Texas Rangers Boss Describes How he Approaches Pursuing Free Agents

Maybe the Texas Rangers haven’t made the splashy moves of years past, but they’re certainly spending money this offseason.
The centerpiece was managing to re-sign starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi to a three-year, $75 million deal, keeping the 2023 World Series hero with the Rangers through 2027.
Texas nailed down a designated hitter by signing Joc Pederson to a two-year deal worth $37 million, though the second year has an option.
The Rangers also spent $13.5 million over two years on catcher Kyle Higashioka, as they move to a tandem at catcher with Jonah Heim.
Texas has made relatively inexpensive moves to bolster the bullpen, with the biggest deal given to Chris Martin, who will get $5.5 million on a one-year deal.
President of baseball operations Chris Young made an appearance on Foul Territory earlier this week and he talked about the Rangers’ approach to pursuing players. No matter how much they spend, they’re going to go for it.
“When we want a player, we’re very aggressive in trying to pursue that player and we try to put our best foot forward and make the best offer possible, and sometimes that’s good enough and sometimes it’s not,” Young said.
It was certainly good enough in the winter of 2022 when Young was the organization’s top decision-maker for the first time since the firing of Jon Daniels earlier that season.
His first major deal on his own was the five-year, $185 million deal given to pitcher Jacob deGrom. While he’s missed portions of the 2023 and 2024 seasons due to Tommy John surgery, he has three more seasons to show Young’ investment was worth it.
Negotiating is a dance to some extent, Young says, but the Rangers are not into playing games and try to take a straightforward approach to dealing with free agents.
“I think the key is just identifying the player the right player that we want,” Young said.
But it’s not all under his control.
“Sometimes there is a timing to the market that, you know, the player isn't ready or he's still receiving offers or maybe we're not ready,” he said. “Maybe we're still feeling out the market so there is a little give and take with it.”
Texas still has roughly a month before pitchers and catchers report to Surprise, Ariz. That gives Young and his staff time to make another move or two — if they’re in the mood to be aggressive.