Almost every move the Rangers have made in the past year — from the free-agent signings of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien last December to the hiring of Bruce Bochy as the club’s new manager this offseason — has been with the intent to return to playoff contention and challenge the Astros in the American League West.
It was also all done with the recognition that Texas isn’t quite there yet.
In 2022, the Rangers finished fourth in the AL West with a 68-94 record, including an astonishing 15-35 in one-run games. The offense was much improved with the additions of Seager and Semien, as well as the development of in-house players like Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis García, but the pitching remained stagnant with few bright spots.
So Texas enters this offseason focused on one thing: building a contender.
“We’re intent on building this the right way, so we feel like our window opens that we can compete for a long time,” general manager Chris Young said at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas on Tuesday. “There are going to be challenges. We recognize that, but we feel like in 2023, we expect to take a step forward and put ourselves in a place where we compete for a playoff spot. And then after that, as our young pitching starts to get to the big leagues, we think our windows open.”
Minor League pitching development may be an important pillar of Young’s short tenure as general manager, but when it comes to winning now, the Rangers will have to be involved in all aspects of acquiring talent at the big league level.
Young emphasized the financial freedom given to him and the front office by majority owner Ray Davis as the club enters its second straight offseason of big spending. This winter will no doubt be focused on exploring and evaluating the top end of the pitching market.
“We’re looking to improve our rotation and our club for 2023 and beyond,” Young said. “Yes, we are going to explore the trade market to see possibilities. There are good arms that are going to be available and we’re looking forward to having conversations with teams about that. We’re not going to limit ourselves in terms of just spending on the free-agent market.”
Even so, Texas finished 22nd in MLB with a 4.22 ERA this season, only a slight improvement from 23rd (4.79 ERA) in 2021. Rangers relievers ranked 12th in MLB in ERA (3.72) and 22nd in BB/9 (3.70). It’s a long climb — and a few additions — away from being a quality big league staff.
“We recognize the limitations we had, especially in the starting rotation last year,” Young said. “We’re focused on allocating the majority of our resources towards pitching this year. That said, we’re going to be open minded in any way to improve our club.
“We want to improve our pitching in every way possible. We’re open to creative ways to do that. There’s a lot of different ways to build a pitching staff. And ultimately, the better your starters are, the better your bullpen becomes because there’s less stress on them. That’s a big part of this –- shoring up the starting rotation is going to make the bullpen better.”
Young even noted the willingness of the club to begin to deal prospects from its deep farm system, especially infielders who may not have a clear path to Arlington.
A plethora of middle-infield prospects in the system now have their paths to the Majors blocked by Seager and Semien, including Justin Foscue, Luisangel Acuña, Jonathan Ornelas, Maximo Acosta and Thomas Saggese — all of whom are on MLB Pipeline’s Rangers Top 30 prospects list.
Young said that he’s gotten “great feedback” from other clubs regarding the depth and talent in Texas’ system, as he and the front office continue to evaluate the trade market for quality starting pitchers.
“We’ve got a really deep system that allows us to get access to some of the top players in the game,” Young said. “We are willing to part with a pretty hefty price. … Our guys have done a great job of building up the pipeline, and we feel really good about where our system is. Very frankly, there’s probably not going to be room for all of them in the Major Leagues. That’s just the nature of it. It’s just the nature of how those deals are made. Every team in baseball makes those trades. It’s the cost of doing business and acquiring talented Major League players.”