Though some have wondered whether the Rangers could make a late play for one of the remaining free agents, GM Jon Daniels said today that isn’t in the cards, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. Texas could surely stand to add another pitcher, with both Alex Cobb and Greg Holland seeming to make sense to varying degrees, but Daniels made clear he does not anticipate any significant new acquisitions.
More from Texas:
- Pitching health is always a big factor and will be of particular importance for a Rangers club that is in need of strong performances from all around the staff. Martin Perez is nearing his return to competitive pitching, which seems to bode well for his availability fairly early on in the upcoming campaign. But there are some other depth hits that are already apparent. Clayton Blackburn has been diagnosed with a UCL sprain. It seems he’s going to try to rest up and resume throwing, suggesting it’s not an extensive tear, though he won’t even attempt to begin ramping back up for another four to six weeks and could yet become a candidate for surgery. Meanwhile, veteran Jon Niese is dealing with a sub scapularis muscle strain that seems to pose some uncertainties to his future and Ronald Herrera will miss at least half the season owing to labrum inflammation.
- There was one positive development on the pitching front, at least. Late-inning reliever Keone Kela was able to get back on the bump after a week-and-a-half layoff, as MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes. It seems as if there are still some kinks left to be ironed out, but that Kela could get back on track to be ready for Opening Day. That said, manager Jeff Banister noted that the organization will need to see how his balky shoulder responds to the outing over the next several days.
- In one non-pitching note, Daniels also made clear that the plan is for Jurickson Profar to make the active roster and function as the team’s reserve infielder. It’s not difficult to imagine the former top prospect carving out a fairly significant role if he plays well, even if the presumptive regulars around the diamond are healthy and productive. After all, there’ll be a need to spread around some rest and the switch-hitting Profar could contribute in a number of different ways. It had seemed likely that Profar would be dealt at the outset of the offseason, but the out-of-options 25-year-old will get one more chance to stick in the majors in Texas.
Profar is insurance in case Elvis opts out after the season.
Profar has two years left of service time, though. That’s not much insurance.
He’d be cheap to lock up even if he plays well this season
4/58 with the option to go 5/73 if he hits his PA’s. Don’t think he’ll risk that after seeing the market this year. I’d bet he keeps his money unless he doesn’t want to be in Texas any longer.
For Profar, who has done literally nothing at the big league level ? You are joking, right?
He was talking about Andrus’s opt out clause … saying he doubts Elvis opts out
Where you been, JBig? Out of the country?
Typical Rangers saddled with big bad contracts so no dollars left for pitching? Daniels what have you done for me lately?
He’s produced one of the most winning teams since 2010
I said lately. And think of the opportunity costs of the expensive bad moves. But then again I have A.D.D. I guess it’s better for Daniels to be lucky instead of good.
Unfortunately those days will be a distant memory by the next time this organization is in a position to contend. And you can point back to two terrible — and unnecessary — moves that prematurely closed the Rangers’ competitive window as the impetus for that. The Choo signing and Fielder trade effectively ended the sustainable winning model JD built from 2009-2013, and JD has no one to blame but himself for the position he’s put this franchise in.
It’s all good- they just need to score more touchdowns.
Daniels brought baseball to DFW and we will be better than predicted this year.
The Rangers could finish fourth in their own division and be better than predicted by some. That’s not really saying very much.
Rangers suck
Profar should go somewhere else to get actual playing time. He can be a good player if they gave him a chance.
If he continues to hit as terribly as he has to this point in his career, he’ll likely get his opportunity. Otherwise, he’ll have to wait until he hits free agency like everyone else.
Cobb’s price must be low enough by now that Daniels could spring for him if he really wanted Beltre to believe they were giving it one more shot for him… all signs keep pointing to a rebuild, or at least sell-off of beltre/hamels/andrus… sigh.
Do the rangers really have the team where you wouldn’t want to rebuild a little at this point? Not a full on tear down but they obviously need to infuse some young talent into that team. The rotation outside of an aging Hamels isn’t very good and he showed some serious cracks last year. They dealt a lot of prospects away in recent years. They don’t have many left.
Team’s with roster holes make the playoffs every single year. If you’re going to concede a season before it even starts, at least have the testicular fortitude to commit to a rebuild and tank. But there’s nothing worse than forgoing real upgrades for spare parts in an effort to fool your fans into showing up to games.
