The All-Star break gives everyone the chance to take a deep breath, reflect on the events of the previous three and a bit months and gather themselves for a big push in the second half of the season. 

It’s a welcome pause from the constant hive of activity and some players may have had half an eye on the break for a week or two, whether due to nagging knocks needing a few days’ rest or the grind of playing for a team already out of contention.  However, it’s not the same for us fans.  We’ll take the break when given, especially as the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game tide us over,  but the action can keep on rolling along as far as we’re concerned.

That’s why it was a welcome surprise when a major trade was consummated at the start of the weekend.  If we’re not going to have the constant flow of games to discuss over the next few days, we may as well have Cliff Lee’s move to the Texas Rangers to debate instead. 

The rumours spreading during the British evening on Friday had a depressing air about them for us non-Yankee fans.  Lee was reportedly on the verge of signing for the Bronx Bombers, with the deal being so close that the pitcher’s wife was discussing plans with the wife of CC Sabathia, the two couples knowing each other from their days together in Cleveland.  The prospect of the Yankees picking a playoff rotation out of Sabathia, Lee, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes and Javier Vazquez made a World Series repeat all the more likely and all the more depressing for clubs that have little hope of competing against such riches.

Yet no sooner had we started picturing Lee in pinstripes than whispers spread that there was a last minute hitch.  The deal that was as good as done was now as good as dead. 

The development has probably only delayed the inevitable as Lee is a free agent at the season’s end and the Yankees are odds on to splash the cash yet again to get their man.  Vazquez will depart as a free agent and the rotation will be even better.  If Yankee fans are upset that Lee slipped from their clutches this time around, well, it’s hard to feel too much sympathy for their ‘desperate’ plight. 

In the meantime, we can be thankful that the potential deal died and created a more interesting storyline for the rest of the season. 

The Texas Rangers made the trade, in doing so making them favourites for the American League West and giving them a shot at a playoff run. 

October baseball has been a rarity during the organization’s history.  They’ve only made the playoffs three times since the team moved to Texas for the 1972 season and adding on the preceding ten years as the Washington Senators doesn’t bump up the figure either.  They’ve been knocked out straight away on all three occasions, including 3-0 sweeps in 1998 and 1999.  The Rangers may have finished second in the AL West in both of the last two seasons, but they were ten games behind the L.A. Angels in 2009 and 21 games out in 2008.  Add it all together and if the acquisition of Lee helps them into the postseason, it would have already produced a change from the recent MLB norm worth celebrating.

What chance have they got?  Quite a good one when it comes to the AL West.  The Mariners are out of it, you don’t trade Cliff Lee to a division rival otherwise, while the A’s are at least two big bats short of being a contender.  That leaves the Angels, who have won the division in five of the last six seasons and are going for their fourth straight division title.  There’s no doubt that the Angels, led by an excellent manager in Mike Scioscia, will push Texas hard and the Rangers will have to play well the rest of the way to beat them.  But they can beat them: this is a good rather than a great Angels team.

The Rangers have the lumber to win the division, they normally do; it’s the pitching that often lets them down.  This year, Scott Feldman has gone backwards after what seemed like a breakout 2009 season, while Rich Harden has been injured and largely ineffective since being signed as a free agent over the offseason.  Fortunately for the Rangers, those two disappointments have been counterbalanced by the excellent form of a reliever-turned-starter in C.J. Wilson and a Major League cast-off in Colby Lewis who spent the last two seasons in Japan.

Signing Cliff Lee doesn’t guarantee the Rangers anything.  There’s a risk that Wilson and Lewis could tail off as the season progresses, as could Josh Hamilton if he follows his career pattern, and there’s always a danger that Vladimir Guerrero’s back problems could flare up again at any point.  Then again, those four might be fine.  The Rangers haven’t mortgaged their future as part of the deal, although they parted with Justin Smoak and three prospects, and they’ll get two first round draft picks when they lose Lee as a free agent at the end of the season in any case.

If you have little history of being a playoff contender and you won’t roll the dice when you’ve got a genuine chance at making it to October, you’re never going to get there and you won’t deserve to either.  By adding Cliff Lee to their roster, the Rangers have become favourites in the AL West and now have a genuine ace to throw at their competitors in the postseason.  Which, of course, may well include the Yankees.

That’s a great situation for Texas and a great potential storyline for the rest of us.

Postscript

Cliff Lee made his debut for the Rangers on Saturday and incredibly he was linked to three impressive pitching performances.  

Javier Vazquez of the Lee-seeking Yankees had a no-no going through six innings against Lee’s former team the Mariners.  Another team that tried to sign him on Friday, the Cincinnati Reds, saw their starter Travis Wood take a perfecto into the ninth inning against the Phillies, who signed Lee in a mid-season trade last year.  And Lee himself was outpitched in his Texas debut by the Orioles’ youngster Chris Tillman who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning.