After a run as a well-regarded prospect, Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzman made his major league debut in 2018. Since then, though, few teams have gotten less from the position. Guzman’s defense has drawn praise, but that only goes so far when you struggle to hit at an offensively charged position. He’s coming off a two-year stretch in which he slashed a less-than-stellar .229/.307/.415 with 25 home runs in 723 plate appearances. Guzman accounted for just 0.1 fWAR along the way, and his lack of production even led the Rangers to option him to Triple-A Nashville last season.
In the wake of Guzman’s weak 2019, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see the Rangers make an improvement at first base in the offseason. Even for modest prices, there were apparent free-agent upgrades available (Eric Thames and Justin Smoak come to mind). The Rangers even considered signing pricey outfielder Nick Castellanos and putting him at first, but he wound up with the Reds.
Having struck out on Castellanos, the Rangers have just about stood pat at first in recent months. Therefore, Guzman’s the front-runner to start again in 2020. He does have an option remaining, however, so the Rangers could send him back to the minors and still retain him if he doesn’t win the job in camp.
Cognizant of the fact that he may be in a make-or-break situation, the 25-year-old Guzman worked hard to better himself during the winter. He sought help from one of the game’s best offensive players in recent memory, former Ranger and current Twin Nelson Cruz, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News explained earlier this week.
On the heels of his work with Cruz, both Guzman and the Rangers seem optimistic he’ll finally begin realizing his potential in 2020. If that doesn’t happen, though, there are other in-house first base choices to whom they could turn. Granted, there may not be a clear answer on the roster at all.
The Rangers brought in former Yankees first baseman Greg Bird on a minor league contract Feb. 4. As a prospect and then as a rookie in 2015, when he batted .261/.343/.529 with 11 homers in 178 plate appearances, Bird looked like a possible long-term answer at first for the Yankees. But a series of injuries – including to his foot, shoulder, ankle and knee – helped take a sledgehammer to his Yankees career. Bird missed all of 2016 and was unproductive from 2017-19, appearing in a paltry 10 games in the last of those seasons. The Yankees let the 27-year-old Bird go a few months ago, and he now has to prove himself all over again.
The Rangers also took a low-risk flier on former Red Sox first baseman Sam Travis over the winter. Like Guzman and Bird, Travis was once a quality prospect. Now 26, Travis wasn’t especially impressive at the Triple-A or major league levels from 2017-19. Consequently, the Red Sox – despite needing a first baseman at the time – moved on from Travis a month ago.
If you’re not inspired by Guzman, Bird or Travis, it’s hard to blame you. Problem is that the Rangers aren’t teeming with obvious solutions otherwise. In theory, veteran third baseman Todd Frazier could man the position, but that seems improbable unless the club puts Nick Solak or Danny Santana at the hot corner or does the unlikely and acquires the Cubs’ Kris Bryant or the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado in a blockbuster preseason trade. Should no trade occur, Solak or Santana may see some time at first, but the Rangers might prefer to move the versatile duo around the diamond.
Considering their current options, it looks as if it’ll be another bleak year at first base for the Rangers. The club has made real improvements elsewhere, particularly to its starting staff, but it doesn’t appear that’ll happen at first before the season opens. The spot’s devoid of impact players in free agency, so it would take an unexpected trade in order to find a slam-dunk upgrade now.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Imagine what kind of hitter Guzmán would be if he knew what pitches were coming. I’m thinking
.298 31 HR’s 104 RBI’s
Bang!
On the trash can?
Bregmanesque
Bregman blindfolded is a better hitter than Guzman would be with trash cans banging.
Stop yourself. Let’s see what Y. Alverez does this yr. Soph. slump?
Yes, because the Astros offense was entirely built on sign stealing and not talent at all.
Get over it, I’d bet they could tell you what was coming and where and you still couldn’t hit it.
Rangers and Padres line up nicely here.
Rangers need a 1B (Myers) and Padres have pitching (Morejon, Quantril, Baez, and Reyes) to make it worthwhile from the rangers perspective. Baez and Reyes both come with a lot of potential for the pen.
I like the idea of the two teams matching up and Myers going to TEX but what would SD get in return? Lance Lynn?
The Padres would probably get a low-end prospect as they would be shedding Myers’ salary.
Taylor Hearn would be an interesting piece for the Padres.
Hell no..
Lynn put up like 7.5 WAR last year
Cheap contract for 2 more years
Rangers aren’t trading him for myers
the rangers would jump at this in a heartbeat. and the Padres would look completely stupid making the deal.
Clearing Myers salary completely off the books
A. Won’t be cheap- either you pay in prospects or you pay a portion of his salary.
B. Is necessary to lock up core pieces early
C. Morejon Quantril Baez and Reyes would hurt…..but Padres have plenty of pen pieces aside from Baez and Reyes. Plus Gore Patino Weathers aren’t far off.
A Trey Mancini trade wouldn’t be the worse thing for Texas right now…
The World Series runs and non-developing prospects have killed us…probably another 3-5 years before my poor Rangers are worth a damn.
Hey at least your Rangers didn’t buy the Josh Hamilton fools gold when it was on the market. Of course, you’re still paying Fielder but only the portion you didn’t trick the Tigers into covering.
I would assume insurance is paying a chunk of Fielder’s golden parachute as well.
I like the Myers to Texas and then Frazier at third idea. i always thought that Santana to third for some of these teams looking for a third base option or even taking a shot at Chisenhall back to third .Quietly i like what Rangers have done this offseason
Why does Gallo not get considered for 1B? I honestly don’t follow the org close enough but didn’t he come up as a corner IF?
yes but he is a stud in the outfield with a really strong arm, kind of a waste at 1B.
Brandon Belt. Cheaper(2 yrs/$35M left), better OBP, and better defense than Myers. Giants would be eager to move that contract and they’ve shown willingness to eat cash for better prospects. And Belt was born in Texas making it less likely that Texas would be on his no trade list.
Just thinking the same thing, plus Belt would probably do well in that ballpark (or any park other than SF)
Win-win
My rangers arent gonna be good again until they get new owners and do something about their scouting and development. JD takes alot of heat, but I think hes a genius given what he has to work with. I mean what’s he supposed to do when ownership rolls back payroll from 160ish million to 120ish million in a 4 year period. We’ve been told 2020 they would start spending again, and they did add about 25 million, but still think it was smoke and mirrors. Most of it was low cost high upside sp. And they missed on every major free agent that they were “in on” rendon, donaldson, castellano,cole, ryu. Then u look at how bad the farm has been. Best recent prospects… profar, mazara, odor, Guzman for most part have all been busts and gallo could still go either way. So I think jd has been exceptional in finding minor, lynn, santana, pence, given he has limited funds, and limited prospects to work with
Their farm has made remarkable improvements over the last 3 seasons
Not really. Theyve got a handful that may be ok, but nothing great. Not anything u could use in a substantial trade.
Not really. Theyve got a handful that may be ok, but nothing great. Not anything u could use in a substantial trade.
My rangers arent gonna be good again until they get new owners and do something about their scouting and development. JD takes alot of heat, but I think hes a genius given what he has to work with. I mean what’s he supposed to do when ownership rolls back payroll from 160ish million to 120ish million in a 4 year period. We’ve been told 2020 they would start spending again, and they did add about 25 million, but still think it was smoke and mirrors. Most of it was low cost high upside sp. And they missed on every major free agent that they were “in on” rendon, donaldson, castellano,cole, ryu. Then u look at how bad the farm has been. Best recent prospects… profar, mazara, odor, Guzman for most part have all been busts and gallo could still go either way. So I think jd has been exceptional in finding minor, lynn, santana, pence, given he has limited funds, and limited prospects to work with
Come July there will be several 1B on market, and chances are Rangers will pick 1 up then if needed
Throwing a bit of a crazy idea out there.
How about the mets and rangers lining up for a deal? The mets have Dom Smith who is basically a bat without a home. Cano and Smith for Odor? Mets get some salary relief and maybe the change of scenery might help odor and the Rangers getting a 1B bat and not lose that much in the lineup (cano i think has the better average where odor had the big bat).
There would have to be some cash considerations involved probably the mets kicking in a little bit but Dom should offset that. This would also free some a spot in that OF jam they have..
Dom Smith to Texas makes sense. Unfortunately, it will not be enough to make Cano go away. Maybe Lowrie, but I actually think Mets should just keep Lowrie.
They need to be/should have already been asking about Josh Bell.
If the Padres just gave them Wil Myers straight up, would that not benefit both teams?
Simple trade: rangers acquire Jackie Bradley to play center. Danny Santana and Joey Gallo see extensive time at first. .. sox get ariel jurado
Gallo stays in right field. Too good of an outfielder to shift over to 1B more often. More like Santana becomes the primary 1B.
Yeah, either way. Could be a good fit… sox could get a young controllable arm that can start or relieve and some salary relief
I’ll take Bradley for Jurado all day. Gallo doesn’t want to play 1B though. And that wastes his arm. RF is his spot for the rest of his career
The manager decides where Gallo plays, not gallo. But with that said, if they were going to accommodate him, santana could see more time at first with Gallo in the outfield.
They should let Frazier play half of the games at 3B and then other half platoon with Guzman. Solak should be a full time player play like half of games at 2B and the other half at 3B. Santana should play around 120-140 in CF and the others around the diamond when needed with Gallo playing around 20-40 in center. The most ideal thing would be to trade for Mancini or bring Josh Bell home.
The problem with the orioles trading Mancini is that he is the only player on that roster that has any notoriety in Baltimore.
Rangers really need offensive production out of all their corner players.
Too many positions floundering on the “Mendoza Line”, with little else to show.
Good luck to the 2020 Season. May it all fold together, with surprise winners!
GO RANGERS
I’m really excited to see who wins between Bird and Guzman. Bird could be a really nice add if he’s healthy
No more major moves by this Ranger club. Rumor has it the owners want to unload the club to someone else.