MLB Trade Deadline 2017: 5 best spots for Giancarlo Stanton

4. Texas Rangers

The Rangers can never be counted out of any big trade discussions. Over the years, Texas has done a better job than any other team in Major League Baseball of identifying talented amateurs in Latin America and turning them into elite prospects. On this year’s team alone, the Rangers have Elvis Andrus, Rougned Odor, and Nomar Mazara playing prominent roles. Their top prospect is Leody Taveras, signed out of the Dominican Republic for $2.1 million. Five of their top ten prospects hail from outside the USA.

Because the Rangers are willing to spend aggressively in Latin America, they essentially give themselves a few extra early-round picks every single year. That in turn gives them plenty of chips to use at the deadline to improve the MLB club. The 2017 Rangers began the year with high expectations after making the playoffs two years in a row, but have fallen flat.

The biggest issue for the Rangers has been their stagnant offense. Joey Gallo and Mike Napoli hit tape-measure home runs every few days, but have combined to strike out in 202 of their 563 shared plate appearances this year. The Rangers are batting .240 as a club this year and have four regular starters who strike out at least once per game on average. Stanton does not necessarily fix all of the swing-and-miss, but his contact is much more frequent.