The Texas Rangers, aggressively shopping for a bullpen or rotation addition, are in discussions with the Tampa Bay Rays, and in the meantime holding talks with the San Diego Padres over Andrew Cashner.
One player that keeps coming up is Matt Moore. The 27-year old, a one-time All-Star who has been in Tampa since 2011, has a 4.33 ERA this season, a 1.298 WHIP and a 2.88 SO/W ratio, which is close to his best performance so far except for the ERA. Moore is probably the leading name among a large group of Rays pitchers that is on everyone’s mind at this point.
Another player the Rangers are showing interest in is Jake Odorizzi, who has been with the Rays since 2013. He’s struggling this season compared to last year, with a 4.47 ERA, his WHIP at 1.271 and his SO/W ratio at 2.88, all worse compared to last season. Both Odorizzi and Moore are controllable through the 2019 season, making it easier to overlook their flaws, including the Tommy John surgery Moore has had recently.
Another player the Rangers are looking at is Andrew Cashner of the Padres. He’s 4-7 this season with a 5.05 ERA, a 1.478 WHIP and an awful 1.96 SO/W ratio. In general, his last two seasons have been bad, and this season he’s allowing 1.5 home runs per nine innings, the worst number of his career. However, he is a one-year rental, with a $7.15 million contract the Padres would simply love to get off their books, even for this season.
The Rangers are also trying to improve their bullpen, with the second worst ERA and strikeout-per-walk ratio in major league baseball. Their favorite target is Andrew Miller of the New York Yankees, but the Yankees keep insisting that he’s not available for trade.