The Texas Rangers made major moves last week. They fired manager Chris Woodward and elevated third-base coach Tony Beasley to interim manager. Then, the Rangers fired team president Jon Daniels and put general manager Chris Young in charge of all baseball operations.
The organization is starting over. But that doesn’t mean the team’s overall needs for the offseason have changed. In fact, the team’s principal owner, Ray Davis, made it clear what the baseball people are focused on going into the offseason.
“If I were a baseball expert, I could answer that question better,” Davis said. “That's why I'll rely on CY and the baseball department. We obviously know what our needs are going into ’23. You know, we needed a couple of front-end starters and we need a middle of the lineup bat. I don't plan on spending as much money as we did last season, but we plan on spending some money.”
The Rangers spent a half-billion dollars on two players last offseason — second baseman Marcus Semien and shortstop Corey Seager. They’re in the first year of contracts that last seven and 10 years, respectively. The Rangers also spent $56 million on a four-year deal for pitcher Jon Gray, who had a sharp stint after a mid-May injury until he was hurt in August. He’ll be out until September.
Otherwise, the Rangers’ big pitching acquisition was Martín Pérez, who signed a one-year, $4 million deal and is having the best season of his career. He’ll be a free agent in 2023, and the Rangers could spend some of that potential money on him.
The pitching question comes down to how much faith the Rangers have that their young pitching could be ready to assume a bigger role next season. Cole Ragans just made the jump from Triple-A earlier this month. The Rangers have several other young pitchers in the farm system, but the closest to being ready is Cole Winn, who is also at Triple-A.
Others, like first-round picks of the past two drafts, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, are probably another season away.
But the upside is the Rangers know what they need. The question is whether they’ll be able to get it.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
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