While trading within divisions is a no no in many cases, perhaps the Astros would be willing to offer Ryan Pressley to the Rangers (and maybe even pick up half his salary $14 million). Pressley has a no trade provision, but he might waive it for the Rangers. The Astros are still trying to cut some salary and Pressley is the obvious choice.The Dodgers just signed Tanner Scott so signing Yates to an already overwhelming bullpen of high-leverage arms is just a big FU to MLB and the concept of a luxury tax preventing a team from doing exactly what the Dodgers are doing.
Los Angeles Dodgers, Free Agent Reliever Kirby Yates Reportedly Agree to Deal
Kirby Yates is joining the Los Angeles Dodgers' bullpen just two days after the club went out and signed another All-Star closer in Tanner Scott.www.si.com
Not sure where the Rangers go from here unless they want to see if someone like Gray or Rocker could transition to a closer role.
With regard to the Dodgers, I did a quick look at the projected luxury tax for 2025. The Dodgers luxury tax was coming in at about $94 million which exceeds the total payroll for nine teams. Baseball is being destroyed by various actions, not the least of which are the oligarchs in LA and NY who have so much money they could care less if they incur the tax.......as long as it brings them championships. Any legitimate baseball fan (non Dodgers) will be pulling against dem bums for the immediate future.
One last unrelated comment. Congrats to Billy Wagner as he should have already been in the HOF. I got to attend the Astros HOF induction ceremonies last year and talked to Wagner for 10-15 minutes. He is a really good guy and his back story on how he became a left handed pitcher is quite interesting.
