Texas Rangers 2022 - 2023 Offseason Thread

[saddles]

The Rangers made the list.

These 5 under-the-radar teams had strong offseasons

When assessing the biggest winners of the 2022-23 offseason, it’s easy to point to the big spenders as the teams that had the most productive winters. The Yankees brought back Aaron Judge and signed Carlos Ródon. The Phillies added Trea Turner, Taijuan Walker, Gregory Soto and Craig Kimbrel...

www.mlb.com

Rangers
I know what you’re thinking: How under the radar could Texas’ offseason be when the Rangers signed Jacob deGrom to a five-year, $185 million contract?

Yes, the deGrom signing was well above the radar, but Texas’ other moves have put the Rangers in position to contend for a postseason spot. They traded for Jake Odorizzi on Nov. 9, then learned that Martín Pérez accepted their $19.65 million qualifying offer, keeping the club’s best pitcher in 2022 in Texas. Then, after signing deGrom, the Rangers added Andrew Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi via free-agent deals, giving them arguably their deepest and best rotation in years.

A year ago, the Rangers spent more than a half-billion dollars in free agency to add Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jon Gray and Kole Calhoun, who's currently a free agent. Having addressed the rotation this offseason -- and not just the No. 1 spot -- Texas hopes to thrust itself into the mix in the AL West.

 

[Kelleyman]

The Rangers made the list.

These 5 under-the-radar teams had strong offseasons

When assessing the biggest winners of the 2022-23 offseason, it’s easy to point to the big spenders as the teams that had the most productive winters. The Yankees brought back Aaron Judge and signed Carlos Ródon. The Phillies added Trea Turner, Taijuan Walker, Gregory Soto and Craig Kimbrel...

www.mlb.com

Rangers
I know what you’re thinking: How under the radar could Texas’ offseason be when the Rangers signed Jacob deGrom to a five-year, $185 million contract?

Yes, the deGrom signing was well above the radar, but Texas’ other moves have put the Rangers in position to contend for a postseason spot. They traded for Jake Odorizzi on Nov. 9, then learned that Martín Pérez accepted their $19.65 million qualifying offer, keeping the club’s best pitcher in 2022 in Texas. Then, after signing deGrom, the Rangers added Andrew Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi via free-agent deals, giving them arguably their deepest and best rotation in years.

A year ago, the Rangers spent more than a half-billion dollars in free agency to add Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jon Gray and Kole Calhoun, who's currently a free agent. Having addressed the rotation this offseason -- and not just the No. 1 spot -- Texas hopes to thrust itself into the mix in the AL West.

Yes the other article had them above the radar

Guess the real Question is did these moves do enough to make them a significant competitor come postseason. Their moves i would think had the greatest effect in change of win total
From last year even if nothing else is done

 

[saddles]

Guess the real Question is did these moves do enough to make them a significant competitor come postseason.

I think the moves make them a serious contender to make the postseason. Being a significant competitor during the postseason is a different matter. I don't think that happens until we get some of the younger guys ready.

2023 - in the playoff race
2024 - get past the wildcard round
2025 - World Series contender

I think those things are possible if we make the right decisions regarding our prospects over the next 10 to 24 months.

 

[Kelleyman]

I think the moves make them a serious contender to make the postseason. Being a significant competitor during the postseason is a different matter. I don't think that happens until we get some of the younger guys ready.

2023 - in the playoff race
2024 - get past the wildcard round
2025 - World Series contender

I think those things are possible if we make the right decisions regarding our prospects over the next 10 to 24 months.

Could easily be true. I do think we fizzle out unless some young guys emerge and play significant and winning roles

 

[DT LUNA]

Our current rotation will require less"have to score more runs"if you get what I mean. We give up less and we need less. Of course we want to produce as many as needed to win but relieving unnecessary pressure at the plate should and will produce dividends.
I hope to see Bubba make this team and run the opponents crazy.

