Dave Raymond, television play-by-play announcer for the Texas Rangers, joined the Shan & RJ show on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM] on Monday to talk all things Rangers baseball. Here are some highlights:

On the biggest factors that have led to the Rangers' recent turnaround (11-1 record in the past 12 games) ...

Dave Raymond: "That's the thing about it, right? You're not gonna just say it's one thing, you know, 'the offense got going,' although that was a big part of it. To me, I think one of the biggest parts, and I've been saying this for a long time -- now before that streak started -- the starting pitching, night, by night, by night, continues to keep them in games. So even when they were losing games, they were in them, they had a shot, if the offense had had a pulse there for a couple of weeks, they win a lot more games. But the starting pitching kept it close enough. Now the bullpen imploded for a while, the offense went dead for a while, but from start to finish to this point in the season anyway, the starting pitching -- no matter who it is -- has kept it close enough, where, you know, get a guy or two on base and you've got a shot.

"So, that has always been the key this year for me, and I think, no matter what, whatever team you are, if you think you're gonna win, if you think you're gonna run a division or whatever the case, you're not gonna do it if you don't have good starting pitching, and eventually that will kill you; it'll catch up to you. So, for me that's been the optimism the whole time, the silver lining for me the whole time has been their consistency, but, the reality is: The offense has stepped in. Big, big late-inning rallies. And then the bullpen. Matt Bush taking over the closer's role -- A) He's been very good at it, but B) it clearly has allowed everybody else just to slot into a consistent routine behind him and a comfort level, and I think it's made a huge, huge difference. So the bullpen's been good, the offense has been solid when needed lately, the starting pitching's been good all year, and then during this stretch, they haven't made stupid mistakes and fielding errors."

If the trade deadline were tomorrow, would you buy, sell or trade?

Raymond: "Oh, I'm buying. I'm buying. Right now, I think that's an easy one. No. 1, this team's smoking hot. No. 2, you're gonna get Adrian Beltre back, you're gonna get Carlos Gomez back, you're gonna get Cole Hamels back for nothing. You're dealing nothing to get those guys back. Ask any team right now anywhere near a race in the division what they would offer for those three guys, and I guarantee you it'd be pretty significant. Well you're getting them back for nothing, so then if you want to add a piece or two on top of that? Forget it. Two weeks ago, three weeks ago, the Astros had won the division, they were already in the World Series and they were planning the parade. It was laughable the way people were reacting in Houston. And they were talking about burying the Rangers. 'Oh they're done. If we beat the Rangers in this series, in Houston, oh my God they're done. They'll be like, nine games out.' Well, yeah, OK, we were nine games out. Now we're what, five and a half (back)? And there's a long, long way to go, and, they just saw their ace and former Cy Young Award winner go on the disabled list for 10 days. And who knows if he comes off in 10 days."

But with what assets could the Rangers go about being buyers? And what to make of the level of competition the Rangers have beaten lately?

Raymond: "All right, well, now that's a different story, right? If you don't have the material to get anything back, that's a different story, but, you may not really need to do a whole lot of buying per se, anyway. Tyson Ross, by the way, another guy who's coming. So, I guess, I'll go at it from this angle, which is: I ain't selling. There's no way I'm selling right now. To me, it doesn't make any sense at all. Until I see an implosion. And as far as the competition goes: They just took two out of three from Detroit. I think it's gonna be interesting to see what happens in Boston, but I think this could be a really big three games in Boston, and then we go to Toronto which, my goodness, that's always gonna be fun and interesting. Listen, I'm definitely buying or standing pat, just because so much more's coming back and this team's playing well, but I don't get into that competition thing too much because you just don't know. You get teams at the right time or the wrong time, anything can happen and there's just such a long, long way to go yet."

-- Click or tap here to listen to the full interview.