Texas Rangers 2025-2026 Offseason Thread

[saddles]

Here are some things Jsmdy Newberg has been saying about Jordan Tiegs over the last couple if weeks:

But this year, Tiegs must also get his due credit, along with assistant pitching coach Dave Bush. So, too, must the veteran starters — Eovaldi, deGrom, plus Tyler Mahle, Patrick Corbin, and Merrill Kelly in stretches — who were pitching at career peak levels. And Leiter, whose unconventional development plan on the farm (engineered in part by Tiegs, who was the club’s minor league pitching coordinator in all three of Leiter’s minor league seasons) built the foundation for a rookie year in 2025 that lapped expectations and might have been the biggest success of this team’s season in the broadest of pictures.

I can’t imagine, all things considered, that the Rangers would stand still and let Tiegs in particular go elsewhere (though, to be fair, I would concede that the only people who might be bigger fans of his than I am either work for the team or are family). Aside from his work here — including helping to get standout performanes this year from a number of veteran bounce-around relievers (before some were cooked) and helping relievers like Jacob Latz and Cole Winn establish completely new outlooks for themselves — for as much as the front office and Schumaker himself talk about the critical nature of continuity in both how Rangers minor leaguers are trained and developed and how the messaging in those respects is delivered, the long-standing relationship and lines of communication and commonality of approach that Tiegs has with many of the organization’s key pitching instructors on the farm has to be a huge plus.


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I am virtually certain the Rangers would never let Jordan Tiegs pursue anything elsewhere but a pitching coach opportunity, though I suppose if he were on a one-year deal in 2025 as bullpen coach, then for the last nine days it’s possible he’s been a free agent.

Even if so, I am confident the organization loves the guy at a level that he was always going to be a consideration here for the pitching coach role, at least eventually, which — and this is completely speculative — might help explain why the Rangers didn’t money-whip Maddux to stay on.

 

[saddles]

From Shawn McFarland:

Jacob deGrom finished eighth for AL Cy Young. He received two fifth-place votes in what was his highest finish since the 2020 season (when he placed third in the NL Cy Young race).

 

[saddles]

That 8th place finish for the CY award keeps deGrom out of the bonus.

 

[saddles]

I loved hearing Skip talk about getting Evan "just to be okay against lefties" this coming season. That means he will be allowed to get a good bit of experience.

 

[Kelleyman]

I loved hearing Skip talk about getting Evan "just to be okay against lefties" this coming season. That means he will be allowed to get a good bit of experience.

He is an Evan Carter fan. I saw most of it live.

 

[saddles]

From Francys Romero:

Hearing from the GM Meetings that the reliever market could start moving in the next few hours, with big names such as Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams, Robert Suárez, Raisel Iglesias and Ryan Helsley.

It was already a trend at the last trade deadline.

 

[saddles]

From Shawn McFarland:

We just met with Skip Schumaker + Travis Jankowski to discuss the new-look staff. Takeaways:

• They’re thrilled to retain Jordan Tiegs as pitching coach.

• Jankowski will be a really important voice for Carter, Langford, etc.

• A third hitting coach will be hired.

 

[Kelleyman]

From Shawn McFarland:

We just met with Skip Schumaker + Travis Jankowski to discuss the new-look staff. Takeaways:

• They’re thrilled to retain Jordan Tiegs as pitching coach.

• Jankowski will be a really important voice for Carter, Langford, etc.

• A third hitting coach will be hired.

The word is there were teams inquiring about Tiegs. So you have to promote to retain

 

[saddles]

The word is there were teams inquiring about Tiegs. So you have to promote to retain

That seems to be how Newberg saw it.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I know he hit 55 HRs in over 700 ABs but I have a hard time with drooling all over a guy hitting 282 and for the most part being a DH.

 

[saddles]

From Shawn McFarland:

Schumaker considers newly minted pitching coach Jordan Tiegs “an enormous hire” for the organization and was told that “we have to keep this guy” when he conferred with the team’s core players before he rebuilt the staff.

Tiegs, 38, ran the team’s bullpen last season in his first on-field role with the big league club, helped stabilize a group that was largely pieced together the previous winter and drew positive reviews from veteran relievers and organizational higher-ups. He previously served as the system’s minor league pitching coordinator for three seasons and was instrumental in right-hander Jack Leiter’s development.

“This guy is really, really good,” Schumaker said. “I know a lot of people don’t know who he is. The industry — the baseball industry, as far as the coaches and front offices — absolutely know who this guy is. Our players were really impacted in a positive way through Jordan and I thought Mike, honestly, was really good for Jordan."

