'They're Championship Players. They'll Smell It.' Texas Rangers' Chris Young Explains Club's Deadline Tactics

In depth Q&A with Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young, who is betting on his roster to put together another postseason run after mostly standing pat at the MLB Trade Deadline.

Stefan Stevenson/Texas Rangers On SI

ST. LOUIS — The Texas Rangers stood pat, for the most part. Besides adding a left-hander reliever and a backup catcher, the general manager Chris Young and his staff believe in the core group of players who won the club's first World Series title nine months ago.

Young spoke with Rangers beat writers via zoom after the 5 p.m. MLB Trade Deadline had passed on Tuesday. Young addressed the moves that were made, the moves that weren't, and why he is betting on the roster his staff has built on the last day of July.

Here's a transcript of Young's comments, which is edited for clarity:

Assess what you were able to accomplish at the deadline?
"I'm certainly excited about the players. We added two players who I think help our team and improve us in areas of need. We'll start with Carson Kelly, a veteran catcher who's having a tremendous season. We've had Jonah [Heim] and [Andrew Knizner] behind the plate this year. Carson offers an ability to really upgrade and improve our catching situation. We know Kiz hasn't played to the level that he's capable. He handled it very well in terms of getting optioned and recognizes the opportunity for him to go down and get regular at-bats and hopefully come back up and contribute."

How about the addition of Andrew Chafin to the bullpen?
"We looked at our team and where we are and what we need moving forward. Certainly, Jake Lats has done a great job as a left-handed reliever. We've gotten Cody Bradford back who's in the bullpen, but having a veteran of Andrew's caliber to be in our bullpen to help shorten games, to go with Josh Sborz, Jose Leclerc, David Robertson, and Kirby Yates. We feel very good about the bullpen and the ability to shorten games as we go into the last two months of the season here and then hopefully, we play well enough to get into the postseason where all these guys are postseason-tested and will play vital roles for us should we get there."

It seems like the club did not feel the need make a splashy move?
"I think it speaks to our confidence level in this roster. We really believe in the group we have. We've pitched very well all year. Offensively, we're getting healthy right now. We're getting Josh Jung back tonight. I truly believe our best baseball is ahead of us these next two months. So I think it's a big show of confidence in this group, and in their ability, their talent level. I'm excited to see this come together. But this division is very tough. Houston is very good. Seattle is very good. And we certainly have dug ourselves a little bit of a hole here. But nobody's run away with the division. And we feel confident that these next two months, if we play to the level that we think we can, that we can compete for the division title."

Did your team deem the trade market to high or was the thinking that with the returning players from injury, they will bring enough?
"We monitor the position player market, the bat market and recognizing that we've had some trouble scoring runs. But I think the best real upgrades that we're going to find offensively with our roster come internally with the addition of Josh Jung coming back, and then some of our own guys starting to perform up to the level of their capability. No doubt we've had some underperformance and we're expecting some positive progression in terms of these guys performing at the level that we think they're capable. And if we do that, and getting JJ back, we just looked at our position player group and believe it's a very, very solid position player group. It's not too dissimilar from the group we had last year that won the World Series and was an elite offensive team. So we felt like our internal additions and improvement are the best way to upgrade this club. And while we were engaged on the hitting market, the position player market, we just didn't feel like there was anything out there that was a perfectly obvious fit that improved us. There just was not a natural fit out there. We had great conversations with a number of clubs. But in the end, we trust the group we have, we believe in this group. And we think our best baseball is still ahead of us, especially on the offensive side."

What went into the thinking of trading Michael Lorenzen for a minor league pitcher?
"Michael signed here to start and, even with the injury to Jon Gray, which happened really after we were in talks [with the Royals] on the Lorenzen deal. We just felt like we owed it to Michael to give him the opportunity to start. He's going to have that in Kansas City. Secondly, we're going to have a crunch here coming with Tyler Mahle returning, Cody Bradford's back. We felt like we had some protection in the length and the ability to fit starters in and then eventually Jacob deGrom coming back. Secondly, we felt like we're getting a [left-handed] reliever in Walter Pennington, whose had a lot of success at Triple-A. we really like him. He's a carry forward piece into 2025 and beyond. Building our bullpen next year is going to be critically important to our success next year. The opportunity to to acquire someone who can help us now and in the future was really important to us."

You've seen enough progress with your injured recovering pitchers and the position players improving?
"I believe in our group of guys, I believe in the culture, I believe in the people that we have down there in terms of the players, the staff. Every team has their stretch where they have their best two or three months of baseball and my hope is that ours is still yet to come. There's no reason to believe that these guys can't put it together. We're right there in the thick of things. And I think this team showed an unbelievable resolve and character last season when things were tough. So I expect the same from this group again this year, and I'm looking forward to watching these next two months. I'm excited for our fans to come and watch these guys come together and find a way to win."

Your confidence in the current roster of position players is based on their past or changed some have made?
"A combination of both, but it's also the compound effect each player has on each other when you know when you lengthen the lineup and you get a piece like Josh Jung back who fits into the middle of the order it takes a little bit of pressure off the guys who are in those spots so whether it's Wyatt [Langford] or Josh Smith or even Adolis and Nate Lowe. It just lengthens the lineup and it's one more solid hitter for the opposing pitcher to prepare for and there are no breaks. Last year. there were no breaks in our lineup and the continuity of the lineup, the quality of the bats top to bottom. At times this year, we've had some holes and we've had some guys that just maybe weren't quite ready to be in the positions they were in and now I feel like we're more a complete, whole lineup and that just is a compound effect, not only on the opponent, but but for each other to go up there with confidence knowing that the guy behind you is going to get it done."

Do you view Tyler Mahle and Jacob deGrom closing in on returning, along with Jung, Bradford, and Ezequiel Duran as de facto deadline moves?
"I absolutely do. I'm proud of the roster that we put together. I congratulated our guys today. Compared to last year, this was a little bit slower deadline for us in terms of we didn't have the big, splashy moves, the headliners necessarily, but I think also It's a function of where the roster stands. We just looked at our roster every way we could over the last couple of weeks since the draft. And there just are not that many ways we felt to improve what is a very good roster. Our expectation is that it's going to come together here these last two months of the season, and these guys are going to smell it, they're going to know what's at stake. They're championship-caliber players. And they're going to live up to the expectation. That's my belief in this group."

Not to put it all the run-scoring issues at Adolis Garcia's feet, but do you feel like your offense improvement can do it without him producing closer to how he produced in 2023?
"No lineup should be dependent on any one player's performance. That's just the reality of it. So I think that while Adolis has struggled the last couple of months here, he's a little bit under a microscope, because he's been out there playing while we've lost several other guys and the pressure has fallen on Adolis' shoulders to maybe make up for what we've lost in terms of injury. Tthen you couple that with a little bit of underperformance in a couple other spots. I don't think it's fair to put this on Adolis or say the season hinges on him. No team's success depends on any one player. It's the collective group. And so I think as we get healthy here, and we have our group together, it should take a little bit of pressure off of each individual. And my expectation is when a couple of them get rolling here and if Adolis is one of those who gets rolling, he can carry the team. It's going to be a lot of fun. And I'm excited to see what plays out here."

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