Texas Rangers 2022 - 2023 Offseason Thread

[saddles]

The draft lottery is tomorrow and the Rule 5 draft on Wednesday. It would be really nice to luck out in both of those.

I think we have various chances to lose a few guys in Rule 5. Most likely, we will lose 1 or 2.

Church -- 50% chance
Cody -- 50%
Bradford -- 30%
Englert -- 10%
Crim -- 10%
Garcia -- 5%

But, at least we are hanging onto Howard, Sborz, King, Miller and Eli White.

Scratch Church from that list. He isn't eligible until next year.

 

[Hambombs]

How good is senga projected to be?

 

[saddles]

Here are the Rangers prospects that zjeff Wilson thinks have the best chances if being traded this winter.

Kent
Foscue
Hauver
Acosta
Church
Santos
Duran
Smith

 

[saddles]

Here is a note from Levi Weaver regarding the Rangers acquiring another starting pitcher.:

There’s also the trade market, but everything has been pretty quiet on that front after some rumblings during the GM meetings that Texas might be a good fit with the Brewers or Marlins. They still would be, but if they have the budget to address this in free agency, it would look pretty nifty to hold on to all their top prospects and make this window of contention a bit more sustainable (something president of baseball operations and general manager Chris Young has emphasized in just about every interview over the last few months).

 

[saddles]

I had read over and over again that the deadline was today. Now they say the 15th.

 

[saddles]

 

[True Rangers Fan]

From Jeff Wilson:

A staple at the baseball winter meetings each year are our Japanese friends in the media.

Anyone who has read the Rangers Today newsletter knows how much I admire them and enjoy talking to them.

Topping the list is Sam Onoda with NHK, and he was the first media member I spoke with Sunday after arriving at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. He seems to think the Rangers have a shot at right-hander Kodai Senga.

Senga reportedly wants to play for a team in a big market and for a team that has a chance to win right away. The Rangers check the big-market box and have plans for the second.

The signing of Jacob deGrom would seem to help that cause, and adding Senga to fill out the rotation would as well. DeGrom, Senga, Martin Perez, Jonathan Gray and Jake Odorizzi in some order would be pretty salty.

This might be foolish thinking on my part, but I remember hearing how much respectful due diligence the Rangers did with Yu, and I wonder if they are still seen in a positive light in the Japanese market. I realize money talks, but all offers being equal, would that get them more consideration?

 

[True Rangers Fan]

"Alex Rodriguez was an Icarus-level disaster."

A-Rod gave the Rangers every penny's worth of what they paid him. It's not his fault they didn't build a better team around him.

 

[saddles]

"Alex Rodriguez was an Icarus-level disaster."

A-Rod gave the Rangers every penny's worth of what they paid him. It's not his fault they didn't build a better team around him.

I agree. He was one of the best acquisitions in franchise history.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

I agree. He was one of the best acquisitions in franchise history.

25.5 WAR in his 3 years here. That's the WAR equivalent of Josh Hamilton's insane 2010 MVP season for 3 years in a row.

 

[saddles]

From Jayson Stark:


But which remaining free agents could get a boost from seeing the shift disappear? Here’s your top three, via Statcast, in most pulled groundballs hit to the right side at 100 mph or harder in 2022, among still-unsigned free agents:

Brandon Nimmo — 22
David Peralta — 19
Josh Bell* — 16

 

[DTC]

A-Rod gave the Rangers every penny's worth of what they paid him. It's not his fault they didn't build a better team around him.

If you look at 2003 they seemed to totally ignore the starting pitching staff.
Had a pretty darn good lineup as far as OPS+ goes.
I’m too young to know… did they just not address starting pitching at all??

 

[saddles]

Also from Stark:

WHAT’S CHANGING: What? Baseball is changing the size of the bases? Yeah, it is. After decades of bases that were 15 inches square, the 2023 bases will be 18 inches square. Why do we care? Because second base now will be 4 1/2 inches closer to both first and third base than it used to be. You’ll never notice — but the base-stealers of Planet Baseball will. … And that’s not all they’ll be wired into. In a related development, the pitch-clock rule will also help base-stealers. How? Because the pitcher can stop the clock only twice by stepping off or making a pickoff throw. After that, it’s an automatic balk — unless he throws over a third time and the runner is out. … So imagine the size of the leads after that second pickoff attempt. What’s the over/under? Thirty feet?

WHAT IT MIGHT MEAN: Wouldn’t it be awesome if the stolen base became A Thing again? Well, unless everyone is wrong, that’s about to occur. Check out how these rule changes affected base-stealing in the minor leagues in 2022. It’s wild.

STOLEN-BASE ATTEMPTS PER GAME

Minor leagues — 2.83
Major leagues — 1.36

Let’s explain what those numbers really mean: If major-league players start trying to swipe bases at the same clip we saw in the minor leagues in 2022, it would give us a stolen-base attempt rate we haven’t seen in the major leagues in over 100 years.

Now, that’ll never happen. But here’s what is going to happen: If you’re a free agent and you can fly, you’re never going to look more attractive to some teams than you’ll look this winter.

If you don’t think clubs like the Rays, Guardians and Royals are already plotting how they can take advantage of these changes to steal 200 bases and apply relentless pressure on the defense, you’re not paying attention. And what’ll make that that possible? Fast guys!

