Aquire OF Davis from Oakland
After what has already been an eventful offseason, the Texas Rangers continued to shake things up, making a big trade Saturday. The Rangers are sending their 12-year shortstop Elvis Andrus to the Oakland Athletics, in return for outfield slugger Khris Davis.
Andrus, who has been the Rangers starting shortstop since 2009, was the last remaining player from the 2010 and 2011 teams who reached the world series. The two-time all-star has the most starts of any Texas Ranger at one position with 1,605. The next closest was Ivan Rodriguez with 1,404.
After earning the starting shortstop job as a 20-year-old rookie in 2009, Andrus made his first all-star appearance the following year in 2010. The 21-year-old finished the season with a .265 average and stole 32 bases. While seeing his offensive production go up over the next two seasons, the Rangers shortstop made another all-star appearance in 2012 when he hit .286, driving in 62 runs while stealing 21 bases.
Although Andrus has not returned to the all-star game since, he has still had success in recent years. Andrus hit .302 and .297 in 2016 and 2017 respectively. After only playing in 97 games in 2018, Andrus bounced back in 2019, playing in 147 games, while hitting .275 and 12 home runs.
After the Rangers announced earlier this offseason that they would be moving forward with Isaiah Kiner-Falefa as the everyday shortstop, many wondered what that would mean for Andrus. Saturday Texas dealt their one-time top prospect to Oakland for power threat Khris Davis.
Davis, who has been a designated hitter for Oakland over the past few seasons while also seeing some starts in left field, is coming off a pair of down years. From 2015-2018 Davis finished with a batting average of exactly .247 each season, while hitting 42 home runs in 2016, 43 home runs in 2017 and league leading 48 home runs in 2018. If Davis can find his consistency again, he will give the Rangers a much needed power threat.
Along with Davis, the Rangers also acquired catcher Jonah Him and right-handed pitcher Dane Acker. Heim is 25 years old and was the No. 9 ranked prospect in Oakland’s organization according to mlb.com. Both Davis and Heim were added to the Rangers 40-man roster. Heim will be competing with David Garcia, Jose Trevino, and fellow top prospect Sam Huff for the starting catcher position.
Earlier in the week Texas signed right-handed starting pitcher Mike Foltynewicz. Spending his career with the Atlanta Braves until now, the 29-year-old made an all star appearance in 2018. The right-hander had a career record of 44-42 with an earned run average of 4.33.
With spring training just around the corner, many fans are curious to see how many more moves this organization will make.