kyrie-getty-11.png
Getty Images

The AL West-leading Texas Rangers have begun their trade deadline shopping. Friday afternoon the Rangers acquired veteran lefty reliever Aroldis Chapman from the Kansas City Royals for lefty Cole Ragans and minor-league outfielder Roni Cabrera, the teams announced.

Chapman, 35, was having a resurgent season with Kansas City, throwing 29 1/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA and 53 strikeouts. He is also again hitting 100-plus mph with his fastball regularly. That said, Chapman has walked 20 in those 29 1/3 innings, so he must often navigate self-induced jams. The Royals signed Chapman to a one-year, $3.75 million contract over the winter.

With Chapman joining the club, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy now has the bullpen that looks something like this:

The Rangers enter play Friday averaging 5.96 runs scored per game, the most in baseball, and their rotation ranks second with a 3.51 ERA despite getting only six starts from Jacob deGrom. The bullpen has been a liability, however. Rangers relievers are 24th with a 4.37 ERA and 25th with minus-1.57 win probability added. Expect them to look for more bullpen help in addition to Chapman.

Ragans, 25, has been up and down with the Rangers the last two seasons, throwing 64 1/3 big league innings with a 5.32 ERA. The 2016 first round pick has undergone a pair of Tommy John surgeries and did not pitch at all from 2018-20. Cabrera, 17, is playing in the Dominican Summer League this year. MLB.com did not rank him among their top 30 Rangers prospects before the trade.

At 23-58, the Royals have the second worst record in baseball, and they figure to continue selling in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline. Righty relievers Scott Barlow and Taylor Clarke should generate interest, ditto role players like Matt Duffy and Edward Olivares. It would be a stunner if the Royals move Salvador Perez, however.

"Now that you get one out of the way, you start figuring out what the next ones are," Royals GM J.J. Picollo told MLB.com following the Chapman trade. "We're open to whatever may come our way, but we have a month to work on it, and that's plenty of time."  

Texas is 49-32 and five games up on the Houston Astros in the AL West. The two clubs begin an important four-game series at Globe Life Field on Friday.