Since the 2022 season drew to a close, the Rangers have acquired or re-signed four starting pitchers, beginning with Martin Perez’s acceptance of a $19.65MM qualifying offer and following with a trade for Jake Odorizzi (and $10MM to help cover the bulk of his $12.5MM salary). Subsequent signings of two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom (five years, $185MM) and left-hander Andrew Heaney (two years, $25MM with an opt-out and a heavy slate of incentives) followed over the past week. That quartet can now join last winter’s top rotation signee, Jon Gray, in rounding out the rotation.
Or so it would seem. Rangers general manager Chris Young told reporters that even after that frenzied slate of additions, he’s still on the lookout for more starting pitching talent (link via MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry). Young stopped short of declaring that he intends to continue playing at the top of the rotation market but referenced the timeless adage of never having “too much” pitching in vowing to continue his efforts to improve the club.
Texas is hardly without any depth beyond that top five. Right-hander Dane Dunning, in fact, could potentially be squeezed out of the starting mix despite giving the Rangers 271 quite serviceable innings over the past two seasons: 4.48 ERA, 4.23 FIP, 21.2% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate, 53.6% ground-ball rate, 1.10 HR/9. Dunning has a pair of minor league option years remaining.
Picking up some additional depth, even if it’s on minor league deals, would better position the Rangers to get through a 162-game marathon. And, as they’ve shown repeatedly in the past two offseasons, they probably shouldn’t be ruled out on a more impactful splash. To that end, it’s worth reminding that the Rangersreportedly met with Carlos Rodon even after signing deGrom — although that meeting came before signing Heaney.
More directly, Young plainly stated a desire to explore the market for left fielders. He also expressed confidence in both his catching corps and infield mix. The Rangers will look to Mitch Garver, Jonah Heim and Sam Huff as options behind the dish in 2023, while the infield features Nathaniel Lowe at first base, Marcus Semien at second and Corey Seager at shortstop. Top prospect Josh Jung is the heir-apparent at third base, but the Rangers have fellow prospects Ezequiel Duran and Josh Smith, plus utilitymen Brad Miller and Mark Mathias as depth options.
In left field, things are far less certain. Adolis Garcia is the clear everyday option in right, and Leody Taveras at least provides a glove-first option in center. Left is more problematic, with options including the aforementioned Smith, Bubba Thompson and Eli White.
Smith has spent more time on the infield in his minor league career but was a prospect of note and had a big season in the upper minors before struggling in his MLB debut. Thompson has 80-grade speed but needed a .389 BABIP just to get to a .265/.302/.312 batting line (77 wRC+) in 181 plate appearances in his own debut this season. With a 30.9% strikeout rate and that excessively good fortune on balls in play, his bat is likely to regress from an already troubling starting point. White’s glove gives him a chance at being a solid fourth outfielder, but he’s a career .185/.260/.296 hitter in 389 MLB plate appearances.
It’s not a great market for corner outfielders in free agency, as the bulk of the available names are either coming off injury-shortened seasons (Michael Conforto, Michael Brantley, Andrew Benintendi) or are simply in search of a rebound after a disappointing performance (AJ Pollock, Tommy Pham, David Peralta, Stephen Piscotty, old friend Joey Gallo). The trade market could offer a broad range of alternatives. The D-backs have been listening to offers on several outfielders (e.g. Jake McCarthy, Alek Thomas), while the Twins (Max Kepler), Orioles (Anthony Santander) and Pirates (Bryan Reynolds) all have potential trade candidates of varying quality in the outfield.
Even after the Rangers’ spending spree over the past two offseasons, they’re still a projected $29MM from the luxury-tax threshold. Their projected $181MM Opening Day payroll would be a franchise-record mark, but “only” by a margin of about $15MM. The extent to which ownership will continue to green-light payroll increases can’t be known, but the Rangers are committed to spending their way back into contention in the AL West, so there’s little point in taking their foot off the gas now.
Please sign Joey Gallo so my White Sox don’t!
I have a feeling the Rangers will crash and burn this year…I suppose “crash” is not a good word since they sucked last year so just continue to burn.