 

[saddles]

I know he hit 55 HRs in over 700 ABs but I have a hard time with drooling all over a guy hitting 282 and for the most part being a DH.

Who is that?

 

[saddles]

Who is that?

Oh, I figured it out.

 

[fanman8825]

Would you trade Corniell and Davalillo for one of them?

No I am really in the corner of these 2 prospects

 

[fanman8825]

No I am really in the corner of these 2 prospects

I am still upset Bratt got dealt

 

[saddles]

We are going to hear and read about a lot of trade rumors involving the Rangers between now and the end of the year. The only problem with going the trade route to improve the team is that we have very few really good prospects. If we make a big trade we may be left with hardly any really good prospects.

The latest MLB Top Rangers Prospects list has these as our top 10 prospects:

Sebastian Walcott
Gavin Fien
Jose Corniell
Winston Santos
A J Russell
Alejandro Rosario
David Davalillo
Caden Scarborough
Josh Owens
Elorky Rodriguez

Some of those 10 either do not have the trade value they once had or they don't have the trade value they will probably have.

Fien, Owens, and Russell have not had the opportunity to show much at all, to this point. That will probably change in the next 9 to 10 months, but for now their trade value is probably limited, at least compared to what it will most likely be a year from now.

Elorky Rodriguez being listed as our 10th best prospect shows just how bad our system is. He had a great year in the Dominican Summer League, but he has still not played stateside. A lot of prospects do well in the DSL and then never do much once they move up the ladder. While he has shown promise, it is very premature to consider him as having much trade value. He might be the piece to finish off a deal, but he would never be the headliner of a deal any time soon.

Alejandro Rosario has lost all appeal as a prospect by missing so much time. It is still not clear if he has had TJ surgery yet. Jared Sandler says he thinks he has, but I have not heard anything from anyone else. He used to be one of our best prospects, maybe even top 2 or 3. That is certainly not the case any longer. I am not sure why MLB Pipeline still has him in our top 10.

I do believe Scarborough has shown enough to have good trade value. I could see him being used as a third piece in a trade for a good player. A year from now he might be the centerpiece of such a trade.

Winston Santos has some trade value, but I wonder just how much. I have never considered Santos quite as good as others do. If the Rangers could find another team who does value Santos, I would be okay with trading him, simply because I think he is slightly overrated.

Corniell and Davalillo are two pitchers that I hope the Rangers can keep. The Rangers need to do a better job at developing their own rotation if they are going to have to work with a strict budget. These two pitchers should have a lot of trade value. Can the Rangers afford to trade off either of their two best pitching prospects though? I do not think they can.

Of course, Sebastian Walcott would certainly be coveted as a centerpiece in any trade we might be able to work out. It would be a shame to lose him since he is our top prospect. It would take a very special player coming back for me to be okay with trading him. For instance, if the Rangers had a chance at trading for catcher, Dalton Rushing, I can see Walcott having to be included in such a trade.

I just can't see the Rangers being able to afford to trade from our top prospects unless it is to get a young, controllable player back in return. A guy like Rushing would be the kind of exception I could agree to.

The only way I would trade Corniell or Davalillo is if they are part of a package that brings back a better pitching prospect. A couple of weeks ago, Evan Grant suggested the Rangers could trade deGrom to Atlanta for Spencer Strider. I thought that was a terrible idea. I replied, "Evan, you want deGrom on the Braves. We need Dylan Lee, Cam Caminiti and JR Ritchie in return. We will pay $15 million each of the next 2 years and throw in Davalillo." I would trade Davalillo in a deal like that, but that particular trade will not happen.

We need to hang on to both Corniell and Davalillo unless a very special trade comes along. Scarborough is very close to being in that same category.

We could make trades and deal guys like Corniell, Walcott, Davalillo and Scarborough for temporary fixes to the current team, but I don't think it would be wise. We are a long way from being contenders so why trade away good prospects from an already very weak system. Unless we made several trades we would not improve enough to be a legitimate contender. That would make our system almost completely barren and bring us several years of below. 500 teams in the near future. I think we need to keep our top prospects unless a very special opportunity comes along.

 

[Kelleyman]

We are going to hear and read about a lot of trade rumors involving the Rangers between now and the end of the year. The only problem with going the trade route to improve the team is that we have very few really good prospects. If we make a big trade we may be left with hardly any really good prospects.

