Texas Rangers Among MLB Teams Targeting Veteran Free-Agent Starter

The Texas Rangers appear to be in the market for one of the best remaining left-handed starting pitchers on the market.

Oct 9, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Mets pitcher Jose Quintana (62) throws a pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies in the first inning in game four of the NLDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Citi Field. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers have eight candidates for their five-man starting rotation, but there one thing the candidates are lacking — a veteran left-hander.

In fact, Texas has just one left-handed among its eight starting candidates and that’s Cody Bradford, who missed a good portion of last season with an injury. Being a left-hander gives him a bit of an edge to secure one of the spots in the back end of the rotation.

The Rangers may be looking to bring in more competition, as Francys Romero reported that they are one of three teams that are expressing interest in veteran left-hander Jose Quintana.

Romero also reported that the New York Mets — who employed Quintana for the last two seasons — and the San Diego Padres are targeting the 36-year-old and that interest could pick up fast.

Quintana has picked in the Majors for more than a dozen years and is coming off a 10-10 season with a 3.75 ERA last season with the Mets. He struck out 135 and walked 63 in 170.1 innings and 31 starts.

The year before he only made 13 starts due to injuries and went 3-6 with a 3.57 ERA. He struck out 60 and walked 24 in 75.2 innings.

The veteran broke into the Majors in 2012 with the Chicago White Sox and has played for seven different Major League teams. He made his only All-Star Game appearance in 2016. That season he also finished in the Top 10 in American League Cy Young voting after he went 13-12 with a 3.20 ERA with 181 strikeouts and 50 walks in 208 innings.

For his career he is 102-103 with a 3.74 ERA in 359 games (333 starts) with 1,727 strikeouts and 591 walks in 1,962.2 innings pitched.

Texas figures to have Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi at the top of the rotation. deGrom has only started nine games in his first two years in Texas thanks to an elbow injury and Tommy John surgery. Eovaldi has been one of the Rangers’ top starters each of the last two seasons and signed a three-year, $75 million deal in the offseason.

After that, the Rangers have Bradford and four other right-handers to choose from — Tyler Mahle, Jon Gray, Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter.

Mahle, like deGrom, is coming off Tommy John rehab. Gray is in the final year of his contract while Rocker is one of the organization’s top prospects who made his MLB debut last season. Same goes for Leiter, who pitched in a smattering of games in 2024.