Trade deadline passes, Rangers do nothing

The MLB non-waiver trade deadline has now passed, and the Rangers did not make a deal.

There was some thought that Texas, having essentially gone all-in on this year by making the Matt Garza trade, would look to bolster a struggling lineup by adding at least one bat, and potentially two, given that Lance Berkman appears unlikely to play again and Nelson Cruz is potentially facing a suspension.

However, no acquisition was made.

Texas still has the opportunity to look to try to acquire a hitter in August. In order to be traded in August, a player has to clear revocable waivers, or else has to be traded to the team that puts in the prevailing waiver claim on that player. Over the next couple of weeks, there will be reports about players being put on waivers, which is normal...virtually every player in the majors will be put on waivers during this period, since, if a team puts in a claim, the original team can simply pull the player back off of waivers if they don't want to lose the player.

Players who could clear waivers, and thus potentially be Ranger trade targets in August, include Jason Kubel, Alex Rios, and Kendrys Morales.