Texas Rangers Avoid Arbitration With Adolis García, Sign Playoff Hero to Multi-Year Deal
The Texas Rangers and outfielder Adolis García have come to terms to a two-year deal, Dallas Morning News beat writer Evan Grant reported Thursday.
García and the Rangers were set to go to arbitration after failing to compromise on a 2024 salary back in January. García's camp was asking for $6.9 million, while the Rangers aimed to pay him $5 million.
Instead of facing off in a hearing, though, the two sides came to terms on a new contract that will lock in García's salary for both 2024 and 2025. According to The New York Post's Jon Heyman, García is guaranteed $14 million over the next two seasons, while incentives based on plate appearances and MVP votes bring the maximum value of the deal to $20.25 million.
García will once again be arbitration eligible in the 2026 offseason, and he is projected to hit free agency in 2027.
The soon-to-be 31-year-old outfielder played a key role in the Rangers' run to their first-ever World Series title in 2023. In 15 playoff games, García hit .323 with eight home runs, 22 RBI and an 1.108 OPS.
García hit .300 or better with an OPS of 1.000 or higher in each of Texas' final three series, winning ALCS MVP along the way.
The 2023 regular season was also García's best yet, considering he set career-highs with 39 home runs, 107 RBI, an .836 OPS and a 4.2 WAR. He made his second All-Star appearance in three years while also winning a Gold Glove and finishing 14th in AL MVP voting.
García was once discarded by the St. Louis Cardinals, and he had only taken 23 MLB at-bats before his 28th birthday in 2021. Since then, the Cuban-born slugger has racked up 97 home runs, 298 RBI, 50 stolen bases and an 11.6 WAR, all while batting .246 with a .777 OPS.
On top of his pop at the plate and high-level defense, García has been a constant in the Rangers' lineup over the last three seasons, missing an average of just 11 games a year.
An oblique strain knocked García out of the final two games of the 2023 World Series, but he is expected to be fully healthy again entering 2024.
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