ARLINGTON – Legend has it that it was the late Bill Veeck who, as owner of the Cleveland Indians in 1947, tried to peddle his own player-manager, Lou Boudreau, to the St. Louis Browns – and failed.
Veeck spun the botched deal with the immortal line, “Sometimes the best deal . . . is the one you don’t make.”
There were a lot of Bill Veecks around Major League Baseball on Wednesday.
One by one, general managers dipped their toes – but only their toes — into the trade waters. They kicked tires. They pressed their noses to the shop windows.
And in the end, the trade deadline passed at 3 p.m. with most teams clutching their best young players ever more tightly, declining to make a headline-provoking deal.
The Texas Rangers were one of those. Even with an All-Star left-handed pitcher to offer and a reasonably charismatic two-time World Series champion outfielder to swap to a contender, Rangers GM Jon Daniels chose to mostly stand pat.
His Veeckian disclaimer: “In my opinion, the appetite of teams to part with prospects is at a relative low right now.
“We could have forced it and made a deal that I would not have been proud to sit here and explain to fans, or we could hold on to what we think is one of the better pitchers in the league and maintain the options that go with that.”
And just like that, lefty Mike Minor’s destination for Wednesday evening became the Globe Life Park pitching mound rather than DFW airport.
He pitched . . . distractedly, to be honest, though he earned the win in a see-saw 9-7 Rangers victory.
“I don’t think he’s ever going to use that as an excuse,” manager Chris Woodward said of Minor’s 5-inning, 5-run performance. “I think we all realize that it obviously had to have some effect on him.
“But I’m sure he’ll go home and maybe have a beer and enjoy the night.”
Nor was another All-Star, Hunter Pence, traded, despite queries from multiple teams.
“[There was] interest in Hunter, up until just a couple of minutes before the deadline,” Daniels said.
“He enjoys the club. I think that’s real important for what Woody and his staff feel is the leadership on the team that they’re trying to emphasize.
“So we weighed that heavily. We have a bar – not a crazy bar. We weren’t asking for top-top prospects. But we have a bar to get across for us to consider that and not just be the best offer at the buzzer.
“And that’s what we stuck to.”
Amidst teams’ conjectured diminished appetite to part with their gold-star prospects, Daniels said, “I don’t think many top prospects were moved.”
The Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers – all postseason contenders – also were unable to consummate an attention-grabbing trade.
But as Rangers fans likely noticed with an accompanying shriek, the Houston Astros didn’t let the opportunity pass.
The Astros “won” the trading deadline in the final minutes by surrendering four well-regarded prospects to the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher Zack Greinke.
And they’re probably going to win October, too, after this.
What a move. Bold and decisive. Greinke joins a pitching rotation that already includes Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.
At age 35, Greinke and his $35-million-per-year salary were thought to be untradeable. But Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow sent his club’s Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 22 prospects to Arizona, plus was able to get the D’backs to cover around one-third of the reported $70 million still due on Greinke’s contract.
The impact on the Astros’ farm system depth will be immediate, but so what? Luhnow and owner Jim Crane are trying to win another World Series, not impress Baseball America.
It would be wrong, though, to contrast the Astros’ all-in maneuverings with the Rangers’ relative silence. Even if Daniels and owner Ray Davis were willing to part with the considerable cash – doubtful – the Rangers don’t have the quality of prospects that Houston was able to offer.
In its latest rankings, Baseball America listed the Rangers as No. 28 (of 30 MLB teams) in organizational talent. Houston was No. 7.
Daniels feels, though, that the Rangers’ farm crop is on the rise.
“I think the overall quality of young talent in our system has significantly improved,” he said Wednesday. “I think you’ve seen some of the steps forward in some of the young players.
“It’s easy to lose sight of where we were a year ago. I think we’ve made significant progress.”
As Daniels spoke with the media Wednesday afternoon, news of the blockbuster Astros-Diamondbacks trade had not yet circulated.
But even then, he wasn’t ready to claim that his club has closed the gap on Houston.
“There’s a lot more work to do,” Daniels said. “The Astros, among others, are very, very good.”
And they’re even better today, even after parting with three of their top five prospects.
Apparently, there was no appetite problem in Houston.
I have come 180 degrees on this, I must confess. I used to let the Rangers’ previously high roost in the MLB organizational rankings fuel my expectations for the World Series appearances that supposedly lay ahead.
The whole Jurickson Profar saga cured me. Once considered the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball, the former Rangers infielder is in Oakland now, batting .211.
The road to stardom in the big leagues, the Rangers have shown, is littered with Tommy John surgeries. I say trade ’em, if you got ’em.
Among the nine hitters in the Texas starting lineup Wednesday night, the only homegrown Ranger was second baseman Rougned Odor. The other eight all were either free agents or arrived via trades.
The Rangers aren’t all that unique, either. The Yankees’ roster has a liberal mix of free agents and traded players. Houston seems the outlier, with three high first-round draft choices in its lineup.
Daniels defended the organic mindset that leads many teams to traffic in the Class A and High-A levels.
“A lot of teams, when they want to offer players at the upper levels, it’s because they’re aware of their flaws,” Daniels said.
“I think you make your best calls if you’re acquiring guys at that High-A level, because once they’re at the Double-A level they’re kind of on the doorstep and teams understandably are reluctant to move them.
“At the High-A level, they haven’t crossed to the upper levels yet, and there’s still a little more question. So if you trust your evaluations, I think there’s usually a big opportunity there.”
Daniels, as is his custom, wouldn’t elaborate on the levels or particulars of any offers that were discussed before Wednesday’s deadline.
But his relatively quiet afternoon spoke for itself.
As game time approached, Minor, Danny Santana, Nomar Mazara and Jose Leclerc – frequently mentioned as possible trade subjects — were still Texas Rangers.
In the two months of baseball that remain, the mission should be clear and the criteria precise. Daniels, Woodward and their staffs need to find out who they want to take across the street into the new ballpark next season.
It’s going to be an important 54 games for the likes of Mazara, Odor, Willie Calhoun, Delino DeShields and the freshly promoted Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino.
Who knows? Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t make.
Bill Veeck was said to be appreciative of his player-manager Boudreau’s shortstop skills in 1947, but wanted a new voice as manager. The Browns agreed to a trade, yet wanted Veeck to pay Boudreau’s entire salary, which he refused.
Cleveland fans got wind of the proposed trade and protested. Eager to fill seats, Veeck bowed to the ticket buyers and gave Boudreau a new contract.
Lou Boudreau, shortstop, batted .355 in 1948 and was named the American League’s most valuable player.
Lou Boudreau, manager, won the World Series that same year, something no Cleveland manager has done since.
Sometimes the best deal . . . is the one you don’t make.