Buster Onley declared the Texas Rangers as the winners of the Ryan Dempster sweepstakes. Minutes before the 4 p.m. deadline, the Rangers made the push and sent two minor league players to the Chicago Cubs.
Both players are in Class A, one is a pitcher and the other is a position player.
This trade puts the Rangers in a great position to win. For the Cubs, they might be able to win in a couple of years.
The Rangers went after Dempster given the fact that their most consistent pitcher, Colby Lewis, is out for the rest of the season.
Dempster will be joining a struggling pitching staff in Texas made up of Roy Oswalt, who was once a pitching stud, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison and Yu Darvish.
Matt Harrison is the most consistent pitcher in the rotation and Yu Darvish has posted decent numbers in his first season in the major leagues.
Harrison has been roughed up in his last two starts but he still has a good ERA sitting at 3.19 while posting a 12-6 record.
Darvish is 11-7 with a 4.09 ERA. His strikeout ratio is over 10, which is ridiculous, as he has struck out 138 batters in 122 innings pitched.
Dempster is not a strikeout machine, but he does have the second lowest ERA in the majors behind San Francisco Giants' pitcher, Ryan Vogelsong.
Dempster's ERA is 2.25 while Vogelsong is 2.25
