Texas Rangers: Trades, Injuries, Lineups and Could it happen!

Following last nights injury to Adrian Beltre, team leading 49 extra base hits and 76 rbi, the call up of power hitting Chris Davis, .368 avg, 24 homers, 66 rbi with Round Rock (AAA) is now here. This is a chance and maybe a trade tryout for many teams looking to see what the Rangers have to offer as July 31st trade deadline gets closer. With the Mets and Carlos Beltran and the Padres and Heath Bell, some teams are looking to find what big league ready players are available and how they can help their team. Davis is a utility player who plays left, third and first base as well as some designated hitter and could give a National League team a young , strong player that hits with some power. With Nelson Cruz hitting .309 in July and 21 rbi in the month and Michael Young hitting .382 this month, the Rangers are looking at keeping their current 13-2 win loss streak going and hope to add depth at outfield and the bullpen. Julio Borbon, Tommy Hunter, Derek Holland, David Murphy, and Chris Davis are all potential players to be traded in the next 9 days. Also keep an eye on Leonys Martin who is now at Triple A Round Rock and could be the Rangers Centerfielder of the future..maybe soon. With Ubaldo Jimenez name out there , also look at the Rangers to be keeping an eye on that. The Rangers could look like this by September!
1. Leonys Martin(speed and good raw defense)
2. Michael Young( 128 hits, 66 rbi, and .329 avg)
3. Josh Hamilton( 2010 MVP, .294 avg and 54 rbi)
4. Adrian Beltre( leading team in extra base hits and rbi)
5. Nelson Cruz(tied for mlb lead with 21 rbi in July)
6. Carlos Beltran(15 homers , 62 rbi, .289 avg)
7..Ian Kinsler( 15 homers and 19 stolen bases)
8. Mike Napoli( 13 homers and 35 rbi and Rangers pitchers 2.43 era with Mike catching)
9. Elvis Andrus( 29 stolen bases and .281 avg)

Pitching
1. C.J. Wilson
2. Ubaldo Jimenez
3. Colby Lewis
4. Alexi Ogando
5. Matt Harrison

Bullpen
Neftali Feliz
Heath Bell
Yoshinori Tateyama
Darrne Oliver
Arthur Rhodes
Mark Lowe

Well, this is obviously a dream lineup for Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan..but anything could happen with the Rangers having the best ranked Minor League system in baseball!

Trading Deadline Deals Gone Bad

Many people have deals in their minds about who can make a team a contender! Many players like Mark McGwire, Fred McGriff and even Randy Johnson have been involved in the July trade frenzy. Looking back as an A's fan in 1997. What were the Oakland A's thinking? Trade McGwire for up and coming young prospects..Well, Mark hit 24 homers after being dealt in 1997 and from 98-2001 hit almost 200 more. The players the A's received were lack luster to say the least. Sometimes trades work out for teams like the Texas Rangers and Cliff Lee(  helped lead them to World Series in 2010) but in other instances General Managers make suttle decisions that can set a team back years into the future. For players like John Smoltz being traded to Atlanta in 1987 and Lou Brock to the Cardinals in 1964, these 2 players had careers most others only wished they could have. For the teams like the Tigers and Cubs (Smoltz and Brock trades), maybe they wish they had those trades back again.Looking for players in 2012 class include Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and others so GM's may want a crystal ball or a lucky charm when making trades! Here is a link from ESPN and the Page 2 staff to talk about what happened in past years!
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/baseball/worst/deadlinedeals.html