The Texas Rangers may have a bullpen splash on the horizon, but the path to getting there is anything but simple.
With general managers gathering in Las Vegas from Monday through the end of this week, Texas is working through an offseason that already comes with a clear financial warning. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that President of Baseball Operations Chris Young and the Rangers have been told payroll is not going up, which means any move in free agency likely has to be paired with salary coming off the books.
That puts the spotlight on names like Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Corey Seager, all of whom were mentioned as available. For a Rangers club that has not finished above .500 since winning the World Series in 2023, the pressure to make the right kind of move is obvious.
One prediction has Texas going big on one of the market’s top relief arms. Sports Illustrated’s Nick Selbe projected the Rangers to sign San Diego Padres reliever Adrian Morejon, with the deal landing at $66 million over three seasons, or $22 million per year.
Morejon would come with plenty of buzz. Selbe described him as one of the best relievers on the market, and his 2026 season backed that up: a 2.83 ERA across 86 innings with San Diego, a new career high in workload.
The fit makes sense on paper. Texas’ bullpen posted a 4.47 ERA in 2026, according to Covers.com, and the back end could clearly use reinforcement.
But the money issue hangs over everything. If Morejon is going to command more than $20 million annually, the Rangers would almost certainly need to create room first.
That is where the contract situations of Eovaldi and deGrom come back into play. Both pitchers have no-trade clauses, and deGrom already used his this past season to block a deal that would have sent him to the Atlanta Braves.
Players have waived those clauses before, so the door is not shut. Still, with the payroll constraints and the cooperation required to make it work, Selbe’s prediction feels like a tough one to bring to life unless something changes quickly.
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