Give this team a mid-rotation starter like Lynn or Cobb and a solid back-end bullpen arm and it at least has a chance to compete. As it stands now, we’ll just be a half-season late (at least) on a fire sale that should have happened as soon as the front office set its mind on sucking.
How much testicular fortitude does it take to tank?
None at all.
It does when doing so requires a GM — particularly one with recent success — to stand in front of his fanbase and admit that his team’s competitive window is over.
And make no mistake, this team is already tanking. They’re just trying to do so in a way that cons fans into believing they can compete. And judging from a few of the posts on this thread, they’re succeeding.
If JD and Co. think it’s time to rebuild, they should have the guts to rebuild — and be willing to sacrifice whatever revenue they lose with that decision. And if not, they should try to build a competitive roster. Their approach to this offseason is the worst of all worlds and the cowardly way out. They’re trying to have their cake and eat it to, and all they’re doing is setting the organization back and wasting years of cheap control over their young position players.
Have you looked at the ages of these players? Take Choo and Beltre out (which they will be in the next couple of years) and Elvis is the old man at 29. Rua is next at 28 (he will be gone this year or next with a young Calhoun in the wings) and none past that are over 25 years. How young do you want the talent to be? There is also a load of talent in the minors, but again, it is young and that is the reason for the small term/money contracts. Last but not least, the rotation. It is not set 100% so how can you qualify it as anything yet? Outside of Hamels and Perez we only have track records of the others and zero data as a rotation. Please be more objective with your posts.
You are naive if you think this team will be competitive this year….also Chirinos 33 years old so that’s one knock on your age argument.
The rotation is atrocious, no team should have their ace being 34 years old and the rest behind him are nothing more than bandaids. I have zero trust in Perez even assuming he stays healthy and then there was absolutely no upgrade to the bullpen which was one of the worst in all of MLB last year. I could understand trying to moneyball the rotation with track record and innings eaters but to not upgrade the weakest part of the team in the bullpen clearly shows they really aren’t trying everything they can to win now.
Take choo Beltre and Chirinos out and we have 3 old starters that need to be replaced. Take Hamels out too right? This isn’t a team filled with young talent. They have a couple nice young players but they don’t have any more coming up anytime soon aside from Calhoun. They don’t have the near MLB ready pitching they desperately need. They don’t really have a closer unless you believe Claudio is that guy or Matt Bush can do it. They’re transitioning minor back into the rotation because they’re weak there. Odor needs to improve or he’s a huge liability. Even in his best season odor was only slightly above average at the plate. His plate discipline is atrocious and his defense isn’t very good. Profar May end up being the better option at 2b before the end of the year, although he’s shown nothing. They need work.
Rangers have youth on the team. Don’t know what happened last year but I don’t think it will happen again. Odor got lost after the WBC (looked good there) and Mazara forgot how to play defense. They’ll be back on track, Gallo will take another giant step, Calhoun will be back up in a few weeks, Delino’s great. We have youth.
This has been such an uninspiring offseason, and it’s hard to see things getting better anytime soon. It’s depressing what this organization has become in such a short period of time. And the half-in, half-out game that the front office is playing now will all but guarantee that we’re in for another couple of seasons of utter mediocrity, Either commit to competing or commit to a rebuild. But have some guts either way.
When Profar’s contract is up in 2 seasons, he’ll be lucky to get a spring invite. And can we all finally admit, JD is one of the more overrated GMs in the league. Maybe not the most, but certainly up there.
The Rangers waste money on building things than building up a contending team. Such as golf courses new stadium and many other things, if they just spend that money on good quality players and player development instead of other things they would be in a great shape.
They have a payroll that is not used for petty cash, parking permits or any other non tangibles you’ve mentioned. They have chosen not to pay a broken down Yu or Arrieta loads of cash with bad years. I can also hear Prince and Choo rumblings in the background so I will address those. Prince was damaged-nobody saw that coming and Choo, while his glove leaves a lot to be desired and is not the player he once was, has a good, solid slash line (we are stuck with him so no need to dwell on the bad) Please look at the roster and understand that any noise generated by building and marketing has very little to do with their movement on payroll. These owners are billionaires, but they didn’t get there by winning the lottery-they got there by being smart and objective.
