For the second year in a row, the Rangers overpaid for an old, washed-up catcher.
Last year they overpaid for Pudge Rodriguez, giving up Jose Vallejo and Matt Nevarez to get him.
This year, they overpaid for Benjie Molina, giving up Chris Ray and Michael Main to get him (and the roughly $1.75 million more that he's owed this year than Chris Ray is).
But part of the reason you have a stacked farm system is that, should you decide you have to make a move to get someone, and should the other side require an exorbinant price in order to part with that player, you can afford to pay the price.
Look...the Yankees wouldn't bat an eye at spending a few million dollars to add a player like Molina, if they decided it enhanced their chances of making the postseason and having success once they got there. They've got a huge budget, and a few million dollars is a rounding error.
Similarly, when it comes to the Rangers' farm system, Michael Main is the equivalent of a rounding error. He's a nice pitching prospect with upside, who looks like he has a decent chance of becoming a useful major league pitcher. And there are a couple of dozen guys in the system you could say the same thing about.
The Rangers can't spend money with the same sort of abandon that the Yankees can. But they are in a position where, should they decide it is necessary, they can afford overpay in terms of prospects -- particularly "mid-tier" pitching prospects -- to get a guy they feel like they need to win now.
This doesn't mean that the Giants didn't "win" this trade -- they basically paid $1.75 million for Michael Main, not an unreasonable amount for a pitching prospect.
But the Rangers parted with a guy whose departure is basically a blip on their prospect screen, to get someone to help shore up a glaring weakness.