The deadline came and went Monday afternoon with the Rangers holding onto their ace Lance Lynn. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels had a lengthy discussion with 105.3 The Fan about why the club didn't move their ace.
In that conversation, Daniels said they had an opportunity to make a deal involving Lynn but he "wouldn't have been comfortable" with the return they would have gotten for him.
One of the teams the Rangers were in trade discussions with up until the very end of the deadline was the Atlanta Braves.
Their general manager, Alex Anthopoulos, joined 92.9 The Game on Tuesday to discuss why they didn't make a splash at the deadline.
"We were able, no doubt," the GM answered to a question about the Braves' ability to make a trade on Monday. "We're always able, right? It's just a matter of, as a front office, do we think this is the right decision for the organization, do we agree in what we have to give up? That's the same way when we're trying to sign a player. At some point you set a number, you decide if you're going to go over that. Like any other time we're sitting there, we're active, we're having conversations and if there's a deal we like we'll do it."
When Mike Clevinger was dealt to the Padres, Braves Twitter exploded with the idea that the team should reach out to acquire Lynn from the Rangers. Lynn's sitting with a 4-1 record and a 1.93 ERA and would have made a stellar battery mate for Max Fried. While Anthopoulous wouldn't comment on players that didn't move, Dave O'Brien, who's covered the Braves for many seasons offered up some insight as to why Atlanta and Texas didn't agree on terms.
Anthopoulos said there were fewer sellers this year compared to trade deadlines of year's past. He also said there were a lot more teams buying because of the expanded playoffs.
Rangers fans may not be familiar with those names but they are among some of the best prospects in Major League Baseball. MLB.com rates Pache as the 14th best prospect in baseball, while Waters comes in at No. 27.
Would Texas have gotten their hands on one of them, the perception among Rangers fans on the job Jon Daniels did yesterday at the deadline would turn from utter disgust to absolute joy.
But it appears each team thought they were giving up too much to make a deal.
"The moves that we could've made, for us, would not have been good deals," Anthopoulos said. He continued with an idea of what the Braves' plan was on Monday and why no trades were made.
"Anyone who was potentially available, we absolutely got a price on," the GM said. "Our job is to get prices, no matter what.
"It just came down to — and it's no knock on anybody — we made the decision that the price for us, we didn't think that made sense."
