The Biggest Mistake Rangers Made This Past Offseason is Now Clear

The Texas Rangers didn’t make many moves in free agency last offseason, but this one clearly didn’t work as hoped.

Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers made it clear last season that they weren’t going to be big shoppers in free agency — and they weren’t.

In fact, Texas’s biggest moves were via trade. The Rangers moved second baseman Marcus Semien to the New York Mets for Brandon Nimmo. Texas also moved five Top 30 prospects to the Washington Nationals to acquire starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore.

The moves in free agency were far less flashy. Many of them have worked. One hasn’t, and it stands out as the biggest mistake the Rangers made last offseason.

Rangers’ Biggest Free Agency Mistake

Texas Rangers pitcher Chris Martin. | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

On Monday, the Rangers put that player on the injured list for the second time this season. Reliever Chris Martin went back on the 15-day IL with the same right shoulder impingement that put him on the IL in April. It might be easy to blame Martin’s injury for his performance. But he started the season healthy, underperformed and then did the same when he returned.

Before his first stint on the injured list, he went 1-1 with a 7.11 ERA in 6.1 innings. But he gave up volume on the mound — 11 hits and six runs. Batters hit .393 against him. He blew a save and lost another tie game. After one of those games, he admitted to reporters that he was struggling with location.

If the IL stint — which lasted a month — was supposed to fix him, well, it didn’t. In those four games he had a 9.00 ERA. He gave up seven hits, four earned runs, walked two and struck out none. The Rangers were 1-3 in games he pitched.

It’s not clear how long he’ll need to come back this time. But, given the number of options the Rangers have in the minor leagues, Texas might be better off letting Martin go and giving those other options a chance.

Martin had a repeated injury issue last year with Texas. He injured his calf after a great start to the season and returned, only to re-injure it and miss more time. The re-injury of the right shoulder appears to be a pattern.

Texas signed Martin to a one-year deal worth $4 million. Half of that was a signing bonus and the other half is his contract. There is also some deferred money involved. The Rangers are on the hook for all of it. At least it’s not unmanageable.

What is unmanageable for the Rangers, who are living on the margins right now, is keeping a player that isn’t effective. That’s where Martin is at. His return should not be contingent on him being healthy. It should be contingent on effectiveness in the minor leagues. If he’s unable to do that, then it would be time the Rangers to admit the mistake and release the reliever.