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Why the Texas Rangers are MLB’s best-suited team to trade for Shohei Ohtani

But the real question: Is Los Angeles ready to send away the best player on the planet?

HOUSTON – There are certain decrees that govern our society. You leave Texas for a week or longer and your first meal back must include barbecue or Tex-Mex. We didn’t make the rules; we just live by them.

Well, a funny thing happened in the line for some post-family vacation brisket last week.

“Hey,” a guy in a Rangers city connect hat shouted between chomps on a rib. “Are we going to get Ohtani or what?”

Ah, yes. Shohei Ohtani. Or what. Indeed.

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And here, with a week to go before the Aug. 1 trade deadline, is the best answer we can provide: There is no better fit for Ohtani on the market than the Rangers. They have the right combination of talent, financial flexibility, and motivation to do what is necessary to acquire him from the Akron Groomsmen, er, Los Angeles Angels.

Are they pursuing him? Of course, they are. Chris Young, the Rangers general manager, has said time and time again that he will look at any way to improve the team. The best player of a generation — or several —comes available and, of course, they are interested. Better question is still: Will he really be available?

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The consensus of national rankers is the talent in the Rangers’ farm system is in the top tier among the 30 MLB organizations, somewhere between 7-10. According to MLB Pipeline, they have six top 100 prospects, likely to be seven once Wyatt Langford takes his first pro at-bats.

The top 100 list does not include Ezequiel Duran, who is no longer a prospect, but has evolved into even rarer territory, that of talented, controllable (read: cheap), versatile big leaguer. That may be even more valuable than betting on prospect upside. They have this kind of luxury: They can afford to trade Duran knowing Evan Carter is just about ready to take over in left. Of course, a deal would require more than just Duran, but the point is: The Rangers have a young major leaguer and prospects to deal.

Or just take the words of a rival scout who has seen the Rangers system plenty this year: “They definitely have the depth of system to get anyone they want. In any type of deal. I think that system is good enough to make World Series-winning moves.”

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One other thing: They have the financial means to add the remaining $10 million of Ohtani’s salary and not go over the luxury tax threshold. Adding $10 million for them is simply $10 million. For the Dodgers, say, it would be like adding $15 million. Of course, the Dodgers, considered the early favorites to land Ohtani in free agency, can afford it. They can afford anything. Would they be motivated to ship off a prospect package and spend that kind of money for two months, when they may be able to solve all this come winter and keep their prospects, too?

As for motivation, it doesn’t really require explanation. The Rangers have never won the World Series. That alone is enough. But if you are playing the long game here and harboring any thoughts about potentially making it a long-term affair, there is more. There could be no better scenario for the Rangers than to get two months — plus playoffs — to explain their vision and culture to Ohtani first-hand. And daily.

They can do it much better on the field than when they produced a slick recruiting video back in the winter of 2017. The video was a dud; this culture and Chris Young’s vision are not.

Actions and results speak. Ohtani has been in MLB for six seasons. He’s still waiting to take his first postseason at-bat. Or throw his first postseason pitch. Want to recruit Ohtani long-term? Give him his first taste of the playoffs. Might not help, but it certainly won’t hurt.

If Ohtani wants to win long-term, experiencing winning for the first time with the Rangers would be the best pitch possible. Get the chance to see Marcus Semien and Corey Seager up close. Get to work alongside a teammate like Nathan Eovaldi. And you get the feeling that after six years of going home early, winning does matter most at this point.

It all makes an inordinate amount of sense for talking about the fantastical. There is still, however, the reality.

If you are the Angels, how do you consider trading the best player in the world? Now, best player ever has at least entered the conversation, too. Moreover: Trade him when you are above .500, albeit barely, and say goodbye to retaining any degree of credibility with your fan base. And if you are Angels owner Arte Moreno, after considering all that, how do you stomach the thought of trading him to the Rangers, with whom you used to have quite the rivalry before the Astros seized the division like a dictatorship?

The rivalry also often left Moreno steaming as red as his Angels’ polo. The Rangers signed Vlad Guerrero in 2010, grabbed the AL West and went to the World Series. A year later, the Rangers finagled their way to Mike Napoli after the Angels sent him to Toronto. Another World Series trip followed. Moreno tried to strike back by signing C.J. Wilson and then Josh Hamilton. Got less than one playoff inning out of the former, sent the latter back to the Rangers, with cash and without so much as playoff hit, a couple of years later. Now, he’s going to ship out Ohtani for mostly prospects? It’s a lot to ask of a billionaire.

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Yet, the Rangers are willing to do just that. And if Moreno wants to see his organization dig out from its reputation as the hapless and fictional Akron Groomsmen, loaded with stars, but beset with losses, the Rangers offer him the best possible route forward.

On Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

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