Texas Rangers rumors: Brad Ziegler, traded to the Boston Red Sox by the Arizona Diamondbacks, was the subject of a transaction that has generated some grousing, according to Jon Heyman. While the focus of Heyman's piece is on Dave Stewart defending the deal, which has generated criticism (including speculation that the Diamondbacks were confused as to which of the twin brothers in the Red Sox system they were actually receiving), Heyman also says that the deal "came down to the Red Sox and Rangers."
Its interesting that Heyman mentions the Rangers as the other finalist in a piece that talks about other front offices grousing about having made a better offer than what Arizona accepted, since one could easily assume that the Rangers were one of the teams complaining. It also reinforces the widely held belief that the Rangers are aggressively pursuing bullpen help, as well as looking for another starting pitcher. Ryan Posner has a piece today about the Rangers' interest in bullpen pieces, with the focus being on lefthanders -- Posner mentions Sean Doolittle, Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Will Smith and Boone Logan as potential options.
Of course, pretty much every contender is looking for relief help, which drives the price up. While the Rangers' pen appears right now to be in pretty good shape, with Sam Dyson, Jake Diekman, Matt Bush, and Keone Kela handling the late innings, and Tony Barnette and Shawn Tolleson providing middle relief, Diekman is the only trusted lefty out there, and there's always the possibility of injuries or ineffectiveness creating more holes. If the Rangers could get another quality bullpen arm or two, they could go with an eight man pen until rosters expand in September (at which point they can have a 12 or 13 man pen if they want), or else send Matt Bush down for a short bit to manage his innings, like they did with Keone Kela last year.