 

[saddles]

Could easily be true. I do think we fizzle out unless some young guys emerge and play significant and winning roles

There are some young guys who could potentially do that, and that is the first time that could realistically be said in a very long time. Duran, Crim, Smith, Harris, Foscue, Huff, and even Ornelas are all in that category. If three of those guys come on and play significant roles this year then we could do even better than I hope for. Between those seven and Carter and Zavala, four or five of them could show they deserve a spot in the 2024 lineup. That would qualify as a highly successful year.

 

[saddles]

Texas Rangers Top 50 Prospects (2023)

Texas has steadily rebuilt their farm system the past few years with trades and shrewd draft picks. Byron Cox has his top 50 Rangers prospects

www.prospects1500.com

This is a good list, but they overlooked Ryan Garcia somehow.

 

[saddles]

Texas Rangers Top 50 Prospects (2023)

Texas has steadily rebuilt their farm system the past few years with trades and shrewd draft picks. Byron Cox has his top 50 Rangers prospects

www.prospects1500.com

This is a good list, but they overlooked Ryan Garcia somehow.

They break them down into tiers.

Prospects1500 Tiers:
Tier 1: Players with high expectations of both making the majors and playing at an All-Star level for a number of years
Tier 2: Players with an above-average expectation of making the majors and being a solid contributor
Tier 3: Players with an average expectation of making the majors and being a solid contributor
Tier 4: Players who have the potential of making the majors, or have a high likelihood of making the majors but providing minimal impact (e.g. middle reliever, low-ceiling UT guys)
Tier 5: Players of interest, worth keeping an eye on, who have an outside chance of making their team’s 40-man roster

Here are the numbers of our prospects that they list in their top three tiers.

2 in Tier 1
5 in Tier 2
16 in Tier 3

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

 

[WilltheThrill]

Reynolds is a curious case, in my opinion, because I have wanted him on the Rangers for a long time and would be willing to part with likely more than most on here in terms of prospects to get him.

BUT, what the Pirates are asking for is ludicrous. Bryan Reynolds is NOT Juan Soto (although I think Soto is extremely overrated). I look at Reynolds as one of those guys who is a really, really good player you are very glad is on your team and who makes a positive impact almost nightly, but isn’t quite a true elite talent. He falls in the Rusty Greer/Mike Young/Ian Kinsler sort of tier… an All-Star or borderline All-Star every year and a threat to have in the lineup, but not an MVP monster like a Josh Hamilton or Mike Trout.

And in general, I think the Rangers need more players of his ability. I know we all discuss who can be the next Cliff Lee or Josh Hamilton for this franchise, but we need more Mike Youngs and Rusty Greers, too. Nothing wrong with a .270 hitter who can hit 25 HR and play above average defense.

Lastly, I will say that I have always sided with those who say prospects are just that… prospects. Give me proven talent over prospects any day of the week. Especially our prospects. The list of our “sure-fire” prospects who never materialized is a mile long- Olt, Profar, Perez (until this last season), Mazara… all the way back to the Danks-Diamond-Volquez trio and beyond. The vast majority of our current crop won’t ever amount to much, if anything. That’s just the truth. Maybe Jung becomes an All-Star. Maybe Carter does too. Maybe Leiter figures it out and becomes an ace. Maybe he flames out. A lot of maybes all the way down our list. I totally recognize the importance of developing your own talent, so I don’t want to pay the stupid price Pittsburgh is asking of Jung, Carter, White, Leiter, Rocker, Acuna, and the keys to our stadium. But I wouldn’t mind taking a risk on dealing a couple of our names away to get a true quality player under contract like Reynolds. Just not Josh Jung. To me, he’s the closest thing we have to a proven every day major league talent, even though other prospects might have higher ceilings.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Also, I will add, that the value of prospects is also directly influenced by your franchise’s ownership group. If you’re the A’s or Rays who don’t pay for talent, then prospects are worth their weight in gold. If you’re the Yankees or Dodgers, then prospects are a dime-a-dozen. Trade them away for talent and if the trade is a failure, oh well. Just buy more talent to fix things.

