The Texas Rangers’ reign as World Champions, 52 years in the making, if you count only their time in Texas, lasted 364 days. All hail the Dodgers, who made quick work of the New York Yankees to win their second World Series in the last four years.
Now comes the offseason and with it comes a lot to do for the Rangers if they intend to dispel the notion that they were simply a one-year wonder. There are holes in the starting rotation. Holes in the bullpen. And an underperforming offense to solve. The offseason officially kicks off with GM meetings, which begin Tuesday in San Antonio. The winter meetings come to Dallas next month.
Will the Rangers be active? Or will they simply be bystanders for most of the offseason? We took our best shot at five creative moves they could make this winter (with our odds each actually happens) that could significantly improve their chances of getting back to the World Series in 2025:
Sign Roki Sasaki
There would be no bigger win this offseason than to sign the 23-year-old Sasaki, if Chiba Lotte of Nippon Professional Baseball posts him. He’s a front-of-the-rotation starter. And perhaps more importantly for the Rangers this season, he’d be a financial steal. He’s not yet 25, so if he’s posted and signs after Jan. 15, 2025, a team would have to pay no more than its international bonus pool pot. The Rangers will have $6.26 million to spend on international free agents next year.
The qualifiers: It’s not guaranteed he will be posted this winter. And if he is, the reigning World Series champion Dodgers, with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto already in their rotation, would be the heavy favorites. The Rangers would be betting that Sasaki, like Fleetwood Mac, wants to go his own way and blaze his own trail out of the shadow of others. The Rangers have invested time, energy and scouting resources in Japan for decades. They are not to be overlooked. Landing him would be a potentially franchise-altering deal, but it’s still a long shot.
Chance it happens: 12%
Trade Marcus Semien
Semien’s relatively poor 2024 offensive performance and advancing age (he’s 34) have already had repercussions. The Rangers have publicly discussed moving him out of the leadoff spot and asking him to take some more days off.
But should the club try to go further? When Semien signed his seven-year, $175 million deal ahead of 2022, there was some sentiment that the Rangers were paying a premium for his prime years and might look to eventually move him as he aged. Well, they could really use some financial flexibility and seem to have a viable, inexpensive second base option in Josh Smith (and potentially Ezequiel Duran). From a purely financial standpoint, now would seem as good a time as any to look into that. They’d probably have to eat a bunch of salary over the next four years to make it work, so the savings might be relatively minimal. And Semien has, on more than one occasion, bounced back from a subpar year to finish on the MVP medal stand.
It might be more risky than the potential financial flexibility. But when you are in a payroll crunch, you’ve got to consider some potentially unpleasant possibilities. The more realistic approach might be trying to move some combination of salaries among arbitration-eligible players like Nathaniel Lowe, Leody Taveras or Adolis García. Moving Semien, a pillar of the culture, could cause significant reverberations in the club’s makeup. It would be a pretty drastic move.
Chance it happens: 8%
Trade for Jordan Montgomery
No offseason free agent signing ahead of 2024 may have been a bigger flop than Montgomery, who sat out all winter and spring waiting for a long-term deal that never materialized before landing with Arizona on a one-year deal with a vesting option. With no spring to speak of, Montgomery compiled a 6.23 ERA in 21 starts with the Diamondbacks, but did make enough starts to unlock the vesting option worth $22.5 million. He’s got until five days after the completion of the World Series to either exercise the option or head back to the market.
Given the performance, exercising the option and using the year as a make-good season is probably his best bet. It might not be the Diamondbacks’ desire, however. Perhaps the teams huddle about a potential trade that gets Montgomery out of Arizona and saves the D-backs some money. Maybe even a contract-for-contract deal. Jon Gray, who has $13 million remaining with the Rangers for 2025, might make some sense, though it doesn’t net the Rangers an extra body for the rotation. But it would seem Montgomery, with a full winter and spring training worth of prep, might be a great candidate for a bounce-back season.
Chance it happens: 25%
Re-sign Nathan Eovaldi
The Rangers would love to have Eovaldi back. He’d be happy to return. But there are going to be no discounts. Eovaldi made $18 million in 2024 and will likely get multi-year offers with an average of more than $20 million per season. With multiple needs and a payroll that is likely to be less than 2024, the team has to find a way to max out the little bit of love they have to spread around. To simply sign Eovaldi to a face-value contract would likely eat up the great majority of their available dollars and would leave them with significant holes unaddressed.
It would likely take creative thinking and financing on the Rangers’ part (think: deferred money). Rangers ownership has not been a fan of the concept in the past. While re-signing Eovaldi is considered the club’s top priority this winter, the obstacles still take the chances below 50%.
Chance it happens: 40%
Hire a GM
Chris Young is the man in charge, but his promotion to President of Baseball Operations was an acknowledgement that this is a two-person operation at the top. The GM here won’t be No. 1 or No. 2, but more like 1A, working in teamwork with Young and it would create the opportunity for more upward mobility in the front office and the ability to add talent from elsewhere to help backfill positions. The Rangers may not be willing to spend tons on free agents over tax concerns, but there is no tax on infrastructure hires. The most likely GM candidate is internal: Assistant GM Ross Fenstermaker, who has been a front office employee since 2010.
Chance it happens: 95%
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