Texas Rangers 2019-2020 Offseason Thread

WilltheThrill said:

Other than the obvious answer of cheapskate owners/not really interested/playing lowball again, I don’t understand why we haven’t signed Castellanos by now. He is about as perfect of a fit for the team as it gets. The one negative against him is his suspect defense, but he checks off literally every other box- not overly expensive in a future-crippling sort of way, still fairly young, good clubhouse guy, can play multiple positions in a pinch, the best hitter available on the market by far...

It makes too much sense not to happen. If Kluber and even just one of Gibson/Lyles work out (which isn’t entirely out of the question), then the Rangers are going to have really solid starting pitching. With how weak a lot of the AL is at this point, that would put them at least in the discussion of a Wild Card spot. Castellanos would help bolster their weak offense and put them that much closer to a postseason spot. I know they’re not ready to truly contend yet, and that the real future lies a couple of seasons ahead. But why not at least try to make a run at a playoff spot in season 1 at the new stadium?

The Rangers are a slightly above average team. But take a serious look at the AL. It’s almost nothing but average to below average teams. You’ve got the Yankees dominating the East. The Twins will rule the Central. And the Asterisks should still win enough games without Cole and battered trash cans in their dugout to win the West.

So who does that leave? The Rangers are easily better than the Mariners, Royals, Tigers, Blue Jays, and Orioles. So you’re looking at a group of the Rays (solid team), Indians (possibly rebuilding), Red Sox (could be elite, could be mediocre), White Sox (just as many holes as the Rangers), and Angels (zero pitching) that will be battling for the 2 Wild Card spots. Including the Rangers, that’s 6 teams fighting for 2 spots. That means we’re essentially a 33% favorite to be a playoff team as it stands today, if you consider those 6 teams to be roughly equal... maybe slightly less if you say the Rays are a notch above.

Acquiring two players (either Castellanos plus another bat, or Castellanos plus a really solid reliever) would move us toward the top of that group. So I ask again... why isn’t this happening?!?! Donaldson has signed. Ozuna has signed. There is no more “free agent logjam” anymore. The only possible explanations are that we’re interested but only at a lowball price, or we’re not really interested and it’s just more front office grandstanding to make the fanbase believe they’re actually willing to go the extra mile to win.

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WilltheThrill said:

Other than the obvious answer of cheapskate owners/not really interested/playing lowball again, I don’t understand why we haven’t signed Castellanos by now. He is about as perfect of a fit for the team as it gets. The one negative against him is his suspect defense, but he checks off literally every other box- not overly expensive in a future-crippling sort of way, still fairly young, good clubhouse guy, can play multiple positions in a pinch, the best hitter available on the market by far...

It makes too much sense not to happen. If Kluber and even just one of Gibson/Lyles work out (which isn’t entirely out of the question), then the Rangers are going to have really solid starting pitching. With how weak a lot of the AL is at this point, that would put them at least in the discussion of a Wild Card spot. Castellanos would help bolster their weak offense and put them that much closer to a postseason spot. I know they’re not ready to truly contend yet, and that the real future lies a couple of seasons ahead. But why not at least try to make a run at a playoff spot in season 1 at the new stadium?

The Rangers are a slightly above average team. But take a serious look at the AL. It’s almost nothing but average to below average teams. You’ve got the Yankees dominating the East. The Twins will rule the Central. And the Asterisks should still win enough games without Cole and battered trash cans in their dugout to win the West.

So who does that leave? The Rangers are easily better than the Mariners, Royals, Tigers, Blue Jays, and Orioles. So you’re looking at a group of the Rays (solid team), Indians (possibly rebuilding), Red Sox (could be elite, could be mediocre), White Sox (just as many holes as the Rangers), and Angels (zero pitching) that will be battling for the 2 Wild Card spots. Including the Rangers, that’s 6 teams fighting for 2 spots. That means we’re essentially a 33% favorite to be a playoff team as it stands today, if you consider those 6 teams to be roughly equal... maybe slightly less if you say the Rays are a notch above.

Acquiring two players (either Castellanos plus another bat, or Castellanos plus a really solid reliever) would move us toward the top of that group. So I ask again... why isn’t this happening?!?! Donaldson has signed. Ozuna has signed. There is no more “free agent logjam” anymore. The only possible explanations are that we’re interested but only at a lowball price, or we’re not really interested and it’s just more front office grandstanding to make the fanbase believe they’re actually willing to go the extra mile to win.

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saddles said:

We went to Peek at the Park, but the line to get into the stadium was ridiculously too long to go in.

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saddles said:

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WastinSomeTime said:

Now that makes no sense to me but I am also surprised that Castellanos has not been signed by anyone.

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saddles said:

At this point a trade doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unless they are using that as leverage with Castellanos. If that is the case, just sign him and be done with it. If not, then I will have to wait and see, but for now, it doesn't seem to make sense.

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Kelleyman said:

So I heard. Wonder why they did not let more people en masse

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WastinSomeTime said:

Now that makes no sense to me but I am also surprised that Castellanos has not been signed by anyone.

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