The Texas Rangers agreed to an exchange by sending shortstop Elvis Andrus to Oakland Athletics, which in turn moves designated hitter Khris Davis to the Rangers, Ken Rosenthal reports from The Athletic. In addition, the Rangers receive catcher Jonah Heim and right-handed pitcher Dane Acker, while the A’s receive catcher Aramis Garcia and money considerations.
The deal will become official once all parties have undergone a physical examination.
The move ends a 12-year period of great success with the Rangers for Andrus. The runner-up of the Rookie of the Year 2009 was a two-time All-Star who was part of the Golden Age of Rangers baseball, with them winning four division titles, a wild card and two streamers. Before this year, Rangers had only appeared in the playoffs three times and had never advanced.
In those 12 years, Andrus reached 0.274 with a percentage of 0.330 at the base, 303 doubles, 305 steals, 893 scheduled runs and 1,743 hits. He ranks third in the history of Rangers in batting and racing, while he is ninth in WAR. Now 32, he hit just 0.194 / 0.252 / 0.330 in 111 plate games last season, but hit 0.275 with 12 homers and 31 steals in 2019.
The A’s have an obvious fit for Andrus right after the departure of high-profile free agent Marcus Semien.
On the Rangers side, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was already cemented towards 2021 as the daily shortstop with the expectation that third base was a work in progress (Andrus was expected to be involved in the competition for the spot). It is possible that Rougned Odor will take the place of Nick Solak in second.
Davis, 33, is just two years away from leading the majors with 48 home runs, but his OPS + over the past three seasons shows his drastic decline: 137 to 83 to 79. There were only 99 plate appearances last season, but Davis reduced .200 .303 / .329 with 26 strikeouts and just two homers. He’s not too old to revert to Davis’s peak, which was 0.247 / 0.326 / 0.549, 48 homers and 123 RBI in 2018.
If he does, he will form one of baseball’s most prodigious power pairs along with Joey Gallo.
Regardless, Davis is probably in line for most DH Rangers on the bat to open the season.
At the end of A, they just mix and match in HD.
Also going to the Rangers are Heim and Acker. Heim, 25, hit 0.211 in 38 hitting as a rookie last season for A’s. In 2019, he played 85 games between Double-A and Triple-A, reaching 0.310 / 0.385 / 0.477 with nine home runs and 53 RBI. For now, he’s probably Jose Trevino’s backup behind the sign. Acker, 21, was picked in the fourth round of A’s at the University of Oklahoma last summer.
Concluding the deal, Garcia goes to A’s. He saw time with the Giants in 2018-19, hitting 0.229 with six home runs in 37 games. He apepars to be the backup of Sean Murphy behind the Oakland sign.