If the Rangers decide Ezequiel Duran should be their everyday second baseman in 2027, nobody in Texas should complain. He’s already done enough to earn that kind of role. After winning the AL Gold Glove as a utility player and putting together a season that should put him in line for a Silver Slugger at the position, Duran hit .260/.320/.419 with 17 home runs and 83 RBI.
That’s the easy part. The harder question is whether the Rangers want to lock him into one spot after what he meant while bouncing around the field in 2026.
He played seven positions, was their best all-around player and, with injuries hitting all over the diamond, looked like the team’s MVP. So the real decision is simple in theory and tricky in practice: do you keep the super-utility weapon where he was most valuable, or do you plant him at second and find help elsewhere?
If Texas keeps Duran in that roaming role, the front office will need a second baseman who won’t break the bank. Three names fit that lane, and none of them should cost more than $5 million per year.
One familiar option is a player the Rangers already know well. He turned in a bounce-back year up the middle, hitting .276/.328/.319 with one home run and 24 RBI.
Texas likes the on-base skill, and it likes the glove, even if the advanced numbers weren’t impressed last season. He spent most of his time batting eighth or ninth, and his presence helped the Rangers get back to the top of the order more regularly.
He also led the American League with 12 sacrifice hits, marking the third time he has led a league in that category. For a Rangers offense moving toward more on-base ability and more versatility, he makes sense.
He signed with Texas for less than $1 million, and while he’ll be looking for a raise, there’s only so much he can command. That lines up neatly with the Rangers’ flat-budget approach this winter.
Gavin Lux is another budget name worth watching. Inside the Rangers already pointed to him earlier this offseason, and now he’s available after he and the Rays failed to reach a new deal.
The big issue is health. He missed 2026 because of a shoulder injury, and he also sat out 2023 with a torn ACL.
What makes Lux attractive is the same thing the Rangers tend to value in a free-agent position player: getting on base. He owns a career .332 on-base percentage, better than both Lopez and Duran in 2026.
He’s a career .256 hitter, though he doesn’t bring Duran’s power. Still, he has hit .250 or better in each of his last four MLB seasons, and that kind of steadiness matters.
Defensively, the minus-4 defensive runs saved on his career ledger means he’d need some work, but at a low price, he fits.
Jonathan India brings a different profile, but the same basic appeal. The former Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals second baseman is now in free agency after appearing in only 17 games in 2026 because of season-ending shoulder labrum surgery. That injury cut into the power he flashed in his first four seasons in Cincinnati, when he won 2021 NL Rookie of the Year.
Even so, India has always been about getting on base. His career line sits at .247/.346/.396, and that OBP is the headline skill.
In 2026, despite the limited action and a .167 batting average, he still posted a .310 OBP. He has reached double-digit home runs in four different seasons and averages 71 walks per 162 games, which gives him enough offensive reliability to let the Rangers move Duran around if they want to.
The question with India, just like with Lux, is the glove. His defense has improved since he made 15 errors as a rookie, but it still doesn’t match Duran’s level. Texas would need to feel comfortable that his defense is good enough before making the move.
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Rangers Offseason Squeeze Could Lead To One Tough Roster Cut
The Rangers are heading toward a familiar kind of offseason squeeze, with a Nov. 20 deadline looming for decisions on arbitration-eligible players and others under team control. With the club intent on keeping payroll flat for 2027, every tender decision carries extra weight, especially for a roster that still needs to balance present value against longer-term flexibility.
Most of the attention in that process figures to fall on the edges of the roster, where the Rangers are sorting through who fits the next version of the team and who does not. MacKenzie Gore and Jacob Latz are viewed as likely keepers, but the front offices shifting priorities make at least one power bat a tougher fit than it once might have been, and that could turn this into one of the more uncomfortable calls of the winter. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Already Face Doubts About One Deadline Bullpen Bet
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Silseth had shown enough in Anaheim to make the gamble worthwhile, which is why the Rangers viewed him as more than a short-term patch. Since the trade, though, the results have been uneven, with his run prevention and strike-throwing both trending the wrong way, leaving Texas to wait on the version of him it thought it was getting. The hope remains that he can grow into a dependable right-handed setup arm, but for now that deadline bet is looking a lot shakier than the front office likely expected. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Could Turn Nathan Eovaldi Into More Than Salary Relief
Chris Youngs willingness to talk about moving Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom and Corey Seager says plenty about where the Rangers are headed this winter. For Eovaldi in particular, the appeal is obvious: a proven veteran arm on a deal that could help Texas reshape its payroll while still bringing back something useful in return. It is the kind of conversation that usually starts with flexibility and quickly turns into a broader look at what a contender can afford to keep.
The market for Eovaldi is the part worth watching, because a pitcher with his track record should draw interest from clubs looking for stability at the top of a rotation. Boston and Houston both make sense as possible landing spots, and Texas would not be shopping him just to clear money if it can avoid it. The Rangers would want a return that helps beyond the ledger, and the bigger question is whether the right fit emerges before the offseason gets too far along. [Read more 🡒]