Rangers acquire Merrill Kelly from D-backs for 3 pitching prospects

SEATTLE -- On Thursday, the Rangers' rotation had an MLB-best 3.16 ERA. It’s only going to get better.

With less than an hour to go until Thursday's 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline, Texas acquired Merrill Kelly from the Diamondbacks for a trio of pitching prospects.

TRADE DETAILS
Rangers get: RHP Merrill Kelly
D-backs get: LHP Kohl Drake (Rangers' No. 5 prospect), LHP Mitch Bratt (No. 9) and RHP David Hagaman (No. 13)

“Anytime you have a chance to add somebody of Merrill Kelly’s stature to a rotation [you do it],” said general manager Ross Fenstermaker. “We're thinking about how this plays, not only for the rest of the season, but into the postseason. He is somebody with a pedigree that fits right in. We’re fortifying what has been a strength for us this year and continuing to build upon that as we try to complete this roster.”

The Rangers were in a precarious place in the weeks leading up the Deadline. After months of underperformance, a hot July (16-8), highlighted by an 8-1 homestand out of the All-Star break, set them up to be buyers at the Deadline in a crowded AL Wild Card race.

Ideally, the Rangers were looking to upgrade a bullpen that was already the best in the American League (3.30 ERA). They did that by acquiring Danny Coloumbe from the Twins and Phil Maton from the Cardinals.

But Kelly is the biggest addition of the Deadline for Texas. It’s a slightly shocking move for a rotation that has been nails all season long.

“We do a lot of analysis in terms of what are the best ways to make this team even stronger,” explained president of baseball operations Chris Young. “Sometimes that's adding to a strength, and sometimes that's improving a weakness.

“We felt like, given the players that were on the market, the best way for us to improve our club was to attack our pitching and make sure that we fortify our rotation -- not just in terms of the quality, but in terms of the depth. As we went through the discussions, it became clear to us that pitching was a way that we could really make this team better, and we were focused on it.”

Kelly tends to fly under the radar in part because he doesn’t light up radar guns, with a fastball in the 92-94 mph range. What Kelly does do is give his team a chance to win every time he takes the mound, and his consistency has earned him the moniker “Merrill the Mainstay.”

Kelly owns a 3.22 ERA through 22 starts, with 121 strikeouts, 38 walks and a 1.06 WHIP in 128 2/3 innings. A right shoulder strain limited him to only 13 starts last season, but he averaged 30 starts and a 3.66 ERA from 2021-23.

Kelly has been one of the best signings of GM Mike Hazen’s tenure in Arizona. Kelly never made the big leagues after the Rays drafted him in the eighth round in 2010, so he went to Korea and pitched in the KBO from 2015-18. The Diamondbacks then signed him to a two-year, $5.5 million contract that included a pair of club options.

The Diamondbacks then inked Kelly to a two-year, $18 million deal that covered the 2023-24 seasons and included a club option for 2025. He is due to be a free agent after this season.

Kelly was a key part of Arizona’s run to the 2023 World Series. In his first and only taste of postseason baseball, he allowed six runs in 24 innings over four starts, with four of those runs coming in one game against the Phillies. He recorded the Diamondbacks’ lone win in the World Series, holding the Rangers to one run over seven innings in Game 2.

Kelly’s addition also changes the outlook of the rotation, which now includes six healthy starting pitchers with Tyler Mahle still on the injured list and Jon Gray in the bullpen following his activation.

With Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Kelly, the Rangers now have a certified top three for a potential postseason series. But somebody will be the odd man out among veteran Patrick Corbin and rookies Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter down the stretch in the regular season.

deGrom and Rocker are both pitching in their first full seasons post-Tommy John, and both Eovaldi and Leiter have spent various amounts of time on the injured list this season.

“Equally important as really adding to the bullpen was protecting our starting pitchers,” Young said. “Guys have been great all year in terms of taking the ball and pitching, but we also know that we've got to protect them from an inning standpoint down the stretch. I think by acquiring Merrill, we're protecting ourselves. It's really creating flexibility and optionality and give them a blow if they need that. We haven't figured out what the rotation will look like beyond maybe this weekend, but I do feel very confident we have very good options.”