Friday on the Farm: Trading prospects is not fun, but Rangers have plenty for right deal
(Hickory Crawdads)
Free agency always overshadows trades in a baseball offseason, probably because big dollars usually aren’t immediately at stake when teams strike a deal.
But there are two currencies in baseball: the U.S. dollar and minor-league prospects.
The Rangers appear to be flush with both.
Their farm system is recognized as one of the 10 best in baseball. Rangers officials, as should be expected, believe their system should be ranked in the top three.
Pitching depth highlights the system, though that’s not to say the Rangers are lacking for position players. They have reached the upper levels of the minors. They’re a pulled hamstring or sore oblique away from making their MLB debuts.
However, those debuts might come with another team.
It seems the Rangers sending Duran to Winter ball to play the OF shows they intend on keeping him. All of the LF starts for Smith late in the season seems to indicate the same about him as well.