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MLB Trade Deadline 2017: 5 teams that emerge losers

By Joshua Sadlock

BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 30: General manger of the Baltimore Orioles on the field before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden yards on April 30, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 30: General manger of the Baltimore Orioles on the field before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden yards on April 30, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Texas Rangers catcher Jonathan Lucroy looks to the dugout for signs during the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, July 29, 2017. The Orioles won, 4-0. (Max Faulkner/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS via Getty Images)
Texas Rangers catcher Jonathan Lucroy looks to the dugout for signs during the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, July 29, 2017. The Orioles won, 4-0. (Max Faulkner/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS via Getty Images) /

4. Texas Rangers

The only thing that saved the Rangers from being ranked as a bigger loser on this list was their decision to trade Yu Darvish. They had to be dragged there kicking and screaming, but eventually got a deal done. The price of a rental pitcher was way down this year, and the Rangers did not get a top prospect from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The return on the Darvish trade will be fine when it’s all said and done. Willie Calhoun has the potential to hit 20 home runs in the big leagues and he is essentially ready to start now. The Rangers will have to find him a position, but they can make it work. What makes the Rangers losers at the 2017 trade deadline is the fact that they were forced to sell Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress for pennies on the dollar. They traded top prospect Lewis Brinson in the package for this pair last year.

Lucroy’s decline this year came out of nowhere. In 77 games with the Rangers, he hit .242/.297/.338 with four home runs. The power outage is even more shocking considering he had an OPS of .855 in 142 games last year and appeared as healthy as a 31-year-old catcher can possibly be. Jeffress was an unmitigated disaster for Texas. He pitched in only 12 games last year due to a personal issue and had a 5.31 ERA in 39 games this year.

The Rangers waved the white flag this year, but did not have much bargaining power in any of the trades they made. Being forced to sell Lucroy and Jeffress for almost nothing just served to add more insult to injury in a lost season.

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