So we’re in a weird spot of where do we sit. For the longest time, Ray Davis was in Oakland A’s mode. Now for the last two years he’s lost his mind and become the Steinbrenner family. So who are we moving forward? Are we a top spender, middle of the pack spender, or thrift store bargain hunter? The more your owner is willing to spend to cover up mistakes, the more aggressive your GM can be with trading prospects.

 

[saddles]

Also, I will add, that the value of prospects is also directly influenced by your franchise’s ownership group. If you’re the A’s or Rays who don’t pay for talent, then prospects are worth their weight in gold. If you’re the Yankees or Dodgers, then prospects are a dime-a-dozen. Trade them away for talent and if the trade is a failure, oh well. Just buy more talent to fix things.

So we’re in a weird spot of where do we sit. For the longest time, Ray Davis was in Oakland A’s mode. Now for the last two years he’s lost his mind and become the Steinbrenner family. So who are we moving forward? Are we a top spender, middle of the pack spender, or thrift store bargain hunter? The more your owner is willing to spend to cover up mistakes, the more aggressive your GM can be with trading prospects.

I think it will remain cyclical like it has been. I believe the past few years we have seen the extremes. We were in the lower tier due to a much needed rebuild. Now, Davis wants to win before the latest wave of prospects are ready, so he is "over-spending" on a temporary basis. I think once these 2 or 3 year additions are done they will be replaced with much cheaper pitchers. Also, by that time we will know which young guys are worth bringing up and which positions we still need help with. At that point, some of the money we were spending on pitching can be spent on position players where our system failed to produce.

One problem I see is that within 2 or 3 years we may realize Semien and Seager are not nearly the players most thought we were getting. They both under-produced by a significant margin last year. There is nothing that will make Davis tighten up the purse strings more than 2 very expensive free agents failing to come close to expectations.

 

[WilltheThrill]

I think it will remain cyclical like it has been. I believe the past few years we have seen the extremes. We were in the lower tier due to a much needed rebuild. Now, Davis wants to win before the latest wave of prospects are ready, so he is "over-spending" on a temporary basis. I think once these 2 or 3 year additions are done they will be replaced with much cheaper pitchers. Also, by that time we will know which young guys are worth bringing up and which positions we still need help with. At that point, some of the money we were spending on pitching can be spent on position players where our system failed to produce.

One problem I see is that within 2 or 3 years we may realize Semien and Seager are not nearly the players most thought we were getting. They both under-produced by a significant margin last year. There is nothing that will make Davis tighten up the purse strings more than 2 very expensive free agents failing to come close to expectations.

That last part is very true, as I still firmly believe that the Fielder and Choo contracts burned Davis so badly that he closed the bank account for quite some time. I still have hope for both Semien and Seager, and I think time will show they are both better players than their 2022 seasons showed. How much better remains to be seen, but I don’t think either of them will ever be considered total busts. Maybe slight overpays.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

That last part is very true, as I still firmly believe that the Fielder and Choo contracts burned Davis so badly that he closed the bank account for quite some time. I still have hope for both Semien and Seager, and I think time will show they are both better players than their 2022 seasons showed. How much better remains to be seen, but I don’t think either of them will ever be considered total busts. Maybe slight overpays.

I expect Semien to be labeled a bust overall. He has only had 2 years better than 2022 and he is getting very close to the age where a lot of guys start to decline.

Hopefully, Seager does better, but in another 3 or 4 years he could very well start to decline as well. I think even if he does keep hitting, he will need to move off of SS within 3 or 4 years.

 

[saddles]

Worth a shot?

 

[Hambombs]

Go get reynolds

 

[Uncle Siggy]

As It Was Foretold, Nathaniel Lowe Has Broken Out

The big first baseman had a miniature launch angle revolution.

blogs.fangraphs.com

 

[saddles]

Our good friend found a new home.

 

[saddles]