Texas Rangers Offseason Spending Goals Make Improving Key Area Harder

The Texas Rangers are hoping to bounce back from a disappointing campaign in 2024.

It has been a relatively quiet offseason for the Rangers in terms of free agency. After winning the World Series in 2023, Texas was unable to replicate that success and finished under .500.

Injuries certainly played a big role in the struggles for the team, but not making the postseason after winning the World Series the year before was certainly disappointing.

However, there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about what 2025 will look like for the franchise.

The Rangers did spend money, but did so in a targeted way. They lured back starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi on a three-year, $75 million deal. They signed outfielder Joc Pederson to a two-year deal worth nearly $38 million with improving their slugging against right-handed pitching in mind.

With the American League West looking wide open, the Rangers should be right in the mix. However, if they are looking to contend, one more upgrade could be helpful.

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently wrote about what should be on the wish list for the Rangers before spring training. He highlighted their need for more help in the bullpen.

“As the Rangers have a needle to thread in staying under the luxury tax, we're probably not talking a big expense if anything does happen. With that said, they could perhaps take a flier on a comeback candidate like Lou Trivino or Kendall Graveman.”

The lineup for the Rangers should be one of the best in baseball. If Jacob deGrom can stay healthy, he heads a starting rotation with Eovaldi that has considerable depth, along with talented young arms like Kumar Rocker.

But, the bullpen has been pieced together this winter. Texas has completely re-made it, and on the cheap, with Chris Martin, Robert Garcia, Shawn Armstrong, Hoby Milner and Jacob Webb.

Texas saw their All-Star closer from last year sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Losing Kirby Yates is a significant blow to the bullpen considering he was one of the best relief pitchers in all of baseball last year.

The Rangers' spending is driven in part by ownership's desire to stay under the first luxury tax threshold this season, which is $241 million. It is, in part, why the Rangers were never close to getting Yates to return.

Last year's set-up man, David Robertson, is still a free agent, and odds are Texas won't re-sign him, either. While the 2024 season might have been a disappointment, the Rangers did have talent to close out games.

Recently, president of baseball operations Chris Young said the teams was basically set in the bullpen going into spring training.

Good relief pitching is not inexpensive to pursue and it doesn’t appear like Texas is going to be looking to spend much more. With a bullpen that features plenty of question marks, winning in 2025 is going to be a challenge. Hopefully, some pitchers can step up into larger roles, but the unit is going to be something worth monitoring this year.