2024 Texas Rangers

Well, it's over - and the Yankees have only themselves to blame for the loss in Game 5 last night. They squandered an early five-run lead to let the Dodgers tie it up and eventually win the game and the Series.
I'm not surprised that the Dodgers won the Series, but I am surprised that it took only five games.
 
Another season is in the books and on to what should be an eventful off-season for our Rangers. Eovaldi and Yates are the big names but I am also interested in seeing what Texas does with Garcia, Taveras, and Lowe as possible trade bait. LeClerc, Robertson, and Heaney are interesting free agent decisions too. 5 day window here with Nathan Eovaldi and I saw an article out of Boston that the Red Sox plan to be in on him so get those hot stoves going here after Halloween tonight.
 
As I have already said, Eovaldi and Yates are must keeps. These two will be tests on Davis' willingness to rebound.
 
Not at all surprisingly, Eovaldi declined his option.

www.mlb.com

Eovaldi declines Rangers option, becomes free agent

Right-handed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi declined his 2025 player option with the Rangers on Monday and is now a free agent. Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said the club still has a lot of interest in bringing back Eovaldi, a Texas native who joined the team on a two-year
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com
 
ViperHorn said:
This is a big test for CY and Davis.
Click to expand...
Agree, Viper. Given the financial constraints, I don't expect the Rangers to do much on the Free Agent market. If there is one FA to pursue, it's Eovaldi - he's a known quantity in Arlington. I realize the Rangers can't (or won't) break the piggy bank, but I bet they can do some clever financial manipulation, such as deferred money. IMO, the Rangers are more likely to be active in trades than Free Agency.
 
Last edited:
Josh Smith gets well deserved silver slugger as utility player.

www.mlb.com

Rangers INF Josh Smith announced as winner of 2024 Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award

Arlington, Texas — Texas Rangers infielder Josh Smith has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award at the utility position in the American League. The announcement was made on Tuesday night during a televised awards show on MLB Network. The Silver...
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com
 
FWHORN said:
Josh Smith gets well deserved silver slugger as utility player.

www.mlb.com

Rangers INF Josh Smith announced as winner of 2024 Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award

Arlington, Texas — Texas Rangers infielder Josh Smith has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award at the utility position in the American League. The announcement was made on Tuesday night during a televised awards show on MLB Network. The Silver...
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com
Click to expand...
Well deserved!
 
Nice off-season update from Landry.

www.mlb.com

Breaking down the Rangers' biggest offseason questions

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. ARLINGTON -- It’s been a relatively quiet offseason across the league so far, but especially for the Rangers, who have just made a few
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com
 
HornHuskerDad said:
Kennedi does a very good job reporting on the Rangers. If you don't subscribe to her newsletter, you should do so..
Click to expand...
That is absolutely true. In addition, if you are a Ranger fanatic, I also recommend daily checks at lonestarball.com and that you go to the MLB.com website and sign up for their daily updates which will often include Ranger stuff.
 
Evan Grant wrote an interesting article this morning. The gist is that CY is using this period of time to fix the Rangers' non-playing side. While the annual focus on the pitching staff is ongoing, the lack of timely hitting in 2024 was as big or bigger an issue as the pitching, if nothing else, since the pitching issue was due to the starting pitching staff being sidelined for 3/4 of the season. What could be good news is that the hitting coach has moved to Atlanta so CY has to find a hitting coach who can relate to the Ranger's offense. The Rangers will go nowhere again if he doesn't even have a healthy pitching staff.
 
Dodgers sign Kershaw's replacement even before Kershaw retires. Certain people in Arlington (not named CY) should take note on how to run an championship organization.
1732798099224.png
 
ViperHorn said:
Certain people in Arlington (not named CY) should take note on how to run an championship organization.
Click to expand...
The reality of MLB is that to have long-term success, you have to spend money and spend a lot of it, particularly on pitching, You can catch lightning in a bottle one year, but long-term success is built on solid pitching and spending money for it. If the Rangers are serious about 2025 money spent on Eovaldi, Yates, and a couple of other bullpen players is money well spent and will pay dividends.

Ray Davis will reply that he has spent money on Semien, Seager, deGrom, and Mahle, but when you are in your window it's not enough, and you have to go all in to get that second or third championship. Spending more won't guarantee the Rangers will have a strong 2025 run but not spending more will all but set them up for another disappointing year.
 
FWHORN said:
The reality of MLB is that to have long-term success, you have to spend money and spend a lot of it, particularly on pitching, You can catch lightning in a bottle one year, but long-term success is built on solid pitching and spending money for it. If the Rangers are serious about 2025 money spent on Eovaldi, Yates, and a couple of other bullpen players is money well spent and will pay dividends.

Ray Davis will reply that he has spent money on Semien, Seager, deGrom, and Mahle, but when you are in your window it's not enough, and you have to go all in to get that second or third championship. Spending more won't guarantee the Rangers will have a strong 2025 run but not spending more will all but set them up for another disappointing year.
Click to expand...
With the most recent baseball signings (Soto, Ohtani to name a few), the game has now reached a point in which only 6-7 franchises can economically compete every year which requires different models to be used by most franchises for roster construction.

