Wednesday night, the Texas Rangers traded former All-Star right-hander number five and number seven prospects, respectively, according to Baseball America. (They are now ranked as the Rangers’ number six and seven prospects on MLB.com.) Soria, of course, was working as the Rangers’ closer this season and with a 2.70 ERA and 17 of 19 saves, he is the fortification the Tigers need.

The Tigers Perspective: Their Need

Going into game action tonight (Soria didn’t pitch yesterday), the Tigers have a 4.37 bullpen ERA. That’s fourth from the bottom of the American League. Closer quoted GM Dave Dombrowski as being committed to leaving Nathan in the ninth inning, which was proven true last night. Moving forward, Soria will presumably be the bridge to him. But if Nathan continues to struggle in the long term, look for Soria to take over as closer. The consequences for the postseason are also evident, because managers have been quick to pull starters more and more in the postseason recently. A deep bullpen is now more of a necessity in the postseason than ever.

Despite all of their bloated contracts, the Rangers still have a very rich farm system that just got richer. Between their young arms and their injured pitchers, they’ll be well positioned to either load their pitching staff or deal in the offseason for a bat. They could still use a lot of help, especially at catcher and in the outfield. In flipping their closer, they’ll save a bit of money and took home a top starting prospect and a prospect with a good chance to blossom into a closer in his own right.

It looks like a win-win for both sides.