Rangers Could Lose Another Significant Piece of World Series Title Team

The Texas Rangers gave one of its relievers a significant clause in his contract that could allow him to join another team.

Texas Rangers cap sits in dugout with sunglasses across the front. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers re-signed World Series hero Josh Sborz to a minor league deal in the offseason. Now, they could lose him.

According to Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required) Sborz has a clause in his contract that require Texas to make him available to all Major League teams starting on Wednesday.

That puts the Rangers at risk of losing the 32-year-old right-hander, who missed last season recovering from shoulder surgery but has been highly effective in the minor leagues so far this season. He’s quality depth for a bullpen that will eventually need another arm. Whether Sborz will be able to stick around to be that depth is now in question.

Josh Sborz’s History with Rangers

Texas Rangers relief pitcher Josh Sborz. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Per Grant, if a team wants to put Sborz on its 40-man roster, the Rangers will have the option to either do the same or let him walk. By placing Sborz on the 40-man roster, the Rangers would have to clear a spot for him.

Texas has a full 40-man spot but could transfer infielder Cody Freeman to the 60-day IL as he recovers from a lumbar stress reaction. He is currently on the 10-day IL, but players on the 60-day IL don’t count against the 40-man roster. Texas could make that move retroactively. But it would mean Freeman wouldn’t be eligible to return until late May.

Keeping Sborz might be worth the move. The Rangers brought him in as a non-roster invitee after non-tendering him last November and he had a sharp spring training. He’s built on that with Triple-A Round Rock, where he has a 1.13 ERA in seven games, with 10 strikeouts and four walks in eight innings. Batters are hitting just .143 against him.

Sborz will always be remembered as the reliever that recorded the final out for Texas in the 2023 World Series. The image of him slamming his glove to the ground in celebration will live on for generations of fans who had waited more than 50 years for a title.

Sborz joined the Rangers in 2021 as he was traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Jhan Zambrano after Sborz was designated for assignment. He made his debut with the Rangers later that year, as he went 4-3 with a 3.97 ERA in 63 games, with 69 strikeouts and 32 walks in 59 innings.

He followed that with 19 games in 2022 as he went 1-0 with a 6.45 ERA, as he struck out 32 and walked 11 in 22.1 innings. In 2023 he had a 6.45 ERA but went 6-7 in 44 games with 66 strikeouts and 17 walks in 52.1 innings. He had 14 holds and saved his best work for the postseason. In 10 games he had a 0.75 ERA with 13 strikeouts and four walks in 12 innings.

In 2024, his last season before the shoulder surgery, saw him go 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 17 games.