I agree. To me, all Chris Young has done is set money on fire. They spent half a billion last year to win 68 games.
Yeah on offense..
Now they’re addressing pitching.
Still not done yet.
They have 6 of the top 90 prospects in baseball as well as 10 other prospects who would be in most teams top 10.
They also have the #4 pick in next years draft.
They’re going to be good
@armchair
Yeah banking on prospects and future draft picks has never backfired on a team.
I wouldn’t book a trip to Texas in October yet
That could be said about any team and any situation. FA, Prospects etc..
A’s fan: he never said that did he? He just said they will be good and pointed at the depth of the minors. Calm down
“I wouldn’t book a trip to Texas in October yet” I know what you mean but just have to say Houston is in Texas lol.
Houston is better for a vacation anyway
Have you ever been to Houston?
Yeah ghost
Saying Texas will be good based on a few signings is what a new fan would do.
I’ve seen off-season champions crash and burn too many times to act like Texas is going to be good
They have to prove it
Dramatic fans on this site are always hyperbolic about every free agent signing
Padres get declared champs every winter and still haven’t won anything
@armchair
Yeah it could be said about any team because it’s true
Don’t be so dense
The Rangers may or may not be good, but the last two offseasons at least signal that the rebuild is over. We’re in win-now mode for the first time since about 2016, which is exciting as a fan.
Daniel, lived there for 5 years. If you are with in the loop. It’s an amazing and diverse area.
LOL! Nobody in their right mind takes a trip to Houston when they could visit so many other areas in the state.
Ghost 2.0,
Buddy, you obviously haven’t lived there. I’ve lived in Dallas, San Antonio, Waco, Houston, St. Louis and Kansas City. By far my favorite is the hill country. Right outside SA. But Houston, where I lived was absolutely wonderful.its called an opinion for a reason. You Muppet.
Chris Woodward to Bruce Bochy
Rookie Co-Pitching Coaches to Mike Maddux
No Jon Daniels In the Organization
15-35 In one run games last season
Jacob DeGrom
Andrew Heaney
Jake Odorizzi
Improvement is very easy to see
How much improvement, we’ll see
Chris Young has done a wonderful job
People bag on Young’s efforts because he isn’t following the normal process of “don’t spend on FA’s until the very last moment”. They knew they would still struggle last year. Seager, Semien, and Gray were all targeted because the team knew they needed to establish a professional culture at the big league level that sets high standards for the wealth of prospects who would eventually join them. Seager is young enough to be an impact bat for several more years. Semien is captain material. They are following their process and seeing how it plays out.
@rolandveras: I don’t see this on your list, but has he done anything on an organizational level to address the fact that Texas has been horrible for well over a decade at developing young players?
If I’m Chris Young the first thing I would address is the 15-31 record in one run games. Hiring a new manager and pitching coach is the first step but you are only as good as the last man holding the ball.
Yeah signing a good closer has got
Post on the shuffle
Between Jose Leclerc, Jonathan Hernandez and Joe Barlow, the Rangers have three guys with at least some closing experience, and Brock Burke might bet he best late-/multi-inning reliever on the staff, depending on how they decide to use him. I think the bullpen will be much better this year, just by virtue of having their best arms healthy and available from Day 1.
@rct. I agree with you on player development. Young kept around a couple of guys, Kip Fagg, and Josh Boyd, who have been with the Rangers through all the losing. I would’ve been fine with replacing them. Also, Josh Bonifay, who I believe has only been with the organization for 1 season, is the director of player development. I wasn’t real happy with the performance of Ranger pitching in the minors last season. He needs to have a much better season 2023.
I’m all for adding an experienced closer. Leclerc makes me nervous. He doesn’t handle pressure well imo. He looks like he can’t stand closing…
I would love if someone would say I thought the 21 off-season decisions of the rangers was based on the thought process of let’s go wrap up this title in 22. So I can pee a little laughing. I love completely uninformed outsiders that talk with conviction. And there is no shortage of you.
@knolln you sound like a Dolt. I bet you are awful at parties. Not one person said championship. And I’m the opposite of uninformed. The improvement on the team is a good base on being a good team in the future. These signings weren’t one and done. They are looking at the future as well. Seager (LA) Degrom (NY) These are big time DUDES coming from big time markets to play in Arlington. Not to mention the farm, good young players, a GM willing to gamble, a manager that knows what we are doing. I’m excited you damn Muppet.
