This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ST. LOUIS -- When the Rangers’ deal with the Royals was coming together over the weekend, nobody expected Jon Gray to not throw a single pitch in his start.

But regardless of Gray’s eventual placement on the injured list with a groin injury, the deal went forward with the Rangers sending Michael Lorenzen to Kansas City for Minor Leaguer Walter Pennington.

“As it related to Michael, I think part of the equation here was that Michael signed here to start,” said general manager Chris Young. “We're going to have a crunch here coming with Tyler Mahle returning, Cody Bradford's back already. We felt like we had some protection in the length and the ability to fit starters in and then eventually Jacob deGrom coming back. Looking ahead, in terms of being fair to Michael and giving him an opportunity that he deserved, that was part of it.”

So how does that affect the Rangers' rotation in the immediate and long-term future? Texas’ rotation now includes Max Scherzer, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney, with Gray landing on the IL on Monday.

But reinforcements are coming, and they’re coming soon.

Young went on to say that Mahle's return is "relatively imminent.” He’s scheduled to start on Wednesday night with Triple-A Round Rock at Dell Diamond. A return to the big league mound late into the next homestand could be in play.

deGrom threw another bullpen on Tuesday in St. Louis. It was 45 pitches, in three sets of 15, mixing in all his pitches. Though it was hot and muggy, he said he continues to feel better each time out. He threw one more bullpen before facing live hitters shortly afterwards.

“The goal is to pitch this year,” deGrom said. “The goal is to get back out there and help this team and hopefully help us get to the playoffs.”

Texas will likely need another rotation member until deGrom’s return -- maybe Dane Dunning, José Ureña or Jack Leiter. But one thing is quite likely: These internal additions could matter so much more than the external ones.

The Rangers made another pair of moves before the Deadline, acquiring catcher Carson Kelly and lefty reliever Andrew Chafin to add to the big league roster. But the return of Josh Jung and Bradford fundamentally changes both Texas’ lineup and its pitching staff.

“These are guys that have experienced playing in a pennant race, so to speak,” Bochy said. “Guys that helped us win last year. It's just more of the team that we had last year and that's what excites me. We’re getting the band back together right now.”

The Rangers didn’t make a splashy trade, per se. But they believe they made the trades necessary to improve the club and be in contention down the stretch this month.

They improved the offense by adding Kelly (100 OPS+) as the backup catcher over Andrew Knizner (12 OPS+). Jung will be placed right in the middle of the lineup upon his return, and multiple players appear to be coming out of their weeks-long slumps.

Nothing crazy happened for Texas at the Trade Deadline, but everybody around the club feels like they did exactly what they needed to do.

But they’re also betting on potential. Betting that at least most of the injured players return to form quickly. Betting that rookie Wyatt Langford continues to add a ton of production in left field. Betting that the regression from Marcus Semien, Adolis García and others has finally come to an end.

Nothing really went right for the Rangers in the first half. They hope the tide turns in the last two months.

“I believe in our group,” Young said. “I believe in our group of guys, I believe in the culture, I believe in the people that we have down there. Every team has their stretch where they have their best two or three months of baseball and my hope is that ours is still yet to come.

“There's no reason to believe that these guys can't put it together. We're right there in the thick of things. I think this team showed unbelievable resolve and character last season when things were tough. I expect the same from this group again this year.”