The Rangers announced the acquisition of starting pitcher from the Diamondbacks for pitching prospects , and . Texas designated first baseman for a signment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Kelly is the most significant of three deadline pickups for the Rangers. They also deepened their bullpen by adding and . The Rangers leaned even harder into their identity as a pitching and defense team after evidently being di satisfied with the asking prices on top hitters. The 36-year-old Kelly was arguably the best rental starter who changed hands. He has turned in a 3.22 earned run average through 128 2/3 innings. That comes with a solid 23.5% strikeout percentage and a league average 7.4% walk rate Beau Brieske Jersey . Kelly doesnt have ma sive swing-and-mi s stuff, but hes a plus command artist with a long track record of mid-rotation performance. This will his third sub-4.00 ERA season within the past four years. Last years 4.03 earned runs per nine is his worst mark since 2021. Thats rock solid production thatll make Kelly a high-end #3 starter in Texas. Hed slot behind and as the expected playoff rotation if the Rangers qualify. They have plenty of work to do in that regard theyre currently tied with Seattle for the final AL Wild Card position but opponents would have a very tough time scoring against them in October. and figure to round out the starting five for the time being. That could push back to Triple-A. Kelly is playing on a $7MM salary. Its the final year of what turned out to be a very team-friendly extension that he signed with the Snakes early in the 22 season. Texas is taking on roughly $2.22MM for the stretch run. They also added around $950K on Coulombes deal and picked up roughly $634K on Maton. The Rangers have wanted to stay underneath the $241MM base luxury tax threshold. unofficially estimates them around $236M. The actual number is likely to be above that by seasons end as players trigger incentives, but it seems the Rangers at least stayed on the border of the threshold while making a trio of acquisitions on the pitching staff. Arizona had already dealt and as they sold off most of their impending free agents. The biggest question on deadline day was whether theyd trade both Kelly and . Ultimately, they only found what they considered a satisfactory offer on Kelly. Gallen will finish the season in the desert and quite likely receive and reject a qualifying offer. The D-Backs valued the compensatory draft pick theyd receive in that scenario more than whatever teams were willing to trade for Gallen, who has underperformed this season. Kellys superior year allowed the Snakes to get a trio of minor league arms. They focused their trade returns on upper level young pitching. Drake, a 65 left-hander, is the highest regarded of their new prospects. He placed fifth in the Texas system at and ninth at . BA feels the former 11th-round pick projects as a multi-inning reliever, while Pipeline projects him as a back-end starter. Drake has struggled over four Triple-A starts but turned in a 2.44 ERA through 12 appearances in Double-A. He sits around 93 MPH and has a four-pitch mix with advanced command. Hes 24 years old and will need to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He should debut at some point next year at the latest. Bratt, 22, is a 61 lefty who was selected out of high school in the 2021 draft. The Canadian southpaw has spent the whole season at Double-A Frisco. He has pitched to a 3.18 ERA with a plus 28.5% strikeout percentage and minuscule 4.3% walk rate in 18 appearances. Bratt placed ninth in the system at Pipeline and 14th at Baseball America. Hes a good athlete with above-average to plus command but fringe stuff that could make him a fifth starter. Hell also need to go on the 40-man roster this offseason. The 22-year-old Hagaman is a little further off. He was a fourth-round pick out of West Virginia last summer. He underwent Tommy John surgery last year and has been limited to eight profe sional appearances. Both BA and Pipeline ranked him in the middle third of the Rangers top 30 prospects. The 64 righty has an impre sive three-pitch arsenal but struggled with command in college. He could be a long-term reliever but will get a chance to develop as a starter. Arizonas player development staff now has a lot of young pitching talent with which to work. Most of those players could be on the MLB radar by next season. In the meantime, veteran righty will stretch out from long relief to take Kellys rotation spot (relayed by ). He has a 3.86 ERA in 23 1/3 frames and should be a serviceable innings source so the D-Backs dont need to pre s their younger arms into early action. As for Crim, hell be placed on waivers in the next few days. The 28-year-old first baseman got a brief look earlier in the season when the Rangers optioned to Triple-A. He went 1-11 with a walk. Crim has a career .283/.374/.487 batting line in more than 1600 plate appearances at the top minor league level. first reported the Rangers were nearing a Kelly deal. confirmed there was an agreement in place. of reported that Arizona was acquiring three prospects, including Drake and Hagaman. was first on Bratts inclusion. Image courtesy of Charles Leclaire, Imagn Images. Mickey Lolich Jersey
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