Rangers still awaiting Seager's return with Deadline approaching

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- The MLB Trade Deadline is Aug. 3, two weeks from Monday, and the Rangers are still without their best player in Corey Seager, who has only played 51 games this season thanks to a concussion and a pair of back injuries.

But the Rangers have successfully treaded water without him. They are certainly in the thick of the race, both in the American League West -- where all clubs are hovering around .500 or much worse -- and in the Wild Card, which is much more wide open than its National League counterpart.

So what does that mean for the Trade Deadline?

“I still, in my heart, do not believe we've played our best baseball,” president of baseball operations Chris Young said. “But I think we need to be fully healthy to be able to play our best baseball. Some of that is obviously a big question mark on the Corey front. Until we get better clarity as to what his timeline is going to be, we may not know what this team is.”

The question mark hanging above Globe Life Field lies in the superstar shortstop, who was placed on the 15-day injured list on July 1 due to lower back inflammation. He also missed 19 games earlier this season due to the same injury, in addition to another injured list stint spanning 12 games with a concussion. And when he was healthy, he didn’t look much like himself either, slashing .182/.292/.374 in 51 games.

So how does Seager’s availability -- or lack of it for the foreseeable future -- affect the Rangers going into the Trade Deadline? Long story short, it’s about the players that are on the field right now and in the days leading up to Aug. 3.

“I think we have to look at it through two lenses: what's right for 2026, and what's right for 2027 and beyond,” Young said. “My hope is that the team continues to play well, and we get hot here before the Deadline, and we say, ‘Hey, this is a team capable of winning the division and competing for a world championship.’ If we do that, then it may impact our decision-making.”

As for Seager, he’s progressing slowly, even slower than his earlier IL stint, but that’s by design this time around.

As of Monday, he’s begun to take ground balls for multiple days in a row and run to about a 70-80% intensity. He also started his hitting progression with soft toss in the cage and tee work. What does that mean for his progress toward returning to the field?

“You have to ask him,” Young said. “I can't answer for him. You have to ask Corey how he's feeling and what he thinks he's capable of doing. I just can't answer that.”

Seager is a man of few words, but on Monday, he did tell reporters in Arlington that he was feeling better as his workload slowly increased.

“Good, so far,” Seager said. “So we’ll just keep progressing the volume and everything else and see how we respond. …Today was definitely the most, I guess, explosive quote-unquote intensity that I've done.”

Seager is undoubtedly frustrated with the situation, which has been his first foray with a back injury despite an injury-riddled career. And he’s well aware that the Rangers are better when he’s on the field.

“It’s not ideal,” Seager said. “I wish I could just kind of say a week, 10 days, blah blah blah. It's just not where we're at. Unfortunately, you have to accept it. … You just always [feel a sense of urgency], right? You never want to be on the IL. You never want to not be playing with your guys. So, I mean, there's always an urgency to try and be back as fast as possible.”