Texas Rangers Named Ideal Landing Spot for Washington Nationals All-Star

The Texas Rangers have gotten off to a great start this season, in hopes of bouncing back from a disappointing campaign in 2024.

Coming into the year, expectations were a bit low for the Rangers. After winning the World Series in 2023, the franchise took a step back in the last campaign. However, there was reason to believe that there would be some improvement for the team with some key players getting healthy.

In the starting rotation, the team features a mix of potentially high-end talent to go along with some promising young arms.

For the lineup, this unit has the potential to be one of the best in all of baseball. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of slow starts up and down the order which has held them back a touch.

Furthermore, the main area of concern coming into the season was the bullpen. This was a team that saw a lot of turnover for the unit in the winter, especially with the loss of their All-Star closer, Kirby Yates.

Despite the unit having a lot of new faces, they have performed well. However, as the team seeks being a contender, making a move or two to solidify things makes sense.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the Rangers being an ideal landing spot for All-Star closer Kyle Finnegan from the Washington Nationals.

“There's little question, however, that the Rangers are most likely to be that aforementioned desperate contender a few months from now, as Jackson hadn't saved a game since 2019 and surely has a short leash in what promises to be a tight AL West race," he wrote.

Even though the Nationals are trying to show improvement this season, they will more than likely be sellers at some point this year once again.

Last campaign, it was a bit surprising that Finnegan wasn’t a player that the Nationals looked to move. He was an All-Star in the first half of the year, and likely would have resulted in quite a haul with him being under team control at the time through the 2026 season.

However, the poor second half of the year resulted in a strange offseason in which he hit free agency and ended up coming back to Washington on a cheaper deal.

So far, he is pitching very well this campaign, and could be a great option for the Rangers in their bullpen.

While Jackson has pitched well in the closer role, adding a closer the caliber of Finnegan would be smart for the stretch run.

Texas has a really strong roster and an ability to contend this season, but the bullpen is still a concern with inexperience in the back-end. Adding a player like Finnegan, who has been a saves machine, makes a lot of sense.