Another Look at the Rangers' Payroll After Kluber Trade

It's been a while since we took a look at the Rangers' payroll, and after the Kluber trade, here's where Texas stands currently with their payroll.

We've been keeping tracking of the Rangers payroll pretty closely after some acquisitions are made. 

After trading for Corey Kluber, signing Jordan Lyles, re-signing Jeffrey Springs to a Major League contract, and finalizing their two-year deal with Joely Rodriguez, we have a good indication of where the Rangers currently are with their 2020 payroll. 

How much are the Rangers still willing to spend? That remains yet to be seen, but Texas is already above their 2019 payroll and it seems like they are willing to add more if the right players or deals came along.

Here's the current estimate of what the Rangers 40-man payroll looks like.

We're still waiting to get the exact breakdown of Joely Rodriguez's contract. The light-blue highlighted figures for Joey Gallo, Danny Santana, and Rafael Montero are their projected arbitration numbers.

The salaries listed for Ronald Guzman and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are their 2019 figures, so they are most likely getting a raise this winter. A few of the other league-minimum guys listed like Nick Solak, Brett Martin, and Willie Calhoun could likely sign a contract above the league minimum. 

Even without those small potential raises, the Rangers currently sit at $148 million, which is already $20 million more than their $128 million payroll in 2019. 

So, for anyone's pipe dream of the Rangers acquiring Nolan Arenado from Colorado, if the Rangers didn't part with anyone making significant money on their 40-man roster, the Rangers' payroll would automatically hover around $183 million, if Texas took on all of Arenado's remaining contract. 

To put this in perspective, the Rangers have never spent more than $163 million for their team in a season, and that was in 2017. That says one of two things: either the Rangers are willing to spend what they've never spent before or they're done making big moves.

The Rangers haven't publicly set a limit on what they will spend in 2020, but they are definitely not done making moves. They still need to address third base, and potentially catcher, first base, and center field. 

From the way things are going so far, it looks like the Rangers may exceed that $163 million ceiling and spend more than they ever have before. It makes sense, with the opening of Globe Life Field in 2020, it's a brand new revenue stream and perfect time to try to contend again. 

The addition of Corey Kluber makes the Rangers' rotation very dangerous on paper in 2020. The games still have to be played, but Jon Daniels has done as great a job as possible to upgrade the rotation and give the Rangers a chance to win every single game. 

We'll obviously keep track of where the Rangers go from here and how they address other areas of need. With Christmas arriving next week, we could either get a flurry of moves beforehand or it might be dead silent until after the holidays are over. 

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