Offseason Outlook: Texas Rangers

The Rangers failed to score enough runs for the second straight year. After making a few unsuccessful changes around the core last winter, they should be up for a more radical overhaul of the lineup.

Guaranteed Contracts

• Corey Seager, SS: $186MM through 2031
• Jacob deGrom, RHP: $75MM through 2027 (deal includes club/vesting option for ’28)
• Marcus Semien, 2B: $72MM through 2028
• Nathan Eovaldi, RHP: $57MM through 2027 (including $12MM in unpaid signing bonus)
• Joc Pederson, DH: $18.5MM player option
• Kyle Higashioka, C: $7.75MM through 2026 (including buyout of ’27 mutual option)

Option Decisions

• DH Joc Pederson haș $18.5MM player option (deal includes matching mutual option for ’27)

2026 guarantees (assuming Pederson opts in): $146.25MM
Total future commitments: $416.25MM through 2031

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

• Jonah Heim (5.097): $6MM
• Adolis García (5.095): $12.1MM
• Josh Sborz (5.055): $1.1MM
• Jacob Webb (5.046): $2MM
• Sam Haggerty (5.007): $1.4MM
• Josh Smith (3.129): $3MM
• Jake Burger (3.127): $3.5MM
• Ezequiel Duran (3.050): $1.4MM
• Josh Jung (3.023): $2.9MM

Non-tender candidates: Heim, García, Sborz, Haggerty, Burger, Duran

Free Agents

• Merrill Kelly, Patrick Corbin, Tyler Mahle, Hoby Milner, Shawn Armstrong, Phil Maton, Chris Martin, Danny Coulombe, Rowdy Tellez, Jon Gray, Dylan Moore, Donovan Solano

The Rangers followed up their championship season with a 78-84 showing in which they finished 18th in scoring. They signed Joc Pederson and swapped out Nathaniel Lowe for Jake Burger, hoping to add some power and do more damage against fastballs. Neither Pederson nor Burger stepped up, and the Rangers dropped to 22nd in scoring this year. An improved pitching staff pushed them to .500, but they finished with a whimper despite buying at the trade deadline.

Bigger changes are in order. That already began in the manager’s office. The Rangers parted ways with Bruce Bochy after three seasons. It took less than a week to hammer out a four-year contract with Skip Schumaker, a former NL Manager of the Year who returns to the dugout after a season working as a special assistant in the Texas front office. Schumaker should be working with a much different lineup than the one that closed Bochy’s tenure.

The broad focus is to improve the offensive approach. Only the Rockies, Guardians, Angels and White Sox had a lower on-base percentage. Texas was in the bottom third of MLB in walk rate. At the end-of-season press conference, general manager Ross Fenstermaker said the team could prioritize “stable skills, on-base percentage, the ability to make contact, execute situationally” in their external additions (link via Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News).

Before that can happen, they’ll need to move on from a few players. Rowdy Tellez is their only impending free agent hitter of any note, so the significant work will happen via trades and/or non-tenders. They’re unlikely to find a taker for Pederson, who’ll exercise a $16.5MM player option after hitting .181/.285/.328 during his first season in Texas. It’s hard to imagine they’d move Corey Seager, who remains the team’s best hitter and whose contract (another six years at $31MM annually) would only work for a couple large-market teams. Wyatt Langford, Josh Smith and Evan Carter should be back as affordable building blocks.

The Rangers might try to get out from under a portion of the Marcus Semien contract. He’s owed $72MM over the final three seasons of his seven-year free agent deal. Semien was phenomenal during the World Series season but has tailed off over the past two years. He’s coming off a career-worst .230/.305/.364 slash line with 15 homers and ended the year on the injured list with a Lisfranc issue in his left foot.