Rangers GM Jon Daniels managed to engineer an AL West title, but his club washed out in the ALDS. Today, he and manager Jeff Banister addressed the 2016 season and broke down the roster needs heading into the offseason, as MLB.com’s TR Sullivan was among those to cover:
- Texas will exercise its club option over catcher Jonathan Lucroy, which is about the easiest decision the team will face this winter. The 30-year-old’s $5.5MM tab for 2017 was one of the chief reasons that the Rangers gave up a strong haul of prospects to acquire him at the trade deadline. Lucroy rewarded the investment with a .276/.345/.539 batting line and 11 home runs over 168 plate appearances down the stretch.
- Starting pitching represents the Rangers’ top priority heading towards 2017, Daniels suggested. Texas also needs to fill in at center field and first base. There are a variety of considerations in all of those areas involving departing free agents, open-market options, trade targets, and internal candidates for increased roles. Regarding the team’s own players whose contracts are expiring — righty Colby Lewis, first baseman Mitch Moreland, and outfielders Ian Desmond, Carlos Gomez, and Carlos Beltran — Daniels says: “All of those free agents, under the right circumstances, we would love to have back.”
- Bolstering the rotation will be accomplished somehow, Daniels promised. “We will be better,” he said of the position, while also suggesting that the team still has enough assets in its farm to strike a significant swap to bring in a new hurler. Texas also needs to make a call on the $11MM option of lefty Derek Holland — declining it would require a $1.5MM buyout, as well as a $1MM buyout of his ensuing $11.5MM option for 2018 — after he turned in a 4.95 ERA over 107 1/3 innings. Daniels indicated that the team remains undecided on that move.
- Desmond is “the Rangers’ first choice to play center field,” according to Sullivan. He seems a highly-likely qualifying offer candidate, though that wasn’t confirmed in the presser. Gomez, too, could be a consideration up the middle. “We like what we saw from Gomez,” said Banister. “We feel like he is a quality player.” It’ll certainly be interesting to see what kind of interest he’ll draw on the open market after bouncing back with a .284/.362/.543 batting line in his 130 plate appearances late in the year with Texas. Otherwise, Texas has a wide variety of uncertain outfield options already kicking around in the system. “We have a number of guys we believe in and have talent,” said Daniels. “They are certainly going to get opportunities. Competition is very healthy.”
- At first base, the big question may be whether the club is ready to entrust Joey Gallo with a big chunk of playing time. The 22-year-old put up a .240/.367/.529 slash and swatted 25 long balls in his 433 trips to the plate at Triple-A, but has struggled badly in limited MLB exposure. “Joey is still a premium talent,” Banister said. “This guy has what very few in the game have. His raw power is off the charts. The power shows up, but it’s the hit-ability and the consistency that has to get better.”
- Another question mark of sorts is infielder Jurickson Profar, the former top prospect who finally returned to health this year. He isn’t lined up for much time up the middle after strong years from Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor, with Sullivan suggesting he may yet be a trade candidate. But Texas believes in his talent and values his versatility, writes Sullivan, and his trade value may not be quite what the team would need to pull the trigger on a deal. Profar has just three seasons of control remaining, and only ended up with a .239/.321/.338 slash line on the year. “As I sit here today, my expectation is for [Profar] to be on the ballclub in a winning role,” said Daniels. “I think he is a winning piece.”
Does Joey Gallo have any tools besides power? With each year he seems to look and sound more like Chris Carter. I know power is valuable, but he seems like one of the most overrated guys at the top of the prospect lists
He has solid fielding along with his tremendous power, but yeah I agree with you on the overrated part
Chris Davis was an overrated power hitter. Big long swing!!
(Then he figured it out)
Although not first base. But he did have a huge swing with open holes.
Mr. Nelson Cruz!
(Then he figured it out)
Not disagreeing with you on the Chris Carter front. Maybe even a Steve Balboni, Rob Deer, Greg Vaughn, Hell….you could even say Jose Canseco! Before and After PHD’s.
Big guys! Big Swings! Big results! Nothing else.
Or
He could figure it out. Slow that swing down. Make more contact and enjoy HR porch.
I guess until will get the new
Stadium. (Oh…..with A/C!)
Chris Carter hits HR’s in the big leagues. Gallo needs more time to find out what he will be.
