Chris Young is taking aggressive early steps to address the Texas Rangers’ offensive issues
Six days ago, Evan Grant had a story on Chris Young and the abysmal Texas Rangers offense with the headline, “The Rangers’ offense is running out of time, and Chris Young is running out of patience.”
Little did we know how little patience the Rangers’ president of baseball operations had left.
In 2024, coming off a World Championship, the front office was very patient with a team that underachieved offensively. Other than an early-season deal to acquire platoon DH Robbie Grossman, Chris Young largely stood pat and trusted that the hitters that were do dominant in 2023 would snap out of it.
That plan didn’t work, and Evan’s article made clear that wasn’t going to be Young’s m.o. this season.
Now, Chris Young, the president of baseball operations, is prepared to move on to more drastic changes.
* * *
“It’s one of our major issues,” Young said. “Swing decisions. Chase rates. Lack of walks. There is no doubt we‘re not putting enough pressure on opposing pitchers and not creating opportunities to score.”
As Young said all this, the edge in his voice was evident. But so was the passion in his belief that this team can turn it around.
* * *
Young, however, isn’t going to wait around as long as he did last year. It was at his insistence that the full squad took batting practice together and stressed situational hitting Tuesday. And he‘s not done. Next up: Personnel changes.
* * *
If that doesn’t work? He couldn’t deny the possibility of considering further changes, which, at that point, means the staff.
That was on Tuesday evening. On Thursday evening, after the Rangers’ loss to the A’s, it was reported that Jake Burger was being sent down, to be replaced by Blaine Crim. Then yesterday, Sunday evening, the Rangers announced that they had fired offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker, and reports came out that Leody Taveras had been placed on outright waivers.
That Tuesday morning, I wrote about Donnie Ecker potentially being on the hot seat, so his being fired isn’t necessarily surprising. I did not think, however, it would happen this quick…I figured Memorial Day before the Rangers would like make a staff change like that.
Jake Burger? Well, when he was acquired once of the things that was discussed was that he had options, and could be sent down if necessary. And he was bad in the early going, slashing .190/.231/.330 when he was sent down for what was reportedly intended to be a “re-set.” But, again, I didn’t think such a move would happen that quick.
Leody Taveras? Him going on outright waivers isn’t a surprise, either — I thought they might do that when they brought Corey Seager back from the injured list so they could keep Nick Ahmed as a backup infielder. He’s had a bad year thusfar, after a bad year in 2024.
I am curious what the plan is for Leody should he clear waivers, though. Evan wrote this morning that Leody had been shopped, but the Rangers couldn’t find a team that would both take on his contract and give up something up for him. It may be that the Rangers are hoping that someone claims him and the roughly $3.5 million in salary that he is owed the rest of the way, which would provide some additional wiggle room under the Competitive Balance Tax. Should he clear waivers, the Rangers could outright him and bring up someone else in his stead, or could just keep him in the majors for the time being.
The question is, who would the Rangers bring up who is preferable to Leody? Evan Carter is the long-term — even medium-term — answer, but he’s slashing .221/.333/.416 for AAA and is 1 for 16 against lefties. He’s hit better of late — he’s slashing .286/.306/.600 in his last 36 plate appearances, covering nine games — but he’s struck out 11 times in those 36 plate appearances and walked just once. If the idea behind Carter starting the year in AAA is to have him right when he’s called back up, now may not be the time.
Other options? Well, Ezequiel Duran is slashing .340/.392/.617 in 51 plate appearances, but he was sent down after not hitting at all in the majors, so I’m not sure how quickly they’d want to bring him back up. Justin Foscue is slashing .300/.402/.473, with 19 walks against 25 Ks, but he also was passed over for Crim when Burger was sent down. Sam Haggerty, in consideration for a roster spot this spring, is slashing .297/.377/.338, with 9 walks and 19 Ks in 86 plate appearances.
Would Alejandro Osuna be a consideration? The 22 year old lefty swinging outfielder was the talk of spring training, getting a lot of action in major league games and turning a lot of heads. He is currently at Frisco, slashing .317/.387/.462, and is slashing .393/.451/.541 in his last 16 games, with five Ks against five walks in 71 plate appearances. He also didn’t play for Frisco yesterday, which could be him getting a day off after playing the previous five days, or could possibly, just possibly, be an indication of something else.
Burger and Taveras, of course, aren’t the only issues. Marcus Semien is off to an even slower start than usual, and Joc Pederson is hitting .094 and has an OPS+ of -1, though neither of them are being released or likely even being benched. Kevin Pillar isn’t hitting at all as the righthanded part of the center field arrangement, though. And since his walk-off homer against the Dodgers on April 19, Adolis Garcia is slashing .200/.216/.240 with 18!!! strikeouts and one walk in 51 plate appearances. After an encouraging start to the year, Garcia’s slash line for 2025 is worse than it was in 2024.
But there are only so many internal changes you can make, only so many viable (or even semi-viable) internal options to look at. Trade options are going to be limited until July due to the fact that most teams aren’t selling right now, and those that are so bad that they would sell don’t have much to offer. Luis Robert has been talked about as an option, but he’s making $15 million — an amount that would necessitate having the ChiSox absorb some salary to keep the Rangers under the CBT threshold — and is slashing .217/.287/.374 since the start of 2024. Free agents? J.D. Martinez is out there, but he’s going to be expensive, and besides, you’ve already got Joc Pederson in a DH-only role, and I’m not sure the Rangers would want to pay Martinez what it would take for him to be the small spoon platoon at DH, nor am I sure Martinez would want to take that sort of limited role.
So Chris Young is going to do what he can. He’s making the moves that are available to him, in the hopes that the offense, of which so much is expected, starts performing at least close to expectations. There is a sense of urgency that wasn’t there last year.
But the options, for now, would seem to be somewhat limited.