ARLINGTON - Corey Seager’s season has reached the kind of uneasy crossroads that forces a front office to ask the uncomfortable questions.
On Sunday, Seager was in front of reporters discussing his rehab as he works his way back from his second back injury of the year. The frustration showed. So far, this is not the season he expected, and it’s not the season the Rangers expected either.
The 32-year-old is stuck in the worst slump of his career, and the repeated trips to the injured list have only made matters worse. He is hitting .182/.292/.374 with 10 home runs and 25 RBI.
That kind of year, combined with five more years left on his contract and injury concerns that have stretched across the last four seasons, naturally raises the question of whether Texas should consider moving him the way it moved Marcus Semien in the offseason.
It would not be simple. Seager would draw interest, but he would also be difficult to trade, especially with his current health situation. Still, with seven days left before the trade deadline and teams often willing to pay for what a player has done before rather than what he is doing right now, the idea cannot be ruled out.
For Chris Young, the Rangers’ president of baseball operations, this is the kind of decision that demands a full look at every angle. If he is weighing a Seager trade, the case for it starts with the contract.
Moving him would clear the remaining five years of a deal that still has more than $150 million left. Texas might have to eat part of that money to get a deal done, but shedding most of it would create major flexibility this offseason - if there is an offseason to work with.
Even with the injury concerns, Seager would still be a coveted player.
The age and durability questions are real, though. At 32, Seager is no longer the kind of player you can ignore when the medical file keeps growing.
And with a long-term deal like his, a team is usually paying for the early years more than the late ones. The Rangers already got what they wanted from that front end: a World Series title with Seager as MVP.
There is also a defensive argument to make. Ezequiel Duran has been the better shortstop glove, even if the bat is not in the same neighborhood.
By fielding percentage, Duran is at .993 with one error this season. Seager is at .979 with four errors.
Seager has been better before - he led all AL shortstops with a .983 fielding percentage in 2024 - but Duran is reaching balls Seager has not. A move would improve Texas defensively, though replacing Seager’s offense would be the real challenge.
And that’s the other side of the ledger. Seager is only 32, which is not old in baseball terms, and there is still a case that he has five productive years ahead of him.
Before this season, he had hit at least 20 home runs in each of his first four years with Texas, including 30 or more in his first three. He nearly won a batting title in 2023.
His career slash line sits at .284/.359/.504. His structured hitting routine has usually helped him shake off slumps quickly, and that track record makes it easy to believe this season could be the outlier rather than the new normal.
The timing is another problem. Seager is on the injured list, and that gives other teams leverage to try to get him at a discount.
His value may not be where it was in 2023, but he is not the kind of player who should bring back only a couple of prospects. Texas could decide it is smarter to wait until next year, hope for a stronger season, and revisit the idea then.
Then there is the simplest question of all: who on this roster can replace his offense? Outside of Wyatt Langford, maybe Josh Jung, the answer is basically nobody.
At least not on a year-to-year basis, and that is what the Rangers have been paying for - Seager’s bat and the consistency that comes with it. In his first four seasons with Texas, he hit .278/.355/.517 with 117 home runs and 303 RBI.
Those are not numbers a team can just brush aside when the lineup already has so few players who can do that kind of damage.
So the call belongs to Young, and it is not a clean one. The reality of this season pushes one way.
Seager’s résumé pushes the other. A trade still feels unlikely, but if he returns from the injured list this week and strings together a couple of big games before the Aug. 3 deadline, the rumors will only get louder.
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