Gallo has awesome power for sure, but he also has a ton of holes in his swing. He could surprise me, but at this point he doesn’t look like he is likely to succeed in the bigs this next spring. He could in time develop more and eventually have value in the majors.
I’m not sure if my opinion is in the majority though.
I agree with you here. I think he’s a good player but he definitely needs more time. I don’t think he’s ready for a starting role yet. Then again, he needs reps to get better. Curious to see how they go about this.
Also, do you guys see Desmond and/or gomez coming back? What kind of contact do you think they’ll get (from whatever team ends up signing them)?
They have Mazara and Choo so unless Choo is moving to DH, only one can be brought back. Desmond probably gets 4-60, Gomez is hard to call but maybe 2 -26?
I think this is the year Desmond finally cashes in, and I don’t see the Rangers paying him what he’s gonna ask for. Gomez I can see returning, he still has to get his stock up a little bit and I think he really enjoyed his time with the Rangers.
Nobody has seen enough of Gallo at 3B at the majors level to make a call that he is overrated. He certainly has the same amount of power as Chris Davis, who bombed with the Rangers, but blossomed in Baltimore. I don’t understand how people can write off prospects who haven’t gotten a real look at their natural positions. Same with Profar who should be at SS.
No he’s overrated, he’s an all power nothing else, the thing with Davis is Texas had the option to give him a chance but they never did.
Gallo is different, he doesn’t have an option any ware in the field, but also he can’t compete up to the level of par in the majors to even warrant a discussion of him taking over.
Profar in no way should be playing SS, if you didn’t know Profar’s arm is shot. Well to be specific I think it’s his shoulder that gave up on him, not the Rangers.
And you can easily write off prospects, if they can’t perform in the majors then they are done, Jacob Turner, Tim Beckham, etc etc
Gallo just needs a more compact swing. He’s trying too much if you watch his swing, it’s similar to Javier Baez’s in 2014
What are you talking about? Davis had every chance in the world with Texas, he simply couldn’t figure it out with the club so he was traded while he still had some value at the time. Yes he figured it out in Baltimore but there is no telling if he would have figured it out with the Rangers.
The biggest difference to me in Gallo and Davis is that davis actually hit for a decent average in the minors so the Ks weren’t as noticeable whereas Gallo strikes out a ton along with having a low BA
Uh, Gallo is a natural 3B with a cannon, the Rangers just happen to have a guy named Beltre that plays there, and a guy named Banister that never let Gallo see the field or the batter’s box(even with Moreland slumping badly). And I would guess that since Profar played some 3B this season, his arm can probably handle SS. Just some thoughts…
Oh and Davis had over 950 PAs with Texas…
What are the chances that TEX moves Odor to 1B and re-installs Profar at 2B, either this off season or next?
I was wondering this too. Or even LF. Run with an outfield of Odor, (Desmond), Mazara, with DeShields as 4th and move Choo to DH. Only have to re-sign Desmond if they believe in Gallo at 1B, and then focus on getting pitching.
Odor is a little short for 1B, right? I mean, he’s a bad defensive 2B but the Rangers seem willing to live with that.
They will call the White Sox on Sale and Quintana
The Rangers in NO way have the prospects in the minors to make a trade for Sale. They’d need to give up Gallo, Brinson and Mazara. Oh wait that’s right they don’t have Brinson. Or Luis Ortiz. They don’t really have an elite non low ceiling prospect left. Chris Sale will cost a couple of those types. Hell that was the rumored asking price. The rumor was they wanted Correa from Houston for Sale. Aces under team control on team friendly contracts cost a lot as they should The Rangers cannot offer what ti would take. Point is Daniels can call all he wants. His offer will receive nothing but the other line hanging up..
Every GM says what Daniels says but quite frankly they severely depleted their farm system the last two trade seasons. He can say he has the chips to make a move for an elite pitcher but he doesn’t. Other teams can and will make better offers.
80-grade power and 20-grade contact isn’t a major league middle of the lineup hitter.
But doesn’t this kid need time in the majors like a full season to see if he can adjust for the season after that? Davis had a similar thing like he got a chance at first for a bit at the majors and figure it out. It’s not like he’s going to be bust like Justin smoak.