The Rangers have removed 34-year old righty Roy Oswalt from their starting rotation. He will now be the long man in the bullpen. Oswalt has pitched in 6 games (all starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 3-2 with a 6.49 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP. He has given up 54 hits (7 homers) in only 34 2/3 innings this year while also walking only 6 batters and whiffing 29. This makes sense as Oswalt has been getting hit really hard since the Rangers brought him up.

The Texas Rangers will be without 24-year old righty starting pitcher Neftali Feliz for the rest of the 2012 season and most of the 2013 season. Feliz will have Tommy John Surgery in the next couple of days as he was injured on his rehab assignment. Feliz pitched in 8 games (7 starts) for the Rangers this year and he was 3-1 with a 3.16 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. He has now pitched in 162 games (7 starts) in his first four years in the majors and he is 10-7 with 74 saves, a 2.67 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. This is a big blow for the Rangers going forward.

The Texas Rangers have acquired 35-year old righty starting pitcher Ryan Dempster from the Chicago Cubs for 21-year old righty swinging 3B Christian Villanueva and 22-year old righty starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks. Dempster pitched in 16 games (all starts) for the Cubs this year and he was 5-5 with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He has given up only 81 hits and 27 walks in 104 innings this year for the Cubs while whiffing 83 batters, which is pretty impressive. Dempster has now pitched in 535 games (310 starts) in his first 15 years in the majors and he is 117-121 with 87 saves, a 4.31 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. Christian Villanueva came into this season as the Rangers’ #8 prospect according to Baseball America. He played in 100 games in A-ball for the Rangers this year and he was 107 of 375 (.285 avg, .777 OPS) with 45 runs scored, 10 homers, 59 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Kyle Hendricks was not a highly thought of prospect before this year. He pitched in 20 games (all starts) in A-ball this year and he was 5-8 with a 2.82 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. The Rangers hope that Dempster will be able to handle the tougher lineups he will be facing in the American League. That being said, this was a move the Rangers had to make in an effort to hold off the A’s and Angels in the A.L. West.

The Rangers have designated 34-year old righty swinging catcher Yorvit Torrealba for assignment. Torrealba played in 49 games for the Rangers this year and he was 38 of 161 (.236 avg, .643 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 3 homers, 12 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He played in 162 games in his two years with the Rangers and he was 146 of 557 (.262 avg, .687 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 10 homers, 49 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Rangers should be able to find a trade partner in the near future for Torrealba.

The Rangers have acquired 29-year old righty swinging catcher Geovany Soto and cash considerations from the Cubs for 24-year old righty starting pitcher Jacob Brigham and either a player to be named later or cash considerations. Soto played in 52 games for the Cubs this year and he was 35 of 176 (.199 avg, .631 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 6 homers and 14 RBIs. He has now played in 555 games in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 460 for 1,824 (.252 avg, .787 OPS) with 225 runs scored, 77 homers, 264 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Jacob Brigham wasn’t considered a top prospect for the Rangers. He pitched in 21 games (all starts) in AA-ball for the Rangers this year and he was 5-5 with a 4.28 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Soto will likely benefit from a change of scenery as he has a track record of being a good hitter. This deal will free up Mike Napoli to play more at 1B and DH the rest of this season.

31-year old lefty swinging outfielder Josh Hamilton was awesome early this year, as evidenced by the fact that he still leads the majors in RBIs with 83 of them. He has played in 91 games this year and he is 98 of 345 (.284 avg, .931 OPS) with 57 runs scored, 28 homers, 83 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Those are rock solid numbers, but he has been pretty awful lately. He has played in 19 games so far in July and he is 10 for 69 (.145 avg, .505 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 3 homers, 10 RBIs and 21 whiffs. Since June 1st, Hamilton has played in 44 games in which he is 31 of 163 (.190 avg) with 18 runs scored, 7 homers, 26 RBIs, 2 stolen bases and 56 whiffs. His struggles have prompted team president Nolan Ryan to chime in about the fact that Hamilton is swinging a lot of bad pitches and giving away ABs. The Rangers hope that Hamilton shakes off the criticism and gets back to mashing to ball as they need all the help they can get in an effort to hold off the surging A’s and the improved Angels in the A.L. West.

The Texas Rangers are after a #1 type of starting pitcher at the trade deadline. They are going to try to land Zack Greinke, James Shields, Josh Johnson or Matt Garza by July 31st. They are willing to trade top prospects, so they are likely to corral one of those pitchers. If they miss out on all of them, they would likely turn quickly to the second tier of starters including Francisco Liriano, Jason Vargas, Paul Maholm or Clayton Richard. The Rangers could also use another lefty for the pen. I have a feeling that they will be going after Jose Mijares, Manny Parra or Joe Thatcher. The Rangers are going to go all-in to attempt to make it to their 3rd World Series in a row and winning it this time around.

29-year old righty starter/reliever Scott Feldman is starting to get into a good groove so far in July. He has pitched in 3 games (2 starts) for the Rangers so far in July and he is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He has given up 14 hits and 1 walk in his first 15 innings this month while whiffing 9 batters, which is impressive. Feldman has now pitched in 17 games (11 starts) for the Rangers overall this year and he is 4-6 with a 5.37 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. The Rangers need him to keep up the good work.

The Rangers have placed 32-year old righty starting pitcher Colby Lewis on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 19th due to right forearm tightness. Lewis has started 16 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 6-6 with a 3.43 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. He will be replaced in the starting rotation by 21-year old rookie lefty Martin Perez. Perez has pitched in 4 games (2 starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 1-1 with a 5.54 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. The Rangers hope that Perez is better this time around.

UPDATE: Colby Lewis is going to miss the rest of the 2012 season as he needs surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right elbow.

33-year old righty swinging 3B Adrian Beltre is ripping the ball for the Rangers this year. He has played in 87 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 109 of 339 (.322 avg, .877 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 17 homers, 59 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Beltre has now played in 211 games in his first two years with the Rangers and he is 253 of 826 (.306 avg, .886 OPS) with 136 runs scored, 49 homers, 164 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The Rangers need Beltre to keep swinging a hot stick as the Angels are not that far back in the rear view mirror.