The Texas Rangers head into the winter with work to do, and catcher looks like one of the spots that needs the most attention.
Their season went all the way to game 162, but the finish was brutal: Texas lost its final game, watched the Houston Astros take the AL West, and then saw the Astros drop the first two games of the Wild Card Series. That kind of ending tends to sharpen an offseason, and the Rangers should be one of the busier teams around.
One possible fix comes via Colorado. Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller floated a trade that would send All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman from the Rockies to Texas, with the Rangers giving up right-handed pitching prospects Caden Scarborough and AJ Russell, along with catching prospect Malcolm Moore.
Miller pointed to the uncertainty at the position for Texas, noting, "For Texas, the catcher spot in the lineup was a season-long struggle, and they have both Elias Díaz and Kyle Higashioka hitting free agency. They're also slated to lose primary DH Joc Pederson, so a slugging C/DH would be a huge pickup for them."
Goodman would fit that description. Miller noted that, "Lost amid the embarrassment of the Rockies enduring yet another season of more than 100 losses, Hunter Goodman did quite a bit of mashing with 41 home runs in his 574 trips to the plate," adding, "That translates to a home run in 7.1 percent of his plate appearances, which was the highest ratio in the majors this season."
There’s also the usual Coors Field question, but Miller suggested the power should travel just fine. Goodman actually hit better on the road than at home, which eases some of the concern about how his bat would play outside Colorado.
His glove is described as slightly below average, but the bat is the selling point here, and it’s a loud one. For a Rangers club trying to move from middling to legitimate American League contender, a move like this would give the lineup a real jolt.
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