There were plenty of huge moves Thursday before baseball's non-waiver deadline came and went at 3 p.m. but none of them involved the Texas Rangers.
"I love seeing teams go for it," Texas general manager Jon Daniels said. "I'm jealous we're not in that position right now."
The positon the Rangers were in Thursday was that of sellers with right fielder Alex Rios and lefty reliever Neal Cotts their top commodities. Daniels said the Rangers had conversations with several teams but nothing was able to match up.
"We exchanged proposals with a couple of clubs but it just didn't line up ultimately," Daniels said. "That's okay. We came into it knowing a few things we were opening to trying to do but especially concerning the clubs that were calling us we established kind of a level of value we wanted or we'd just hold our guys. We didn't reach that so we're happy keeping the players we were asked about."
Daniels said the club also looked around for controllable pitching but nothing materialized there either.
While Thursday came and went without a deal getting done for the Rangers that doesn't mean they're necessarily done. Players now just have to clear waivers, which is the way the Rangers got Alex Rios from the Chicago White Sox last season.
Texas also didn't stand pat in July, trading relievers Joakim Soria and Jason Frasor for three minor-league pitchers.
If Rios and Cotts are still with the club when the season ends they could be here longer too. Rios' contract has a club option for 2015 and Daniels said the club has had preliminary discussions about a new deal with Cotts. He said holding onto Cotts allows the club to continue those talks.
The roster for the Rangers down the stretch also gained some more clarity Thursday and the club will play the rest of the season without third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff and infielder Jurickson Profar. Daniels said he also doesn't expect either Tanner Scheppers or Alexi Ogando to play again in 2014.
Kouzmanoff, who was rehabbing from back surgery, had to have another surgery after he had a setback during his rehab. Daniels is hopeful that Profar, who has a torn muscle in his right shoulder, can begin a throwing program in August. That would have him ready to play somewhere this winter. Both Scheppers and Ogando were sidelined with right elbow inflammation and neither has resumed throwing programs.
