Inside The Rangers

Texas Rangers Cut Staggering Amount in Payroll Compared to Last Season

The Texas Rangers are in a much better spot with the tax payroll when compared to last season.
Dylan Sanders|
Oct 24, 2022; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young speaks during a news conference introducing Bruce Bochy as team manager at Globe Life Field.
Oct 24, 2022; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young speaks during a news conference introducing Bruce Bochy as team manager at Globe Life Field. | Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images

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Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers have re-tooled their bullpen and made a few smaller moves, but will still be on the hook for a lot less money than last year.

MLB data account BrooksGate released an updated look at each team's current tax payroll and how that compares to the season prior.

Per the chart, the Rangers now have a little over $221 million the books for next year. That is a drop of over $46 million from 2024. It's is the eighth largest decrease in MLB.

These numbers are looking at the overall tax number, so the Max Scherzer contract coming off the books make a huge dent.

Scherzer was acquired at the 2023 deadline and it is hard to imagine Texas being happy with the returns they saw fom him.

He played in just 17 games over a season-and-a-half. When he was healthy, he was just playing at about an average level.

The 39-year-old had a 3.95 ERA over just nine starts in this latest campaign.

Acquiring veteran aces just to have them struggle has been a recurring issue for the Rangers with both Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

The highest-paid player on the payroll right now is deGrom. Texas signed him to a five-year, $185 million contract that extends through the 2027 season. He is on the books for $40 million in 2024.

When healthy, he has been lights out, the problem is that he has barely seen the field during this time.

Over two years, he has a 2.41 ERA across just 41 innings pitched. He is still a buzzsaw on the mound and will hopefully be able to pick things up where he left off and finally put together a full campaign.

The biggest contract that was added this offseason was to Nathan Eovaldi, who they brought back on a three-year, $75 million deal that is going to count for $22 million for this upcoming campaign.

Eovaldi first signed with the Rangers back in December of 2022. His two seasons with the team have gone well. He's consistently been an above-average starter.

The soon-to-be 35-year-old has a 3.72 ERA over those two campaigns along with making an All-Star team.

He has been forced into the ace role with the constant injuries to Scherzer and deGrom, but has handled it well.

With deGrom back, they should make an excellent one-two punch.

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Dylan Sanders
DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders

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