Texas Rangers Made Significant Offseason Upgrade With Major Free Agent Signing

The Texas Rangers had a rough go of it in 2024 while trying to defend their first World Series title in franchise history.

Dealing with injuries throughout the year on both the offensive side of the ball and in the pitching staff, the Rangers followed up their triumph with a 78-win season and missing the playoffs. With a renewed sense of urgency this winter to improve the roster and get back to contention, there were numerous critical moves.

The rebuilding of the bullpen may prove to have the biggest impact in 2025, but in terms of one singular player, there may have been no bigger signing for Texas than their new designated hitter in Joc Pederson from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In an article comparing the 2024 WAR for a positional group to the FanGraphs projection in 2025, Brian Murphy of MLB.com pointed out the jump from No. 29 in baseball into the top-five projected rank at No. 5.

"The Rangers have received below-league-average production from the DH spot for five straight seasons, but last year's minus-2.7 WAR was a new low," Murphy wrote. "Only the Reds were worse in that statistic, and Texas' 15 home runs by a designated hitter tied for the second-fewest in MLB, ahead of only the Angels' 11."

Pederson posted the second-highest WAR of his career in 2024 with 23 home runs and an impressive slash line of .275/.393/.515 for an OPS of .908, the best mark of his 11-year Major League run.

Texas ranked dead last in the league in OPS as a team and Pederson's elite mark will have a chance to rebuild the Rangers' lineup.

Working exclusively as a designated hitter and expected to do the same for Texas barring some major injuries which he has to shift around for, Pederson gets the chance once again to focus on doing what he does best: mashing baseballs.

After a couple of lean seasons towards the end of his tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers as well as the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves, Pederson would bounce back over two solid seasons with the San Francisco Giants before winding up with the Diamondbacks last season.

Now getting the chance to play in the American League for the first time in his career, Pederson joins a lineup where he is a perfect fit and has the chance to be the exact piece Texas needs in order to get back to contending for another World Series.

Even in a worst case scenario, Pederson figures to still be a major upgrade for the Rangers at designated hitter and could wind up being the most significant move the team made this offseason.

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