Since they spent a half million dollars “last year”, I guess whatever they get out Semien and Seager from here on out is free.
Rangers definitely need reinforcements…Thier #1 is injury prone which leaves them the island of misfits.
thank you captain obvious jock strap
awww! you need a tissue because your thoughts didn’t go so well earlier???
Need a hug-n-tug????
Let me know Brokeback ;P
A tiff between jockstrap and rocker….all knuckles scraped well before anything even happens.
I prefer to wrestle…..jello or mudd you pick? lmao
Paddy: jockstrap is an a$$, but credit where credit is due, the hug and tug comment was a winner. I laughed, and then threw an upvote out there for him.
Clepto, when did i break your heart? Only my wife has the honors to call me an a$$ lol
Their future is looking bright for sure. Projections for this year? It depends upon how their lineup looks to start the season….but 85 wins?
If Jung progresses and they get a solid LF, maybe 88/89 wins? That’s several factors breaking their way.
My predictions stink however with no major hiccups & the fair schedule in play I’ll raise the bar to 90 wins.
Probably because you have no baseball knowledge, but keep up with the great gems an 8 year old baseball fan would write down on here.
No, baseball knowledge? Why don’t you retreat back to your post this morning. I suggest you reread it a few times & pay close attention to the viewers responses about your knowledge.
4 of the 5 were on IL this year. Odorizzi, heany, gray all had stints too
They need LF & Bullpen
Make a trade with the Pirates for Reynolds and Bednar. They’ve come this far, let’s finish it up.
Need to resign matt Moore. He and Burke held the BP down last year
I’d really like to see this.
A nucleus of LeClerc, Hernandez and Barlow from the right side and Burke and Moore from the left would be very good.
Lay off the sauce, ArmChairGM, Reynolds has 3 years of control and Bednar, 5 years of control
The Rangers don’t have enough top tier prospects for Cherington to make a deal
Trade for Yelich
Hell no
If they throw in Burnes and Peralta/Woodruff, take on the whole salary.
Chris Young should slot himself as the #3 starter
He didn’t throw 84 in the Majors. He’d probably be throwing 75 now
At least the Rangers are trying. They have a top 5 farm system and a new indoor stadium. All I hear is jealousy on this board.If your teams were spending like this with a top farm system and hiring a legendary manager, it would be a different tune.
@oldredgunslinger
Jealousy? Are you kidding me? I want them to continue doing this.
“…but the Rangers are committed to spending their way back into contention…”
“into oblivion” is more like it.
lmao nobody is jealous of the Texas Rangers and their 68 wins last year. Even if they have improved the team by 15 wins, they would probably still miss the playoffs.
That stadium looks generic and lacks character imo but never been there. What do the Rangers fans think?
I liked the old ballpark better. It was a classic baseball park, where you felt like you were at a baseball game.
The new one is really nice and has better amenities, but it feels like a shopping mall on the concourse and an airplane hanger on the field. Just my opinion.
It is a great place to watch the game. Great field of view for that from most places. I have sat high and low and on all sides. Outside the bowl it must have been designed by somebody that has never been to a sporting event. Not enough bathrooms, no TVs to see the game while you are standing in concession lines, very generic food, and like every stadium it is overpriced food and drinks. But in July when it is 110 outside we are in AC.
I would take the old Ballpark every time but I know when they were bad I had no interest to go watch in the heat where now on a night with nothing to do why not walk up and pay $20 and see a game.
Chris. How could you? What about that magical 2014 season you had with us? Give it a break. Please. You’ve done enough
I’m a huge Jake McCarthy fan. He’s a really good player.
I really like Andrew Benintendi. Texas could use his OBP.
I’d even take a flier on Gallo. He hits in Texas.
1. Benintendi
2. Semien
3. Seager
4. Lowe
5. Adolis
Looks good to me.
Gallo has never hit. Never hit anywhere since High School.
2 twice allstar and 2 time 40 Home run hitter. Calm down with the hyperbole Gwilldor.
