Rangers Have One Glaring Roster Hole to Fix in 2025 Offseason

If the Texas Rangers are going to return to playoff form next year, Chris Young has to address this issue.

Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers have been active in the early stages of the offseason.

Skip Schumaker was announced as the new manager of the Rangers, while catching coach Bobby Wilson announced his departure in an Instagram post. Texas is expected to decrease their payroll for next year and they have several pitchers who are set to hit free agency.

That puts a ton of pressure on president of baseball operations Chris Young when it comes to deciding who to retain as this franchise tries to get back into the playoffs for the first time since they won the World Series in 2023.

Rangers Must Revamp the Bullpen

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

In a recent article by Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report, he outlined each MLB team's biggest roster hole to fix. For the Rangers, he said relief pitching was their most glaring issue, stating, "The Rangers need to fill a hole in right field and replace multiple arms in the starting rotation, but the most glaring need heading into the offseason is rebuilding the bullpen top to bottom."

Texas had a solid bullpen in 2025, led by guys like Shawn Armstrong, Hoby Milner, Chris Martin and Phil Maton. Unfortunately, they are all free agents this offseason and it will be difficult to bring back everyone.

While the Rangers had solid middle relief and set up arms, they were lacking a legitimate closer. Armstrong tied with Robert Garcia for the most saves on the team with just nine. They finished fourth in blown saves with 28.

Could Rangers Texas Acquire Robert Suarez?

Matt Marton-Imagn Images

In the article, Reuter lists San Diego Padres closer Robert Suarez as a logical target for Texas. The veteran reliever was brilliant for the Padres, boasting a 2.97 ERA with 40 saves. That was good for second in baseball. He also struck out 75 hitters in 69.2 innings.

The Rangers have historically been unable to land dominant relievers in free agency. Young typically addresses bullpen help at the trade deadline. However, he may have to rethink his strategy in order to make Texas competitive next season.

Suarez signed a five-year, $46 million contract with San Diego in 2022. However, he does have a player opt-out this winter, and it's likely he will test the open market after his incredible 2025 campaign to cash in on a more lucrative deal.

It may be tough to for the Rangers to cough up enough money to compete with other potential suitors for Suarez considering they want to reduce payroll. But someone of his capability could single-handedly put Texas back into playoff contention in 2026 by shoring up their bullpen.