Texas Rangers Named Potential Candidate To Reunite With World Series Champion

Will the Texas Rangers reunite with a relief pitcher from their World Series team?

Aug 6, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Will Smith (31) pitches during the ninth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are off to an excellent start in 2025 despite some early injuries to their starting rotation once again. 

Coming into the year, the Rangers were hoping to stay healthy and bounce back after a challenging campaign in 2024. 

Injuries derailed the team last year, finishing under .500 despite being the reigning World Series Champions. 

With a starting rotation in 2024 that was battered by injuries, Texas was hoping that the same thing wouldn’t happen in 2025. However, the team has had to deal with multiple starters missing time, but have survived so far. 

While the rotation fortunately has more depth and talent than last year, the bullpen was an area of concern for the team coming into the year. 

After losing key pieces like David Robertson and Kirby Yates, there was a lot of turnover and concern about what the unit would look like. 

So far, the results have been good. However, that might not stop the Rangers from looking to add some more quality depth. 

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently spoke about some potential candidates to sign free agents still available. For the Rangers, they were linked to veteran southpaw Will Smith. 

“Despite his struggles last season, it's surprising Smith hasn't been able to find work after he saved 22 games with a 3.36 FIP for the Rangers in 2023.”

A reunion with Smith would be very interesting considering the success that he had with the team in 2023. 

The southpaw saved 22 games for Texas in 2023 and was part of their World Series win. 

However, after joining the Kansas City Royals in 2024, the southpaw struggled. Last year, he totaled a 6.53 ERA and just one save. 

Even though it was a down year, and he’s still available on the free agent market, Smith could be a solid option for a reunion with the Rangers. 

Currently, the bullpen is strong for Texas in 2025. However, this was a unit that had a lot of question marks coming into the year, so providing some more proven depth could be useful. 

At 35 years old, there should still be plenty left in the tank for Smith, but he will have to prove that 2024 was a fluke. 

Currently, Texas does have the luxury of having a strong left-handed pitcher in Robert Perez, who they acquired in a trade from the Washington Nationals. 

However, the Rangers know from their recent World Series run, that relief pitching in the postseason is important. Even though the bullpen has done well early on, there is no such thing as having too much talent.