You do realize that every team has to have a All-Star.??? Let’s not act like Joey’s ASG appearances were warranted. He was simply the best player on some bad teams in Texas. Not to mention there is more to being a “hitter” than running into the occasional homerun. Strikeout rate, whiff rate, and batting averages suggest he is terrible at making contact.
“You do realize that every team has to have a All-Star.??? Let’s not act like Joey’s ASG appearances were warranted. He was simply the best player on some bad teams in Texas.”
Gallo was one of three Rangers who made the All-Star game in 2019 (Hunter Pence and Mike Minor were the others).
Gallo was also one of three Rangers who made the All-Star game in 2021 (Adolis Garcia and Kyle Gibson).
Soooo, looks like those ASG appearances were warranted and you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. Nice try with the hate, though.
Gallo had a .986 OPS in his first all-star season and a .923 OPS at the all-star break in his second. He earned both nods.
Gallo’s AS appearance were not warranted… Yes, 2019 was probably Gallo’s best year with a .986 OPS (.794 career),. Gallo ranked 15th in production of all American League outfielders. So there were 14 other outfielders who were better than Gallo. Seven outfielders made the AL All-Star team in 2019, so 8 other AL OF’s deserved the selection more than Gallo.. Simply put, the Ranger fans stuffed ballot boxes and won a popularity contest with Gallo, twice.
The fans got the selection wrong. The numbers support it. It happens….,
He was the only AL guy to hit a HR that game……
Lifer. I do not speak in absolutes you Muppet. Get it right and calm down blasting my sweet sweet Joey. He is a good boy, okay. A nice and gentle giant. Unlike you. Ya twirp
Lifer, you moron. You think Ranger fans stuffed the vote? Have you forgotten the words of Josh Hamilton “this is not a baseball town”
Your flat idiocy is appalling
LOL. Not blasting Gallo or Ranger fans at all, But facts are facts, And your immaturity (name calling) got you muted… That being said I am fine having Gallo back at the right cost. As long as he is willing to play on a cheap deal to rebuild whatever value Gallo might of had (dating back to 2019), But I much prefer the trade route, using some of the surplus MI prospects.
Glad to see somebody higher on McCarthy, but the problem is most teams see him as the lower value target so there’s a continued disconnect in discussions.
Thomas definitely has substantial value based on age related upside and floor from tremendous defense, but McCarthy was already an above average hitter/baserunner. Take a look at his platoon splits:
vs. RHP: .284/.344/.427 6.8% BB/21.6% K
vs. LHP: .281/.337/.427 5.8% BB/21.2% K
He also hit better the higher the leverage got and the further runners got into RISP (although, that shouldn’t be expected to continue at the same rate).
DBacks are content to hold onto him for anything short of an overpay.
Only way I’d sign gallo, is as a 4th outfielder that only plays every other day. Only 2 times he ever hit above .220, he played less than 100 games
@Caso and Steven- Jealousy is a ugly trait. Just hiring of BB and Maddux alone with get them 10 more wins at least.
Yes. That pythag says they should have had 9 more wins. This isn’t even an exaggeration; rather, it may even be a slight understatement (by only a few wins or so, but still).
baseball-reference.com/teams/TEX/2022.shtml
Owners don’t spend money-“The problem is that several owners just do not care about winning and only care about keeping as much money in their pockets as possible, not sharing even an ounce of it with the players.”
Owner spends money- “omg what are they doing?! They’re so stupid blah blah I’m jealous”
I have noticed this too. Either it’s “they are cheap and don’t spend money” or “they are trying to buy a championship.” The nonstop hate never ends. I know they are overpaying Gray, Semien, and Pérez (criminally), but you have to spend money to contend. Their pythag was 77-85 last year. A better manager alone should get them to 80 and it is impossible for deGrom/Heaney/Gray/Perez/Dunning or Odorizzi to be worse than Gray/Perez/Dunning/nobody/nobody. Jealousy is absurd. I know ppl overreact to offseasons, but these moves make sense. If they get a left fielder, they have a shot at a wild card with deGrom, Heaney, and Gray in the series.