Fielder was a fat 30-year-old with a ton of time/money left on his deal at the time of that acquisition. Anyone who didn’t see that ending badly has ignored decades of baseball trends.
That move was only made because the Rangers completely misevaluated both Ian Kinsler and Jurickson Profar. Instead of moving Profar at peak value, they traded the better player with less value and had to take back a bad contract as a result. They could have easily resigned Nelson Cruz (he signed a one-year pillow contract that offseason) and kept that 2013 core together, but JD opted to overreact to a pair of 90-plus win seasons that didn’t end how he would have liked them to in the postseason. And instead of betting on his own aging players, who had actually done something for his franchise, he tried to rebuild his lineup with other teams’, and it’s hard to say that decision has ended in anything but disaster.
Yeah, why do they waste their time on all of those lucrative ventures?
Like someone above said that stuff is irrelevant. They’re building a new stadium not because they needed one but their lease in Arlington was going to end, so it was the city of Arlington that proposed a new stadium in order to keep em. Either way you look at it yea The Ballpark is still more than operable, but they were gonna get a new stadium either way. Whether the city of Dallas builds it or Arlington. Its just how it works, unless your Oakland or Tampa and your city doesn’t really want you…
Well, it also helps that the Texas Rangers aren’t paying a dime for that new 1.1 billion dollar ballpark, instead soaking the taxpayers for the cost of most of it along with the fans for the cost of the rest through parking and ticket taxes.
Question for the JD haters. You’re mad about the Fielder trade and Choo signing. Are you also mad about the Beltre signing? The Cliff Lee trade? The first trade to acquire Josh Hamilton?
It’s beyond idiotic to rag on the front office that has fielded one of the most competitive teams in the game over the last 8 years. I agree that it’s time to rebuild and I think it’s exactly what they are doing. You want to complain about the signings for this years pitching staff. Hate to break it to you but we do have to put an actual baseball team on the field even when rebuilding.
Some of you want to complain just for the hell of it.
I’m with you. Unlike the Marlins, the Rangers will field a team that will score a ton of runs and be a fun team to watch offensively. They will position themselves in a good spot to rebuild the farm this summer, likely move some contracts at the break, and the one thing no one mentioned, they will have an opportunity to evaluate certain talent that they need to know going forward is going to be a part of the future. I personally appreciate their approach to rebuilding since I will actually be attending games this season.
The Fielder trade and Choo signing were nothing like the trades for Lee (true rental) or Hamilton (one post-hype prospect for another). And Beltre’s not particularly similar either in that he was an elite defensive player at an important position.
In reality, the moves for Choo and Fielder were a stark departure from the types of low-risk, high-reward deals that JD had built the Rangers World Series teams with. He devoted close to a third of his team’s payroll to two offensive-only players fraught with injury risk. And in doing so, he forced a series of win-now moves for more aging vets to keep the window cracked for a couple more years.
Now, we’re dealing with the aftermath of that, and some Rangers fans are content to defend those moves as “the price of doing business,” while ignoring that JD was successful previously as a result largely of avoiding that type of business.
Agree. It’s a little irritating when people talk about the team like it’s nothing that one mistake after another. Yeah the front office made a couple of really bad moves lately but generally I think two world series, followed by two 90 plus win seasons, followed by a horrible season followed by two division winners is a really good track record. It’s not the front office’s fault that the team couldn’t win it in 11 and failed the stretch run the next two years when the team was every bit as talented. I have little faith in the current team to win anything and really hope that Beltre has a chance to win it all with someone even if its a team I’m not a fan of.
I understand what the Rangers have done this offseason less than any other team. Not in a “why did they make all these bad moves” kind of a sense, more like “what is their plan”?
They aren’t “going for it” or “retooling” or “rebuilding.” They need a new category to explain this current direction.
According to Spotrac, Profar is a FA this upcoming offseason…
spotrac.com/mlb/texas-rangers/jurickson-profar-114…
He’s not. He’s under Rangers’ control through 2020.
So that link is wrong, correct?
Yeah. He was expected to hit free agency after 2019, but he didn’t accrue enough service time last season, so the Rangers gained another year of control. He’ll be under arbitration the next two years. Baseballreference.com has the correct info.