarena in a trade Thursday night, adding a hitter to their struggling lineup. The Rangers have had similar offensive frustrations, with outfielder Evan Carter out with injury and last year's postseason hero Adolis Garcia struggling for the last three months.
