On the heels of another disappointing season, one that saw the Rangers finish 22-38 and extend their playoff drought to four years, general manager Jon Daniels spoke to media, including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and TR Sullivan of MLB.com.
With their starters having ended 2020 with the majors’ seventh-worst ERA (5.32), Daniels said the Rangers are interested in bringing in a veteran rotation member during the offseason. The only starter on the team who provided high-end production across a large number of innings in 2020 was Lance Lynn, who’s only signed for another year and whom the Rangers could trade for a solid haul. Kyle Cody gave the team outstanding results, albeit over a small number of innings, and the Rangers traded Mike Minor to the A’s before the Aug. 31 deadline.
Texas has Lynn, Cody, Jordan Lyles and Kyle Gibson (he and Lyles had rough years) among their most proven starters going into next season. Two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber‘s still on the roster, but as someone who missed nearly the entire season with shoulder troubles, he seems like a shoo-in to be bought out for $1MM (as opposed to guaranteeing him $18MM).
Turning to the offensive side, the Rangers aren’t planning on gifting starting spots to second baseman Rougned Odor or shortstop Elvis Andrus going forward, per Daniels. Frankly, neither player deserves one. Both players could be trade candidates in the coming months, and if that’s the case, the Daniels-led Rangers are confident they won’t have to eat any of their contracts. That may be wishful thinking, as Odor has two more seasons and $27MM left on his contract, while Andrus has $28MM over two years remaining.
Odor has three seasons of two-plus fWAR in his past, and he’s someone the Rangers signed to a six-year, $49.5MM guarantee entering 2017, but his production has been terrible of late. Despite 10 home runs in 148 plate appearances, the 26-year-old ended 2020 with a .167/.209/.413 line. His 51 wRC+ ranked second to last among 223 hitters who racked up at least 140 PA this season.
Andrus was even worse than Odor this year, as he logged a 48 wRC+ in 111 trips to the plate. Like Odor, Andrus looked like a cornerstone for the Rangers in his earlier days, which is why they extended him to an eight-year, $120MM contract in early 2013. However, his production has fallen flat over the past few seasons.
And no one cares……
See all those posts bellow yours? Guess you’re wrong.
Daniels needs to leave …
I like Daniels, but yes the Rangers need a new general manager. Jeff Luhnow could be a good choice. It is likely that the Angels may sign him.
Luhnow? Are you kidding? He received credit for what was already there, hit on 1 prospect, didn’t want the FA’s that they signed, was behind the cheating, should I go on?
Very, very little of what you just said is true. I don’t even know where to begin. Altuve and Springer were already in the organization before he got there, but you realize a whole lot of the team wasn’t, right? And certainly more than one prospect.
Exactly, TR’s have consistently regressed & JD is responsible!!!! Another supposed know it all!
They wouldn’t have to eat any of those cintracts? Yeah and the Rockies were supposed to be a great team this year according to their owners. Right….
And you guys pile on the Angels
Lmao, funniest one liner on here in awhile. Kudos halohonk
Long term contracts to MOST players are a mistake; hard stop. And in some cases they’re a disaster (see above). I know the fan base gets excited when their team signs Joe Jones to a 7 year deal, but it’s more than likely that the deal is going to cost them in terms of victories in the end; the reasons, mostly common sense, are innumerable.
Name 1o contracts above 5 years that were bad contracts overall for the team and I’ll name 10 that worked out swimmingly.
Why would you use “hard stop” to emphasize a sentence that says the word most? Really takes the impact out of “hard stop when there are obvious caveats.
Long term contracts that buy out free agent years in advance are certainly not mostly mistakes.
Forcing Nolan Ryan out was a huge mistake
You may not want to “gift” starting jobs to Odor or Andrus but they would be awfully expensive (and not very versatile) bench pieces. The Rangers need to decide if Guzman is the 1B or not. Kiner-Falefa handled 3B well but is not an offensive threat. Calhoun/Taveras/Gallo make a decent OF but one has to wonder would the team be better just letting Gallo DH and just let him hit.
The rotation isn’t necessarily that bad. Lynn, Cody, Lyles, Gibson, and perhaps Allard or another acquisition ( maybe re-sign Kluber to a much, much cheaper deal). The bullpen wasn’t terrible. We still don’t know how the new stadium will play when you actually have fans in the stands
Dumb take on Gallo. Statistically he was the best right fielder in the game.. makes zero sense
The stats don’t tell the full story.
Can they just let Gallo play right field and let someone hit for him? Joking a bit, but he’s one of the better right fielders in the league, has a cannon for an arm, and hardly any one hustles more than he does. Just wish he could get “right” at the dish. Got any hitting instructors available?
Gallo is a pretty decent corner OFer so I don’t know why they would DH him when you are playing Calhoun in LF. He should be the one never touching the grass again.
Also if you take Gallo incredible half of a season last year and combine it with this year, you get a .221/.344/.508 slash which is basically his career average. He is what he is, and that is who he will be.
As per DRS, Gallo ranks as the best right fielder in baseball, and a top 3 fielder in baseball of any position.
I do want to see Calhoun become a full time DH, and make our one big signing either Ozuna or Brantley, because they aren’t blocking anybody besides Eli White whose only pro is being athletic and fast. Eli White’s a 4th outfielder, so if JD says that he won’t sign a left-fielder because of “blocking the youth”, he’s just wrong.
DRS is a very inconsistent number especially in a small sample size of 60 games, so he probably isn’t the 3rd best RF in baseball, but I agree he is a very good defender nonetheless.