The latest MLB Top Rangers Prospects list has these as our top 10 prospects:

Sebastian Walcott
Gavin Fien
Jose Corniell
Winston Santos
A J Russell
Alejandro Rosario
David Davalillo
Caden Scarborough
Josh Owens
Elorky Rodriguez

Some of those 10 either do not have the trade value they once had or they don't have the trade value they will probably have.

Fien, Owens, and Russell have not had the opportunity to show much at all, to this point. That will probably change in the next 9 to 10 months, but for now their trade value is probably limited, at least compared to what it will most likely be a year from now.

Elorky Rodriguez being listed as our 10th best prospect shows just how bad our system is. He had a great year in the Dominican Summer League, but he has still not played stateside. A lot of prospects do well in the DSL and then never do much once they move up the ladder. While he has shown promise, it is very premature to consider him as having much trade value. He might be the piece to finish off a deal, but he would never be the headliner of a deal any time soon.

Alejandro Rosario has lost all appeal as a prospect by missing so much time. It is still not clear if he has had TJ surgery yet. Jared Sandler says he thinks he has, but I have not heard anything from anyone else. He used to be one of our best prospects, maybe even top 2 or 3. That is certainly not the case any longer. I am not sure why MLB Pipeline still has him in our top 10.

I do believe Scarborough has shown enough to have good trade value. I could see him being used as a third piece in a trade for a good player. A year from now he might be the centerpiece of such a trade.

Winston Santos has some trade value, but I wonder just how much. I have never considered Santos quite as good as others do. If the Rangers could find another team who does value Santos, I would be okay with trading him, simply because I think he is slightly overrated.

Corniell and Davalillo are two pitchers that I hope the Rangers can keep. The Rangers need to do a better job at developing their own rotation if they are going to have to work with a strict budget. These two pitchers should have a lot of trade value. Can the Rangers afford to trade off either of their two best pitching prospects though? I do not think they can.

Of course, Sebastian Walcott would certainly be coveted as a centerpiece in any trade we might be able to work out. It would be a shame to lose him since he is our top prospect. It would take a very special player coming back for me to be okay with trading him. For instance, if the Rangers had a chance at trading for catcher, Dalton Rushing, I can see Walcott having to be included in such a trade.

I just can't see the Rangers being able to afford to trade from our top prospects unless it is to get a young, controllable player back in return. A guy like Rushing would be the kind of exception I could agree to.

The only way I would trade Corniell or Davalillo is if they are part of a package that brings back a better pitching prospect. A couple of weeks ago, Evan Grant suggested the Rangers could trade deGrom to Atlanta for Spencer Strider. I thought that was a terrible idea. I replied, "Evan, you want deGrom on the Braves. We need Dylan Lee, Cam Caminiti and JR Ritchie in return. We will pay $15 million each of the next 2 years and throw in Davalillo." I would trade Davalillo in a deal like that, but that particular trade will not happen.

We need to hang on to both Corniell and Davalillo unless a very special trade comes along. Scarborough is very close to being in that same category.

We could make trades and deal guys like Corniell, Walcott, Davalillo and Scarborough for temporary fixes to the current team, but I don't think it would be wise. We are a long way from being contenders so why trade away good prospects from an already very weak system. Unless we made several trades we would not improve enough to be a legitimate contender. That would make our system almost completely barren and bring us several years of below. 500 teams in the near future. I think we need to keep our top prospects unless a very special opportunity comes along.

Actually thr Rangers are much improved in developing SPs. We really need some pen guys to work out
Would be nice if Caden Church and Teodo are successful this year.
Very interested in how AJ R does this year

 

[saddles]

Actually thr Rangers are much improved in developing SPs.

Let's see how they handle Bradford after he comes back and how Rocker looks. Part of that development includes knowing what you have and giving those guys a chance. It took a whole bunch of injuries for Bradford to get a shot. If they put him back into the rotation it will help their reputation. If Rocker comes through it will really help that. They need to finish off with guys like Corniell and Davadillo.

 

[saddles]

MLB Pipeline predicts the Rangers will protect 4 guys from the Rule 5 draft.

David Davalillo
Leandro Lopez
Cam Cauley
Abimelec Ortiz

I agree with Jeff Wilson that the Rangers may not protect Ortiz. I am not sure they protect Cauley, but they most likely will. I think they could protect Lopez, but I am not sure about him either.

 

[scotsman#1948]

what i'm finding strange is we're 2 weeks into Free Agency and there hasn't been a single signing. may be wrong but i can't remember a single offseason where we have gone this far without at least 1