Texas Rangers 2024-2025 Offseason Thread

[WastinSomeTime]

I thought it would make sense for the Rangers to pursue him.

From Bob Nightengale:

Power-hitting catcher Travis d’Arnaud doesn’t stay on the market long as the Los Angeles Angels add to their payroll as promised, signing him to 2-year, $12 million deal after Atlanta doesn’t pick up his $8 million option. Angels officially announce the deal

He seems to miss a lot of games.

 

[saddles]

Congratulations to Josh Smith.

He won a Silver Slugger Award.

 

[saddles]

From Texas Rangers PR:

Rangers INF Josh Smith has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award at the utility position in the American League. The announcement was made during tonight's awards show that is currently airing on MLB Network.

This marks Smith’s first career Silver Slugger Award and first time for a Ranger to claim the honor at the utility position since the category began in 2022. TEX has now had at least one Silver Slugger in 3 straight seasons (beg. 2022) for the first time since 2010-12.

Smith, 27, produced career highs in all four slash categories (.258/.337/.394/.731), home runs (13), RBI (62), walks (46), runs (67), hits (135), and doubles (30) in 2024, ranking among A.L. hitters in times hit by pitch (5th, 18), doubles (T17th), and on-base percentage (18th).

The left-handed batter slashed .286/.345/.429/.774 (36-126) vs. left-handed pitching, boasting the 4th-highest BA against LHP among left-handed batters in the A.L. Only HOU's Yordan Alvarez (.362), CLE's Steven Kwan (.319), and teammate Nathaniel Lowe (.292) had higher marks.

 

[Duane1952]

Congratulations to Josh Smith.

He won a Silver Slugger Award.

Well deserved.

 

[saddles]

He seems to miss a lot of games.

I think they would have only wanted him to play 50 or 60 games, behind Heim.

 

[saddles]

Top 30 Texas Rangers Prospects November 2024

Here is my latest top 30 prospects list. I actually went ahead and included 34 instead of listing the last 4 as honorable mentions. There are 18 pitchers on my list and 16 position players.

1. Kumar Rocker
2. Sebastian Walcott
3. Alejandro Rosario
4. Jack Leiter
5. Emiliano Teodo
6. Jose Corniell
7. Kohl Drake
8. Wilson Santos
9. Justin Foscue
10. Dylan Dreiling
11. Alejandro Osuna
12. Josh Stephan
13. Dane Acker
14. Mitch Bratt
15. Paulino Santana
16. Blaine Crim
17. Abimelec Ortiz
18. Malcolm Moore
19. Yeremi Cabrera
20. Cameron Cauley
21. Yolfran Castillo
22. Pablo Guerrero
23. Braylin Morel
24. Izack Tiger
25. David Davalillo
26. Marc Church
27. Dustin Harris
28. Ryan Garcia
29. Skylar Hales
30. Walter Pennington
31. Ryan Lobus
32. Max Acosta
33. Echedry Vargas
34. Leandro Lopez

 

[saddles]

read he was from area and of course the Wash association. Halos had that going for them

It doesn't appear that we were even interested. I guess they want a backup making close to the league minimum.

 

[Kelleyman]

It doesn't appear that we were even interested. I guess they want a backup making close to the league minimum.

Maybe definitely not overtly. Yeah but agree from Rangers standpoint probably too much money

 

[saddles]

Maybe definitely not overtly. Yeah but agree from Rangers standpoint probably too much money

I would have no problem with going cheap if they had a catcher in their system that deserved the spot and he was cheap because he wasn't arbitration eligible. They don't though. Well, they do, but we know they will not go with him, and why.

The contract d'Arnaud got should have been affordable. The problem is they want to spend so heavily on starting pitching that the other areas can't be addressed properly, areas like the bench and the bullpen.

 

[saddles]

From Jamey Newberg:

In a piece predicting destinations for what they judge to be the top 50 free agents in the game, one of Craig Goldstein, Patrick Dubuque, and Ginny Searle (Baseball Prospectus) pinpoint the Rangers as the destination for LHP Blake Snell (Searle) and LHP Tanner Scott (Goldstein). The three writers each have a different prediction for Eovaldi, with one each identifying the Orioles, Angels, and Rays coming out on top.

 

[Kelleyman]

From Jamey Newberg:

In a piece predicting destinations for what they judge to be the top 50 free agents in the game, one of Craig Goldstein, Patrick Dubuque, and Ginny Searle (Baseball Prospectus) pinpoint the Rangers as the destination for LHP Blake Snell (Searle) and LHP Tanner Scott (Goldstein). The three writers each have a different prediction for Eovaldi, with one each identifying the Orioles, Angels, and Rays coming out on top.

He is the exact player the orioles need to toughen them up

 

[saddles]

The 40-man decisions in preparation for the Rule 5 draft have to be made by the 19th. With only 6 days left we may begin seeing a smattering of trades around the league. I wonder if we will see Huff and/or Crim get traded in the next few days.

We should get at least 3 to 5 DFAed, I would think. If we lose a player to Rule 5 while guys like Grant Anderson keep a roster spot that would be a shame.

 

[Kelleyman]

Acosta > Grant

 

[saddles]

Acosta > Grant

I don't know if they protect Max Acosta if they keep Ornelas on the roster. In fact, I am not sure if they protect any position players. Crim, Oriz and Acosta would most likely be the only position players they would even consider protecting, and I am not sure if they like any of those guys enough to roster them.

 

[Kelleyman]

Acosta could be safe but time to clean house in the underachieving MILB pitchers methinks

 

[saddles]

Acosta could be safe but time to clean house in the underachieving MILB pitchers methinks

The following pitchers have to be on the chopping block.They can't get rid of them all, but they should be able to cut 3 or 4 of them.

Anderson
Coleman
Festa
Garabito
Latz
White
Winn

Ornelas and Fabian might be considerations as well.

If Sborz is still injured, i wonder if they might consider non-tendering him.

 

[Kelleyman]

The following pitchers have to be on the chopping block.They can't get rid of them all, but they should be able to cut 3 or 4 of them.

Anderson
Coleman
Festa
Garabito
Latz
White
Winn

Ornelas and Fabian might be considerations as well.

If Sborz is still injured, i wonder if they might consider non-tendering him.

Coleman Garabito and one of White or Winn. Likely to go
Would not be surprised if Fabian is gone
The other pitchers are still on the edge depending on who we pick up IMO

 

[saddles]

The Rangers finally made the Luis Curvelo signing official.

The 40-man is at 37.

 

[saddles]

Coleman Garabito and one of White or Winn. Likely to go
Would not be surprised if Fabian is gone
The other pitchers are still on the edge depending on who we pick up IMO

A lot of those guys on that list I gave could be DFAed and then re-signed to minor league deals. In fact, they could probably DFA almost every one of them and pick up equivalent talent on minor league deals if they wanted to.

 

[saddles]

From Abby Jones:

The Diamondbacks are officially moving in a different direction with Jordan Montgomery and are willing to eat some of his $22.5M salary.

Will Monty make his way back to the Rangers?