Gotta think Daniels is off the mark here with his indication they need veteran help in the rotation. The problem lays squarely in the fact that they can’t develop pitching themselves – that needs sorting. Unless you’re going to blow the budget, free agency isn’t going to solve your rotation woes.
They can’t develop any position themselves
Don’t understand how this clown keeps his job. Never built a winner. The foundation was layered by Jon Hart and Nolan Ryan. Every year they have the same needs and he does nothing. Some teams are happy being mediocre at best.
Two World series appearances, first was in his 5th year, so no.
Between A.J Preller being gone, and Nolan Ryan leaving, Jon Daniels has been left with an ownership group that wanted a “retool”, and he had to work with a team that was; frankly, quite bad coming out of 2016.
If Jon Daniels gets the opportunity to actually rebuild a team, I think he can do a great job, but to forced to do a “retool” plus losing some valuable front office help, he’s gonna suck.
We are going to do a bad contract deal for Odor BTW, ain’t no way we are making somebody else eat all that money unless we get absolutely nothing in return. I’d rather have Eovaldi for Odor and just keep Andrus, and even that would make us probably throw in an additional piece.
Absolutely wild to me that Odor is still only 26. But aging into one’s prime doesn’t matter if the guy never learns to make enough contact or get on base at a reasonable rate.
Daniels needs to go. Need to spend wisely, utilize that talent you have, and make some moves. Rangers have been losing for far too long.
Okay Rangers let’s make a deal Andujar and Sanchez for who??
Lynn and Montero for Clint Frazier.
At this point, yes. He has spent the money well recently on guys like Lynn, Pence, Minor, and Montero, but that means absolutely nothing when you don’t compensate on your great findings. Not trading Lynn at the deadline was idiotic, I think he could’ve gotten back a deal that was perfectly fine, especially if he paired him with Montero or Frazier. He just needs the pull the trigger on more moves now. If not, I think he should leave.
I bet Lynn gets traded in the off-season, who we thinking guys? I’m thinking Nationals, White Sox, or Padres would make a call
Padres already traded for their co-ace in Clevinger. They won’t be shopping again. The Nationals already have 3 elder aces. They don’t need another one. The White Sox MAY want one but I kinda doubt it unless they are sure that next year is their year.
Your best chance to trade Lynn was the trade deadline this year when he still had a full year left and there were teams desperate for pitching. I think you missed your best chance.
Frazier hopefully off the table because Gardner needs to retire. Andujar or Sanchez prime candidates to be moved ASAP
Very good idea. Buy high sell low. Classic big brain strategy.
Odor to Yankees so that they tech him how to use a razor lol…
Only if Rangers take Stanton
Rangers and Angels finish below the Mariners (a team that is openly rebuilding). Yet, the Angels have the best player of this generation and the Rangers went all in to bolster the pitching staff. Both arw trying very hard to win and are spending accordingly. Gross!
I don’t think the Rangers went all in for the pitching staff. If they did they would of signed Cole, Wheeler or Strasburg. This off-season starts with Bauer or Stroman. Lynn is good but not an ace on a championship team. They asked way too much for him at the deadline and now could be stuck with him a year too long like Minor.
We need to push towards more of a two-year rebuild for 21′ and 22′ right now. That means trading Lynn, Montero, Odor (for another high priced guy like Eovaldi), and hopefully Gibson if he comes out strong next season and ultimately anybody who has value, maybe even IKF. I want to keep Gallo next season to just let him calm down, and hopefully put in a strong campaign. By 22′ guys like Huff, Jung, Taveras, (Solak and Calhoun), and maybe Foscue will all be in full time roles as big leagers, not to mention Winn, Crouse, and whoever we draft in 21′ (Please be Leiter, he reminds me of Zack Greinke when he was in KC). At the end of 21′ I can see us signing Trevor Story as our first big name free agent in a while, and hopefully showing the fans that there is a light at the end of this twisted tunnel.
Rangers need LF, Toronto not overly fond of Grichuk, and will be down 4 pitchers after playoffs max and down min of 2 with return of Pearson and are ready to compete now so trade Lynn and midlevel prospect to Toronto for Grichuk. Toronto gets a Number 2 pitcher behind Ryu, Rangers get LF they can keep for 2-3 years at a reasonable cost on today’s market, and an RH power bat to pair with Gallo in the middle of the order.
Jays should do that trade in a heartbeat. No hesitation.
Problem is the Jays won’t budge on that. They gave Grichuk an extension, showing how much faith they have in him. Prior to this year he has underwhelmed and underperformed. Defensively Grichuk would be a very solid LF. He’s been decent in CF this year.
Having over $10-mil to play with come 2022 would be a benefit for Toronto. By then Martin should be in CF.
As for as rotation goes, if the Rangers trade Lynn, then you sign Arietta, who won’t be that expensive, and Archer to incentive-laden, contract, hope you get better year from Gibson. That fills three slots and then you use Benjamin or Cody as your 4th and fill in bottom of rotation with reduced salary say around 6.0 M for Kluber.
I disagree with the Arrieta part, but I have saying all this time that we need to sign Chris Archer to a league minimum deal with incentives. I do want to see us sign Kluber, and I’d imagine he’ll go for around 10 mil (if Gausman can get than, Kluber can too). That would leave us with this:
Kluber
Gibson
Cody
Archer
Lyles
And since every Texas fan wants off with Lyles’s head, assume we move him to the pen or just DFA him and eat crow, then we can go sign Anthony Desclafani, since he’s a lot younger than Arrieta. I have hope Gibson can bounce back, and I think Cody is going to be a rotation member. And who knows, maybe Brock Burke rehabs from TJ well and returns to the rotation in 21′. Maybe if we move Lyles to the pen we take Hearn out of the pen to start, who knows.