The Texas Rangers are facing a familiar kind of offseason decision: whether to keep paying for a veteran bat that hasn’t quite matched the price tag.
Joc Pederson’s name sits right at the center of it. Texas brought him in during the 2025 offseason hoping for a left-handed power source who could also hold his own at the plate.
Instead, the first year was a mess. Pederson appeared in 96 games, hit .181, finished with nine home runs and posted a -0.3 WAR.
Injuries played a part, but the production simply wasn’t there.
The Rangers still gave him another shot. His original deal included a player option for $18.5 million, and after that rough 2025, Pederson opted in and returned for 2026.
This time, he looked more like the hitter Texas wanted. He closed the year with 26 home runs, a .245 batting average and a 1.7 WAR, giving the lineup a lift when he was available.
Availability, though, was the catch. Pederson’s season ended when he went on the injured list with a fracture in his left hand.
Now the Rangers are back at the same crossroads, only with a mutual option in place for $18.5 million. Across two seasons in Texas, Pederson has produced a 1.4 WAR, and for a player who has cost close to $20 million since 2025, the club has to weigh whether that money is better spent elsewhere.
That’s where the roster math starts to matter. The Rangers have plenty of outfield options, along with other players who can slide into the designated hitter spot and supply some pop for less money than Pederson would command. Ezequiel Duran or rookie Justin Foscue could fill those 2027 roles without much trouble.
Texas finished 80-82 and second in the AL West behind the Houston Astros, a season that didn’t quite live up to the expectation that came with an active offseason, including the addition of Mackenzie Gore to the starting rotation. The pitching had its swings and misses, and the offense never fully carried its weight either. With contract decisions looming and the bigger picture pointing toward 2027, Pederson may not fit into the long-term plan.
In Other News...
Rangers Need More Than Health To Fix What Sank 2026
The Rangers came out of 2026 with a clear lesson: talent alone was not enough when the roster thinned out and injuries piled up around key players. What followed was a season in which the club repeatedly leaned on depth that never quite held up, leaving manager Skip Schumaker and the front office looking back at a year where the margin for error vanished fast.
So heading into 2027, the emphasis is on competition as much as recovery. The Rangers want spring training to feel less like a walkthrough and more like a true roster fight, with multiple players pushed to earn jobs and force the best version of the team to emerge. For a club trying to avoid another slide like the one that sank 2026, the challenge is no longer simply getting healthy, but making sure the roster is built to withstand whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Pitching Collapse Left One Real Reason For Hope
The Rangers 2026 season ended at 80-82, and the biggest reason they were watching October from home was impossible to miss: the pitching took a sharp step backward. After finishing first in ERA a year earlier, Texas slipped to 22nd, a stunning drop for a staff that also regressed in other key areas as injuries and coaching changes added to the churn.
There was still one part of the profile that held up better than the rest. Even with the overall collapse, the Rangers remained among the better teams at limiting walks, a reminder that command did not disappear along with the rest of the run prevention picture. For a club trying to sort through what went wrong and what can still carry over, that kind of baseline matters. [Read more 🡒]
Corey Seager's Latest Injury Update Matters For The Rangers' 2027 Outlook
Corey Seagers latest health update gives the Rangers another reason to feel better about where their core stands heading into the long view. The shortstop had been dealing with a bone spur in his right elbow for months, yet he was still available for the final two months of the season and finished that stretch with strong production at the plate, which only underscores how much he had been pushing through.
The bigger takeaway for Texas is that the list of offseason bumps is trending toward manageable rather than alarming. Josh Jung also dealt with a non-displaced fracture in his right hand, while Danny Jansen had a bone growth removed from his right hand, and all three players are expected to be ready for 2027 spring training. For a club thinking beyond one winter, that kind of cleanup matters, even if the full extent of Seagers recovery remains the part worth monitoring. [Read more 🡒]