The Texas Rangers have been active each of the last three trade deadlines. All were situations in which the team was buying talent to stay in the race. It should be the same way this time around. The Rangers enter action on Wednesday with a lead in the American League West, a division that has been hovering around .500 all season but Texas appears to have taken a bit control of in the past two weeks. That would imply the Rangers will be active again, though it certainly won’t be adding players like Max Scherzer and Aroldis Chapman this time around. In line with how Texas handled the offseason, the Rangers are expected to be active but inexpensive when it comes to adding talent. In the pursuit of winning a division title and get to the playoffs again, this is the mistake the Rangers simply cannot make. The Biggest Mistake the Rangers Can’t MakeAmerican League Future infielder Sebastian Walcott. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters ConnectThe Rangers have needs but they can’t sacrifice much of their farm system to satisfy them. Texas cannot do what it did last year. At the deadline, the Rangers traded for Arizona starting pitcher Merrill Kelly. To make it happen, the front office sacrificed three Top 15 pitching prospects, a high price for a player that only played for Texas for two months — and return to Arizona as a free agent in the offseason.Two of the players that the Rangers gave up in the deal have already made their Major League debut. They’re a part of the Diamondbacks’ future. They could have been a part of the Rangers’ future at the MLB level had they not made the deal. In hindsight, the trade didn’t re-direct Texas to the playoffs as hoped. That’s the sort of cost the Rangers can’t afford to give up this time around. Texas won’t be wading into the top tier of trade deadline targets unless they intend to trade from their Major League roster. The Rangers have traded little from the MLB roster at the deadline the last three years. That means giving up players in a farm system that is less fertile than three years ago, in part because of the deal for Kelly last season. The Rangers must calibrate what they give up appropriately. For instance, top prospect Sebastian Walcott should be off limits in any deal. He’s close to being able to contribute at the Major League level and, short of pushing to get Tarik Skubal, there isn’t a player on the market worth giving him up. Other prospects the Rangers must fight to keep include pitcher Cade Scarborough, two-way prospect Josh Owens and outfielder Dylan Dreiling. All have value to Texas at the Major League level and shouldn’t be traded. Texas made a mistake a year ago depleting its farm system to get better. It can’t make the same mistake again. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow