Looking back a three key offseason trades helping the Texas Rangers early in 2021

From afar, whether at home on the couch or from the press box at Globe Life Field, the Texas Rangers appear to have had a very good offseason.

The team is better than the product they left on the field after 60 games last season.

It wouldn’t have taken much for the offense to improve, as it sat near the bottom of baseball in most categories. The pitching staff is improved, despite the lack of flashy offseason additions, and the Rangers have upgraded their infield defense.

The Rangers’ biggest moves were trades rather than free-agent signings. The Rangers made plenty of those, though none for longer than two years and more than $6.2 million.

Those were the terms of the deal bagged by Kohei Arihara, the Rangers’ scheduled starting pitcher Saturday night against the Seattle Mariners.

The Rangers did pick up one massive contract, at least to a rebuilding team, when they traded for Khris Davis. The deal with the Oakland A’s was the Rangers’ most ballyhooed of the offseason as it sent longtime shortstop Elvis Andrus packing.

Davis’ impending Texas Rangers debut — he was activated from the injured list Saturday — comes three months after the deal, a big part of which for both teams was a salary swap of aging and declining players.

The Davis-Andrus deal was the third major trade the Rangers made in the offseason, and each has had a positive impact on the team and organization.

Here’s a glance how the trades have helped the Rangers.

Lowe from Tampa Bay

The most under-the-radar of the three deals wasn’t very popular Dec. 10, in large part because few knew about the first baseman the Rangers were acquiring and planning to install as their regular there.

People know a lot more about Nate Lowe now.

Lowe has been the MLB leader RBIs or ranked in the top five all season after he drove in 14 runs in the Rangers’ first five games. He entered Saturday with 25 RBIs and seven homers, which is tied for the team lead.

He connected Friday for the longest home run by a Rangers hitter so far at Globe Life Field (451 feet).

Lowe’s former minor-league teammate in the Rays organization, Rangers second baseman Nick Solak, is seeing the same things now he saw in 2018 and 2019.

“Nate is a great hitter,” Solak said. “He’s definitely demonstrated that this season so far. He has a knack for driving runs in. That’s something that I saw in ‘18 and ‘19 playing with him and I continue to see this season. He’s a fun hitter to watch.”

Also going deep Friday was Jake Guenther, the former TCU star who was one of the other five players to change hands in the Lowe deal. Guenther is playing first base at High A Hickory, and the player to be named from the Rays, outfielder Carl Chester, homered and drove in three runs Friday for Triple A Round Rock.

Dunning from Chicago

The Rangers had the opportunity to trade right-hander Lance Lynn at the 2020 trade deadline for a large package of prospects, similar to the deal the San Diego Padres made with the Cleveland Indians for right-hander Mike Clevenger.

There were plenty of prospects, but none of them highly ranked. So, the Rangers passed.

In sending Lynn to the Chicago White Sox on Dec. 8, the Rangers landed a top-100 prospect in right-hander Dane Dunning and a left-hander, Avery Weems, who is ranked in the Rangers’ top 30.

“I know we lost a pretty good pitcher in Lance Lynn, but getting and Dane and Avery Weems, I think he has a lot of upside, too,” manager Chris Woodward said.

Dunning is scheduled to make his seventh start of the season Sunday, and will entered at 1-2 with a 3.81 ERA. He has an advanced idea of how to pitch with stuff he has, primarily a sinker-slider mix though with other off-speed pitches in his repertoire.

He might never be a No. 1 starter. He might never be more than a No. 3, but he has a chance to become a fixture in the rotation.

Davis, others from Oakland

The Rangers didn’t only acquire Davis, who to start his season will play primarily against left-handed pitchers. The Rangers also added their backup catcher, Jonah Heim, and a pitching prospect who was selected in the fourth round in 2019, Dane Acker.

Davis can help the Rangers with his right-handed power, especially if he finds the swing that produced three straight 40-homer seasons with the A’s, which he parlayed into a big contract. Based on his past two seasons, though, that appears to be a big if.

The Rangers are on the hook for his contract as well as $13.5 million of Andrus’ the next two seasons, but are coming out slightly ahead on the money. By paying a larger chunk of Andrus’ deal, the Rangers were able to add Heim and Acker.

Heim is a switch-hitter with power from both sides, and he has a strong arm from behind the plate. He gives the Rangers some depth at catcher, with Jose Trevino and No. 2 prospect Sam Huff.

Heim is hitting only .125 but has started having better at-bats with more games of late. He homered Thursday at Minnesota to help lift the Rangers to a third straight win.

“He’s starting to feel a little more comfortable,” Woodward said. “I know that homer meant a lot to him because he’s been grinding pretty hard. He slept pretty well that night, felt like he contributed.”

Acker could move quickly through the system after pitching at Oklahoma. His fastball velocity touched the mid- to upper-90s at the fall instructional league. His offspeed pitches are still developing, but he commands everything he throws.