We had an intra-division trade on Wednesday night.
The Texas Rangers acquired catcher Logan O'Hoppe and relief pitcher Chase Silseth from the AL West rival Los Angeles Angels for minor league shortstop Angel Arredondo.
ESPN's Jeff Passan was the first to report the deal. The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal had the return.
The Rangers were seeking catching and relief help ahead of the August 3 MLB trade deadline, which is just five days away. They have now found both in O'Hoppe and Silseth in their deal with the Angels.
Surprisingly, the Rangers optioned O'Hoppe to Triple-A Round Rock upon acquiring him from the Angels.
O'Hoppe, 26, is having a rough year offensively, posting a .566 OPS in 75 games for the Angels. This comes after he hit a total of 53 home runs combined the last three seasons between 2023-2025. He also has -12 defensive runs saved behind the dish this year.
With catchers Danny Jansen (right forearm strain) and Kyle Higashioka (right flexor tendon strain) both on the IL, the Rangers currently have catchers Elias Diaz and Austin Wynns on their major league roster. O'Hoppe should factor into this mix at some point.
Silseth appears to be the more impactful move for the Rangers who needed to add to their bullpen. The right-hander has a 2.72 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 48 strikeouts and a 1.1 bWAR in 39.2 innings this season. He does, however, struggle with walks at times (5.0 walks per nine). That said, Silseth brings a power arm with swing-and-miss stuff that will benefit Texas' bullpen in the middle innings of relief.
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The Rangers made room on their 40-man roster for both players by moving catcher Danny Jansen and rookie relief pitcher Jose Corniell to the 60-day IL. Silseth has four more years of club control and O'Hoppe has two more years of control.
As for the Angels, they activated catcher Travis d'Arnaud from the 60-day IL tonight, who will presumably be paired with Tyler Heineman behind the plate with O'Hoppe gone. Los Angeles has not yet announced a corresponding pitching move after trading Silseth.
Tonight's deal with the Rangers signals that the highly anticipated sell-off by the Angels has begun.