I'm an Astro fan and the Astros and Rangers are similar from an economic comparison. That said, the long term competitiveness for these type organizations will require significant emphasis on investing in player development particularly pitchers. Look at how the Rays have remained competitive......through the internal development of very good pitchers and an occasional free agent or trade acquisition. I'm not suggesting that the Rangers and Astros quit participating in the free agent market, but they need to make a big shift toward internal development. The Dodgers, Yanks, and Mets can buy championship teams (at least on paper) consistently.......then there are 10-12 which will occasionally get caught up in the spending insanity, but really can't sustain it indefinitely. Jim Crane's magic touch with the Astros is on its last legs in part because of $60 million in dead money which won't completely go away for several years. That same $60 million weight wouldn't change anything for the referenced three teams. One bad signing (e.g Jose Abreu) completely changes the economics for the vast majority of teams, and when you are negatively impacted by a bad signing, you naturally become gun shy and you fall behind in the free agent signing world. If you constantly have a pipeline of very good players developed internally, the free agent market is no longer critical.
 
The Ticket is reporting that Rangers have signed a three year deal with Eovaldi at 75M. ESPN also has article up saying sources confirm Eovaldi is re-signing with Rangers. If this is true and sure as heck seems like it is, CY just took huge step toward winning the off-season and getting my Ranger optimism meter off the charts for 2025.
 
Not quite a confirmed done deal on Eovaldi but seems to be close:

www.mlb.com

Rangers bringing back Texas native Eovaldi for 3 years, $75M (source)

The Rangers are on the verge of adding a familiar piece to their rotation, agreeing to a three-year, $75 million deal with veteran righty Nathan Eovaldi at the Winter Meetings on Tuesday night, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand. The club has not confirmed its agreement with Eovaldi, who spent
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com

Rangers also traded for an infield bat that can be DH and back up Lowe and Jung:

www.mlbtraderumors.com

Rangers To Acquire Jake Burger

The Rangers and Marlins have reportedly agreed to a deal that'll send corner infielder Jake Burger to Texas for a …
www.mlbtraderumors.com www.mlbtraderumors.com

CY staying busy. Interesting to see what this means for Josh Smith.
 
FWHORN said:
The Ticket is reporting that Rangers have signed a three year deal with Eovaldi at 75M. ESPN also has article up saying sources confirm Eovaldi is re-signing with Rangers. If this is true and sure as heck seems like it is, CY just took huge step toward winning the off-season and getting my Ranger optimism meter off the charts for 2025.
Click to expand...
Great first step. Now let's see what CY can do to bolster the bullpen, with Yates as the priority. Not sure if they have a shot at the new Japanese pitcher that just posted, but the Rangers have some international pool money available.
 
Nice moves by the Rangers picking up Burger and signing Eovaldi. The Astros are considering moving Tucker and with the recent Soto deal that's probably a good idea if they can get value. I would also not rule out moving Framber Valdez at some point even though quality starting pitching is a very valuable commodity.
 
Hookem G said:
With the most recent baseball signings (Soto, Ohtani to name a few), the game has now reached a point in which only 6-7 franchises can economically compete every year which requires different models to be used by most franchises for roster construction.

I'm an Astro fan and the Astros and Rangers are similar from an economic comparison. That said, the long term competitiveness for these type organizations will require significant emphasis on investing in player development particularly pitchers. Look at how the Rays have remained competitive......through the internal development of very good pitchers and an occasional free agent or trade acquisition. I'm not suggesting that the Rangers and Astros quit participating in the free agent market, but they need to make a big shift toward internal development. The Dodgers, Yanks, and Mets can buy championship teams (at least on paper) consistently.......then there are 10-12 which will occasionally get caught up in the spending insanity, but really can't sustain it indefinitely. Jim Crane's magic touch with the Astros is on its last legs in part because of $60 million in dead money which won't completely go away for several years. That same $60 million weight wouldn't change anything for the referenced three teams. One bad signing (e.g Jose Abreu) completely changes the economics for the vast majority of teams, and when you are negatively impacted by a bad signing, you naturally become gun shy and you fall behind in the free agent signing world. If you constantly have a pipeline of very good players developed internally, the free agent market is no longer critical.
Click to expand...

The Astros did just that - significant emphasis on investing in player development with Altuve, Correa, Bregman, and Springer. Verlander was the big trade that worked out. Seems they'll try it again by only keeping Altuve for his whole career.
 
guy4321 said:
The Astros did just that - significant emphasis on investing in player development with Altuve, Correa, Bregman, and Springer. Verlander was the big trade that worked out. Seems they'll try it again by only keeping Altuve for his whole career.
Click to expand...
Can't argue with your examples and the Stros have continued to develop pitchers, but aside from Jeremy Pena they have not had any decent non pitchers come out of the system since probably Tucker. No outfielders, no corner infielders and no catchers.....although several prospects were traded to get rentals like Kuchichi last year.
 
Hookem G said:
Can't argue with your examples and the Stros have continued to develop pitchers, but aside from Jeremy Pena they have not had any decent non pitchers come out of the system since probably Tucker. No outfielders, no corner infielders and no catchers.....although several prospects were traded to get rentals like Kuchichi last year.
Click to expand...

That's true, but some shrewd trades for Yordan and Yainer worked.
 
guy4321 said:
That's true, but some shrewd trades for Yordan and Yainer worked.
Click to expand...
Yep-if it weren't for the Bagwell trade with the Red Sox, the Astros stealing Yordan Alvarez from the Dodgers would be the franchise best.

The Astros basically traded Miles Straw for Yanier Diaz. I'll take that one any day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

Predict TEXAS-CLEMSON

CFB Playoffs • First Round at DKR
Sat, Dec 21 • 3:00 PM on TNT/Max
Clemson game and preview thread

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top