DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Rangers general manager Jon Daniels joined the GBag Nation after the trade deadline Monday.
Here are some of the highlights:
On why they didn't trade Lance Lynn and Joey Gallo:
"We were open to moving the guys we did and we were open to move the guys we didn't. But we weren't going to force it. It had to be for an equitable deal. I think some of it is the current climate with teams ... it's really hard to acquire young talent. The market's really challenging there. There's not as much of a push to win now. Teams are more willing to hold their prospects and take their chances without going and getting that winning piece.
"We understand our path to contention involves building the team and developing and acquiring young players. But when the deal wasn't there I wouldn't have been comfortable making some of the trades that we could have made. I just don't think our fans would have been very happy about it had we done it."
On operating at a smaller payroll next season:
"Our payroll is just a reality. We're playing in front of an empty park. With revenues down across the league. We're only playing 60 games. We're not having any fans ... that's going to have a major impact over not just this year but into next year.
"From a business side there has to be an expectation that revenues will still be down next year. There will be a little bit of a hangover from this year and the reality of that is we're going to have a lower payroll."
Why wouldn't you trade Lance Lynn now as opposed to this winter or next trade deadline? Wouldn't you get more value out of him now than you would later?
"I think on paper what you're saying is accurate. I think it's very likely that they could fit us better (that player). I'm not going to share exactly what we could of done but I'm confident that I would have been disappointed in it and I think you probably would have been, as well (on a deal involving Lynn). We were flexible and we moved off our initial ask in just about every case but we weren't gonna go below a certain point. Our options with these players are still there. If we want to extend them or consider trading them in the winter or at a future point, our options are still there. When we held onto Mike (Minor) last year, the offers were not very good (then), quite frankly. A year later, I can sit here and say that the guys we could have got last year are still not guys that we would have been thrilled about."
How involved is ownership in the direction the club wants to take on rebuilding or tearing it down completely?
"Ray (Davis) is fairly involved with that. As far as conversations we've had and things that are important to him. He's very clued in and aware of the overall direction."
Was this a frustrating day for you?
"Frustrating isn't the right word. I wasn't really surprised by it. Would I have liked for the home-run deal to be there, absolutely. I think we knew going in that that was unlikely with how things have been and what the market looks like, and knowing the clubs we were dealing with. It wasn't a shock. There were some bigger things we went down the line on fairly far that didn't come together and that's the nature of it. You want to be able to close deals. You want to have deals that make sense to people in the organization and ultimately paint a very clear picture of what we're trying to do to our fans. It's not frustration so much. You want to be able to deliver those things. Today's just one day. The opportunity is not done. Yes, there are some teams that are going to view our players differently because there's one less pennant race that they can factor into. But we still have the trade and extension opportunities with all the guys who are still here."
Listen to the entire interview below.