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, we know it does, but that’s a stupid ass business philosophy, to not spend money. When u spend money, and get marketable allstar or superstar level player, 2 things happen. 1 u win more games, and put more asses in seats, and 2. U sell more jerseys and hats. Both mean more money. The Yankees, dodgers, and red Sox aren’t the richest teams in baseball bc they have $75m payrolls and pocket the rest, it’s bc they spend to field marketable players that win games. He’ll, ask Ray Davis next year if he made more money in 2020 spending $80m or in 2023 when he spends $200m. Gotta spend money to make money
Some top guys like deGrom sell tickets, but does Jason Heyward really do the same? It’s about spending wisely too, not just spending for the sake of it. The same can be said of Jon Gray. He isn’t quite that good.
Rangers can easily add another outfielder with Ragans, Otto and Dunning, all are viable starters
I’d rather just bring Gallo back and keep our starting depth. There’s risk there, but we know he was comfortable in Arlington, and his numbers are likely to improve with the extreme shift outlawed.
deGrom will be on the IL for 75% of the contract… enjoy it Rangers fans.
Maybe a Profar reunion would be a good idea
I’d rather have profar than gallo, personally.
Not interested. Profar is mediocre at everything.
L-SP Eduardo Rodriguez, OF Austin Meadows and OF Akil Baddoo for OF Bubba Thompson and L-SP Kolby Allard. TEX is in win now mode.
Allard was traded to the Braves for Odorizzi & $10 million
Damn. Braves are smart
They basically paid $10 mil for Kolby Allard.
Rodriguez contract is rough.. meadows wouldn’t be a bad get for LF though
They have all that front line talent but zero depth. Just a couple injuries away from a last place finish.
They literally have a ton of depth
They’re not finished yet either
I see a lot of criticism of the Rangers route to contention (or lack thereof in some people’s minds), all I’m going to say is that as a Rangers fan, I’m the most excited I’ve been in seven years. We’re a franchise that has never won a World Series and whether we’ll be successful or not, the intent that our front office is giving the fanbase, is that we’re going for it.
We spent 500M last year and were criticized because three players don’t win a Championship. Batters don’t fix pitching. Then we go out and spend more money this, primarily on pitching, and now it’s “money can’t buy championships.”
Our owners are doing what most fan bases beg their owners do, spend money to bring in good ball players. We’ve built a very good farm to deal from for additional pieces. I understand deGrom is a question mark, he’s also the best pitcher we’ve had since Darvish. I understand we paid Seager and Semien a lot of money, they also put a lot of butts in seats last season, played great and served as locker room leaders for our younger less experienced guys.
I’m going to be optimistic about the approach, while realizing that no amount of money (looking at you Mets), can guarantee you a championship. It’s still a fun time to be a Rangers fan. Adding Bochy, Seager, Semien, deGrom, Gray, even Heaney is a lot more fun than what we were dealing with just two years ago.
People throw temper tantrums that the Rangers are improving. Their one run game record was historic, and it is fun to watch top players. I think deGrom >>> Darvish/Ryan/ whatever 3.50 ERA guy people idolize for strikeouts.
Good post. I agree.
I’m happy to have Maddux back as well.
Everything about this club from Bochy to Maddux to the roster feels more legitimate from the standpoint of being able/prepared to contend.
This may or may not work out. But we’ve settled on a clear direction and are all in on it. That’s nice to see after the past five-plus years.
Senga on Texas would be fun! Just saying.
Word!!!!!!!
Rosario is available from ATL
For those criticizing the Rangers for their spending, consider a few things. They had one of the worst records in MLB history in one-run games last year, and that’s not likely to repeat, similar to how they had one of the best records in history in one-run games in 2016 but came back to earth the year after. Regression towards the mean is expected to some degree just by nature of the calendar turning over, but they can improve further with some additions to the bullpen.
They also had a pythagorean record of 77-85 last year, significantly better than their 68-94 finish, as well as a top 5 farm system with 6 prospects in the top 100. This team is not as bad as they seem from their record last year. Not saying they’re a guaranteed contender in the AL West given how tough that division is, but it’s silly to count them out when they’re not even done adding.
All these haters, I think its envy.