The Rangers have had discussions with free-agent outfielder Robbie Grossman about a potential contract, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link). The 33-year-old would give them another option to jump into their currently unsettled left field mix.
Pitching has been the overwhelming focus for the Rangers throughout the 2022-23 offseason, as they’ve signed Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney while also acquiring Jake Odorizzi in a trade with the Braves. Two of the three spots in the team’s outfield seem generally spoken for, with slugger Adolis Garcia likely ticketed for everyday work in right field and defensive standout Leody Taveras slated for regular work in center field.
Left field is another story entirely. The position has gone unaddressed this winter even though Rangers left fielders were the least-productive unit of all 30 MLB clubs in 2022, when they ranked dead-last in the Majors in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Texas left fielders combined to post an almost unfathomably feeble .186/.253/.255 batting line. That translated to a 47 wRC+, or roughly 53% worse than league-average production after weighting for home park and the league run-scoring environment. Rangers left fielders also struck out at a 29.6% clip (28th in MLB), hit 11 home runs (27th), and managed only five doubles (last in the Majors) and no triples.
There’s no clear, MLB-ready top prospect looming, either. The Rangers’ hope, to this point, has seemingly been that some combination of former top prospect Josh Smith, veteran utilityman Brad Miller, former first-round pick Bubba Thompson, infielder/outfielder Mark Mathias and a slate of minor league signees (e.g. Clint Frazier, Travis Jankowski, Elier Hernandez) can patch the position together.
However, Texas general manager Chris Young said last week that he’s still open to the possibility of adding an outfielder from outside the organization. Grossman obviously fits that bill, and while he might not be ticketed for everyday work himself, the veteran switch-hitter could at the very least occupy the short half of a potential platoon arrangement.
Grossman was an above-average bat in five of six seasons from 2016-21, with 2019 being the lone exception. He slipped to a .209/.310/.311 output in 477 plate appearances this past season between the Tigers and Braves, but he maintained his long track record of production against left-handed pitching. He mashed southpaws at a .320/.436/.443 pace in 2022 and is a career .279/.377/.413 hitter against lefties.
Grossman has had productive stretches against righties, too, though he’s been inconsistent in that regard. He’s batted .232/.335/.363 in his career against righties and walked at a hefty 12.7% clip, but over the past two seasons, Grossman has looked overmatched when batting from the left side of the dish: .196/.308/.331 (82 wRC+) in 793 plate appearances. Among the Rangers’ in-house options in left field, both Miller and Smith bat from the left side of the dish, making Grossman a somewhat natural platoon partner for either.
While Grossman was a defensive liability early in his career, he’s improved his glovework over time. Over the past four seasons, he’s tallied 2422 innings in left field and been a scratch defender per Defensive Runs Saved (0), while Ultimate Zone Rating (6.2) and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (2) feel he’s been a bit better.
Man! It’s gross how they went all out with spending and giving up draft picks and then decided to do nothing legit for left field or the bullpen.
They still have the number 4 pick in the draft as well as one of the best farm systems in baseball. Don’t forget they lost 2 picks last year and still ended up with Kumar Rocker and Brock Porter.
What I fear is they will screw it up by trying to replicate last year’s success in the draft. My hope is they get one of Landford/Crews/Clark/Dollander/Jenkins in that order of preference. They seemingly blew it last year by passing out on Green until they got lucky and got Porter. That maybe had a 10-15 percent chance of working out. I really really hope Eovaldi isn’t the reason they pull another stunt like that again. They need outfielders since Carter/Zavala (injured)/Harris are the only ones, and I’d guess 2 either bust or get traded anyways.
I think they will eventually trade Zavala or Harris as well. Do not think Carter would be moved for anything less than a bona fide superstar. I do think they can upgrade by trading from MIF depth, as Acuna, Ornellas, Acosta, Seise, Cawley and to a lesser degree Duran are all blocked for the foreseeable future and they cannot all play the OF.
Totally different regimen…
Chris Young is a MLB executive. MlB ain’t gonna let one of their OWN fail
The bullpen projects to have 4 starters with Odorizzi, Dunning, Hearn, and Otto. Joe Barlow, Brock Burke, John King, and Jose LeClerc are the likely other 4.
Having that many starters pitching in relief seems like it could be problematic but if it works out this may not be a bad bullpen
Don’t forget about Jonathan Hernandez, big set up man for them. Dunning or Otto will likely start the season in at AAA and my guess would be Odorizzi is the 6th starter. With all the injury risk it makes sense to at least begin the season with a 6 man rotation.
Jonathan Hernandez is offended.
I think they realized that which is why they’re looking at Gross Man
And I’ve had talks with Jessica Alba.
I think bullpen should be solid, with potential to be great. Burke, Hernandez, and leclerc get bulk of work and odorizzi likely bouncing between rotation and bullpen. And hopefully they’re not going to bullpen in 4-5th every night with a more solid rotation.
But, left field won’t be (and neither will center if Leody beats Bubba).
The Rangers are either gearing up to include Leody in a big trade for an outfielder (Leody, Dunning, Duran, Foscue) or they’re finally realizing that they can’t have black holes in left field and center. Leody is a pretty atrocious hitter. Bubba has more potential I believe. Platoon Grossman and Miller in left for a pretty solid platoon and let Bubba and Leody duke it out for the starting CF job.
I have no issue with that.
I’d be thrilled if that package gets Bryan Reynolds or even just some elite relievers. I just think the Bucs are deluded relative to where other rebuilding teams were in trade talks recently (including Texas). They would want 2 or 3 top 100 starters, which makes me puke.