But now it doesn’t take much imagination to see all of that changing dramatically once teams figure out how to take advantage of these rules. And you’d be amazed by how much time clubs are spending this offseason trying to quantify the new value of speed.

“I’m very interested in the base-running impact of the pitch clock and the bigger bases,” one exec said. “You know, historically, the difference between the most valuable base runner in the game and the least valuable base runner has been narrower than that gap in pretty much any other skill. The difference between the best and worst defenders has been way bigger, for example. But I wonder if we’ll see a larger range of base-running variance than we’ve seen in the past. We’re going to find out.”

“This makes catcher throwing more important than it’s ever been,” one exec said.

So which available catchers might benefit on that front? Well, it’s a great reason to call the A’s about trading for Sean Murphy, whose 1.89 second pop time on throws to second base ranked second to only J.T. Realmuto this year.

But if that doesn’t work out, here are the free-agent catchers with the best pop times. Don’t you wonder how much arm strength factors into their 2023 employability? We do!

Jorge Alfaro — 1.89 seconds
Gary Sanchez — 1.93
Christian Vázquez — 1.94
Austin Hedges — 1.95

 

[Kelleyman]

ARod wanted out from how I remember it but yeah don’t come to the big boy table unless you really intend on playing poker.

I hope the Rangers now are ready to do what it takes to win

 

[saddles]

If you look at 2003 they seemed to totally ignore the starting pitching staff.
Had a pretty darn good lineup as far as OPS+ goes.
I’m too young to know… did they just not address starting pitching at all??

One foolish thing they did was to target pitching instead of targeting a good pitcher. They signed Chan Ho Park simply to spend money on pitching instead of waiting for a better pitcher to sign.

 

[Kelleyman]

 

[saddles]

Included a $5 million signing bonus. I guess the poor guy is cash strapped.

 

[DTC]

Also from Stark:

WHAT’S CHANGING: What? Baseball is changing the size of the bases? Yeah, it is. After decades of bases that were 15 inches square, the 2023 bases will be 18 inches square. Why do we care? Because second base now will be 4 1/2 inches closer to both first and third base than it used to be. You’ll never notice — but the base-stealers of Planet Baseball will. … And that’s not all they’ll be wired into. In a related development, the pitch-clock rule will also help base-stealers. How? Because the pitcher can stop the clock only twice by stepping off or making a pickoff throw. After that, it’s an automatic balk — unless he throws over a third time and the runner is out. … So imagine the size of the leads after that second pickoff attempt. What’s the over/under? Thirty feet?

WHAT IT MIGHT MEAN: Wouldn’t it be awesome if the stolen base became A Thing again? Well, unless everyone is wrong, that’s about to occur. Check out how these rule changes affected base-stealing in the minor leagues in 2022. It’s wild.

STOLEN-BASE ATTEMPTS PER GAME

Minor leagues — 2.83
Major leagues — 1.36

Let’s explain what those numbers really mean: If major-league players start trying to swipe bases at the same clip we saw in the minor leagues in 2022, it would give us a stolen-base attempt rate we haven’t seen in the major leagues in over 100 years.

Now, that’ll never happen. But here’s what is going to happen: If you’re a free agent and you can fly, you’re never going to look more attractive to some teams than you’ll look this winter.

If you don’t think clubs like the Rays, Guardians and Royals are already plotting how they can take advantage of these changes to steal 200 bases and apply relentless pressure on the defense, you’re not paying attention. And what’ll make that that possible? Fast guys!

But now it doesn’t take much imagination to see all of that changing dramatically once teams figure out how to take advantage of these rules. And you’d be amazed by how much time clubs are spending this offseason trying to quantify the new value of speed.

“I’m very interested in the base-running impact of the pitch clock and the bigger bases,” one exec said. “You know, historically, the difference between the most valuable base runner in the game and the least valuable base runner has been narrower than that gap in pretty much any other skill. The difference between the best and worst defenders has been way bigger, for example. But I wonder if we’ll see a larger range of base-running variance than we’ve seen in the past. We’re going to find out.”

“This makes catcher throwing more important than it’s ever been,” one exec said.

So which available catchers might benefit on that front? Well, it’s a great reason to call the A’s about trading for Sean Murphy, whose 1.89 second pop time on throws to second base ranked second to only J.T. Realmuto this year.

But if that doesn’t work out, here are the free-agent catchers with the best pop times. Don’t you wonder how much arm strength factors into their 2023 employability? We do!

Jorge Alfaro — 1.89 seconds
Gary Sanchez — 1.93
Christian Vázquez — 1.94
Austin Hedges — 1.95

Maybe Thompsons value will be stupid high as a LF/CF who can steal 60 bags a year.
Damn near every time he reaches first base could inevitably be a 2B.

 

[saddles]

Maybe Thompsons value will be stupid high as a LF/CF who can steal 60 bags a year.
Damn near every time he reaches first base could inevitably be a 2B.

Last year in the minors, with the bigger bags, his SB increased to 49 from 25 in 2021.

 

[DTC]

Last year in the minors, with the bigger bags, his SB increased to 49 from 25 in 2021.

Mhm.. with 100 less plate appearances too.
67 total SB between minors and majors last year