Texas Rangers Favored to Sign Shohei Ohtani in Free Agency After World Series Title
Now that the Texas Rangers have won their first World Series title, they are an even more attractive destination for free agents.
This is a franchise that, in the past two offseasons, has been able to sign Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jon Gray, Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, in spite of six straight losing seasons leading up to their World Series run.
Now, the Rangers can court any free agent they want. And, with that, the New York Post believes the Rangers are now the co-favorite to land Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani.
Free agent Shohei Ohtani will be limited to just hitting in 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Abbie Parr-USA TODAY Sports
The Post put down 6-1 odds of the Rangers landing Ohtani, sharing the top spot with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.
The Post’s logic?
They got a taste of winning, are unafraid to spend, and made their first cut six years ago. Word is they were ready to go for Ohtani at midseason.
Ohtani is the likely American League MVP, even after suffering a torn UCL in his right arm in the season’s final month. He went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA as a pitcher and batted .304 with 44 home runs and 95 RBI as a designated hitter.
Ohtani had surgery on his torn UCL on Sept. 19 and has indicated that he intends to be a designated hitter in 2024, with an intention to pitch in 2025.
Along with his two UCL surgeries — he had a procedure in 2018 — he has had previous UCL strains that have been treated with platelet-rich plasma and stem-cell injections.
Still, Ohtani will enter his age 30 season in 2024 and even if he is unable to pitch, he could provide consistent production as a designated hitter.
The Rangers have a projected payroll of $210 million in 2024, per Spotrac.com. That includes current contracts, arbitration projections and pre-arbitration salaries. That would put them close to the first tax threshold of $237 million before an Ohtani deal.
But for a player of Ohtani’s ilk, that might be worth exceeding the luxury tax threshold, especially with the Rangers in position to defend a championship for the first time in franchise history.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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