The Texas Rangers are heading into the offseason with a familiar problem: they’re close enough to see the playoffs, but not yet sturdy enough to trust a World Series run.
That’s the push-and-pull facing this roster. Texas lost the American League West by one game to the Houston Astros, but the context matters.
The Rangers played in the worst division in baseball, and the Astros won the title with a .500 record. So yes, the gap was tiny.
It was also real.
For the Rangers to get back into contention next season, a lot has to break the right way. The offense has to improve, and that starts with Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford getting healthy and returning to form. If that happens, it changes the whole shape of the lineup.
But the deeper issue is where Texas is thin.
One of the most obvious trouble spots was the leadoff role. The Rangers opened the season with Brandon Nimmo there, then in mid-May turned to Joc Pederson against right-handed pitching. As the year went on, Pederson kept getting the job in that split, while Texas cycled through several right-handed bats against lefties, including Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue.
Production from the spot wasn’t the problem. The leadoff hitters combined to slash .267/.347/.510 with 39 home runs and 90 RBI.
They scored 99 runs, drew 73 walks and struck out 155 times. In fact, the leadoff spot posted the best OPS on the team at .857.
The catch is that’s not really where you want your best OPS living. Ideally, that kind of damage is coming from hitters stacked behind the top of the order.
What Texas needs is a steadier table setter, someone more in the Pederson mold but less power-dependent - and Pederson is headed for free agency. The ideal leadoff man would play every day, get on base at a strong clip and move himself around the bases without relying on others. Duran is the likely opening-day option, but the Rangers would be smart to search the free-agent market for a more dependable answer.
Pitching brings another set of concerns.
The best-case scenario is internal improvement from Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. That would be the cheapest route, and it matters because owner Ray Davis is unlikely to give president of baseball operations Chris Young a lot of money to work with. But banking on that alone is risky.
So Young may have to dig for low-cost arms on the free-agent market, even though that’s the kind of market everyone else will be mining too. There may also be help waiting at Triple-A Round Rock, but Texas still needs more insurance behind Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. Mackenzie Gore also needs to take a step forward, though he is a more established commodity at this point than Leiter and Rocker.
There are internal possibilities, including Cody Bradford. Beyond that, the Rangers would benefit from keeping Jordan Montgomery on a cheap deal and adding at least one veteran starter who can take the ball, log innings and still be effective. Bringing back Cal Quantrill would fit that bill, though he’s expected to have a strong market.
Young made it clear in his end-of-season press conference that he was disappointed with the depth he built in spring training. None of the players he signed made the 26-man roster, and most were gone by the time he needed help. The Rangers did catch breaks with Nicky Lopez and Elias Diaz, who helped in the infield and behind the plate, respectively.
This time, Young wants more usable depth from the start - major league-level players who can compete for jobs and provide real options. That’s part of why teams like the Brewers and Rays keep churning out wins: they’ve built that kind of depth and know how to keep veterans around while younger players grow into bigger roles.
Texas has to do that too. And it’s not just a lineup issue. It’s a bullpen issue as well, with the Rangers exposed by the number of free agents on that staff who are likely to draw better offers this winter than they did a year ago.
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