Yu Darvish: Why the Rangers would be foolish to trade their ace

Sure, go ahead, and pull that trigger.

But if you do, you better be prepared to pay the price.

Your choice, Texas Rangers.

The Rangers have been internally debating for weeks whether they should trade ace Yu Darvish by Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline, knowing that if they do, there could be severe consequences.

They will not only be surrendering the season, but will lose Darvish forever, bid farewell to Japanese sensation Shohei Otani before he has a chance to say hello, potentially alienate a fan base, and gamble that the prospects they obtain will ever live up to their potential.

Surely, the Rangers can’t be gullible enough to believe they can trade Darvish to the Los Angeles Dodgers or Houston Astros for two of their top prospects, and when the season ends, and Darvish finishes combing the World Series confetti out of his hair, he’ll come running back as a free agent.

Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

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The Boston Red Sox found that out the hard way when they traded ace Jon Lester three years ago at the trade deadline, only to watch Lester snub them, sign with the Chicago Cubs in free agency, and win a World Series.

If Darvish walks out the door, he’s not coming back.

Darvish will find out that life outside Arlington, Texas, can actually be quite nice, just as Lester learned when the Red Sox sent him packing to Oakland just two months shy of free agency.

If the Rangers don’t care about bringing Darvish back, unwilling to spend close to $200 million to secure his services for the future, go ahead and trade him.

But don’t stop there.

Start the fire sale by dumping all of their six potential free agents, and as long as those guys are departing, it won’t make any sense to keep co-ace Cole Hamels.

And if Hamels is gone, why not kick future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre out the door, too? Why would Beltre want to stick around and be part of a rebuild at the age of 39?

Oh, and about that move into their new $1 billion digs in 2020, the one that’s costing the taxpayers about $500 million? Yes, forget about the fans' feelings.

Try to sweet-talk them into believing the team will be worth watching even though it won’t be competitive for several years.

You can try to sell them on all of the prospects you’re getting back, including a premier one from the Dodgers or Astros.

Then again, isn’t that what the Philadelphia Phillies did, too, when they sent Hamels to the Rangers on July 31, 2015? The Phillies received veteran pitcher Matt Harrison along with Jorge Alfaro, Alec Asher, Jerad Eickhoff, Jake Thompson and Nick Williams.

Let’s see, Harrison never threw a pitch for the Phillies, and was released a year later. Asher was injured, suspended for PEDs, and is with the Baltimore Orioles. Thompson and Alfaro are at Class AAA Lehigh Valley. Williams made his major-league debut in June and is hitting .303 with four homers and 18 RBI in 21 games. Eickhoff may have the most potential, but is 2-7 with a 4.71 ERA in 17 starts this season.

Yep, that’s it - even though prospect pundits at the time thought the Phillies made out quite well, with ESPN noting it had the ability to invigorate their franchise like the blockbuster Herschel Walker trade set up the Dallas Cowboys for a decade.

So are the Rangers willing to abandon life without Darvish, and perhaps give up any chance to sign Otani, Japan’s version of Babe Ruth, who absolutely idolizes Darvish?

The Rangers’ performance this season certainly complicates matters, considering they are 49-51 entering Darvish’s start Wednesday, a hopeless 18 games behind the runaway  Astros in the AL West.

Yet, a closer look at the standings reveals that the Rangers are just 3 ½ games behind the Kansas City Royals for the second spot in the wild-card race, and four behind the New York Yankees. They also have one of the softest remaining schedules, including nine against the Astros.

It’s foolish for the Rangers to sacrifice prospects to go all-in for a playoff berth like the Toronto Blue Jays two years ago with a losing record at the deadline, but it may be just as reckless to give up now.

There are only six teams with winning records in the American League, and if the Rangers can reach the postseason, they’ll match Darvish and Hamels up with anyone’s rotation.

It’s a crapshoot going into the playoffs as a wild-card entrant, but three wild-card teams have reached the World Series in the last five years, with the San Francisco Giants winning a pair of championships. Aand wild card survivors are 5-5 in Division Series play since the addition of the second wild card in 2012.

A 1-2 punch to survive the wild card game and start strong in the Division Series is essential. The Rangers have exactly that, and so their "wild card lottery ticket" is a little more viable than others.

“This is baseball,” Hamels told reporters Monday night. “The unexpected always happens. If you look at it, the wild card is usually the team that goes further because they have to battle the whole year and don’t have things handed to them.’’

So why not hang onto Darvish, and go for it, hoping that everything comes together at the right time, just like when the St. Louis Cardinals made the playoffs that final day in 2011. They stormed through the playoffs, pulled off that miraculous Game 6 victory in the World Series behind David Freese’s heroics, and won their 11th World Series title.

The Rangers, who happened to be on the other side of the field during that World Series, would love to wipe out that memory.

Unless the Rangers collapse the rest of this week, or the Dodgers and Astros abandon their organizational philosophy and surrender their absolute best prospects for a mere two-month rental, Darvish must stay put.

“We know we’re still going to have an opportunity to be in the playoffs,’’ Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus told reporters, “as long as they don’t touch the team.’’

It’s the Rangers’ call.

It should be no call.

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