And if I’m rangers Owens, Leiter, porter, rocker, carter, zavala r off-limits. If some combo of Duran, smith, Winn, foscue, ornales, and some guys after our top 10, I’m in. Otherwise patch anything together until zavala or carter are ready. Can’t throw money at EVERY problem, sometimes u gotta give internal options a shot
Hard no on Reynolds as he is simply not worth the prospect capital with Carter, Zavala, and Harris and possibly Foscue so close. A trade scenario that would seem to work on the surface would be Dunning, Duran, and a 31-35 prospect for Meadows in Detroit, back it up to 20-25 plus the other two for Santander or Hays. One few have mentioned on this site that makes some sense would be a package around Duran, Sborz, CHurch, and Dunning to SF for Yaz. Brings a familiar face to Bochy’ and provides both off and def improvement in the OF.
Yaz is not worth what you say he is.
Big no thanks on Yaz
No they ain’t
“Hi, Robbie.”
“Hi, Texas.”
Did anyone else forget that this guy hit 23 home runs in 2021?
He was AWESOME for the Tigers 2 years ago. He also walks a ton and stole 20 bases that year. I’m surprised his market was so slow, even if last year things went south on him. Good player.
I kinda think he’s gonna sign with the jays once Ryu goes on the 60 day
@bigdaddyt
I hope he signs with the Jays too. He’s really good against lefties and would give Varsho/KK a day off.
Darn
Double darn!
Good to see the Rangers going all in this year, maybe as a wildcard team.
I wouldn’t mind seeing him back with the Braves but not sure there’s a real need for another outfielder.
I could see him and Smith forming a solid platoon..
Grossman and Profar represent the last best options available in free agency and it seems like they have no real interest in Profar so the ball is definitely in Grossman’s court on this one.
Worst case you sign him and get Kole Calhoun type production, which is still better than the current options on the roster
I disagree. Calhoun level production is worse than the other options. Thompson put up a .4 WAR his 180 abs vs Calhoun 400 ab and his -1.1. If you didn’t watch them last year then you have no idea how bad it was to watch Calhoun outside of a two week stretch in the middle of May. Don’t get me wrong that signing Grossman might be a better option than the others currently but if the production is equal to Kole’s then ride with the young guys and figure it out through a trade during the season if no one steps up.
Yeah, I figured they’re either not interested in Profar or he’s asking for too much if he’s still on the market. I’m sure he’ll be playing for the Netherlands in the WBC, so there’ll be scouts watching him then.
Actually, I stand corrected. His brother Juremi is listed on the Netherlands WBC roster, but he is not.
This team is oddly constructed.
deGrom is already hurt, the official first sign of Spring Training.
I feel the Rangers season could be a circus to watch this year and I’m all for it. More mid-market teams should be operating like them. They have massive potential if health breaks their way and some of the kids take a step forward.
They definitely did the stars and scrubs thing. It can work but it creates more variance in outcomes. The feel like a team that could won 93 games or lose 93 games and either scenario wouldn’t be all that shocking.
I guess not so stars and scrubs. They’re mostly good but still feels high variance.
“unfathomably feeble.” Tell us what you’re really thinking, Steve, ha.
A Grossman/Smith platoon would not be a bad situation. Duran likely needs to start the season at AAA until he gets more OF reps and between Thompson, Smith, Miller, and Mathias they can cover all the other positions as needed. I would much rather them trade for Hays, Santander, or Meadows, but with that seeming unlikely the addition of Grossman would be useful. I think they need to add Will Smith/Britton to the BP Otto, Dunning, and Ragans should all start at AAA as should King. That leaves Odorizzi, Hearn, Burke, Hernandez, Leclerc, Barlow, and two pitchers out of the Cody/Smith/Britton/Kennedy/Moronta/Littel/Jacobsen/Duffy group to fill the remaining spots
“Unfathomably feeble” is a great turn of phrase.
Their catchers hit way better than that. Imagine! The 5 doubles stand out more than anything else, though. How do they run into 11 and then only get 5 doubles with the speedy guys they had there at times?
This “defensive standout” in center was 2 runs below average last year.
Is Taveras really a defensive standout? I know that’s his reputation but he’s looked at best as an average center fielder in his time in MLB. I go to and watch all the Rangers games and haven’t been impressed by him at all. I’m hoping this is the year he breaks out and lives up to all the hype. He’s had plenty of chances
They should be talking to Oakland for Ramon Laureano , or Seth Brown .
Not bad choices, but would prefer Meadows, Hays, Santander, or Yastrimski.
Robbie? Gross, man.
For chrissakes, you don’t need a comma before “either,” Steve.
“The Rangers’ hope, to this point, has seemingly been that some combination of former top prospect Josh Smith, veteran utilityman Brad Miller, former first-round pick Bubba Thompson, infielder/outfielder Mark Mathias and a slate of minor league signees (e.g. Clint Frazier, Travis Jankowski, Elier Hernandez) can patch the position together.”
What a long, unwieldy sentence that could have flowed better if you’d started it properly, then maybe split it up. Here’s a better version of this monstrosity:
“To this point, the Rangers’ hope has seemingly been that some combination of former top prospect Josh Smith, veteran utilityman Brad Miller, former first-round pick Bubba Thompson, infielder/outfielder Mark Mathias, and a slate of minor league signees (e.g. Clint Frazier, Travis Jankowski, Elier Hernandez) can patch the position together.”
“Grossman has had productive stretches against righties, too, though he’s been inconsistent in that regard.”
Stop freaking writing like this. A comma before “too” is never necessary, period, It’s a waste.