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Rangers Interested In Re-Signing Kirby Yates

By Leo Morgenstern | December 23, 2024 at 6:31pm CDT

The Rangers have already added four relievers this offseason: Robert Garcia, Jacob Webb, Shawn Armstrong, and Hoby Milner. However, they’re still lacking a proven high-leverage arm; Webb, Garcia, Armstrong, and Milner have a total of 15 career saves among them. With that in mind, president of baseball operations Chris Young still has work left to do. He acknowledged as much, telling Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, “We’re going to need to continue to pursue leverage arms.”

To that point, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal recently described re-signing Kirby Yates as “a priority” for Texas. Similarly, Grant wrote that they would “absolutely love” to re-sign their All-Star closer. Yates was phenomenal for the Rangers in 2024. The veteran right-hander pitched to a 1.17 ERA and 2.85 SIERA in 61 appearances, saving 33 games in 34 chances. He was just as successful at inducing whiffs as he was at limiting hard contact, thanks to a highly effective four-seam and splitter pairing. Despite his 37 years of age, he was one of the most dominant closers in the game, vastly outperforming the one-year, $4.5MM contract he signed ahead of the season.

It’s easy to see why the Rangers would love to reunite with Yates, even though he’ll come with a much higher price tag this time. MLBTR put Yates at no. 38 on our Top 50 Free Agents list, predicting he’d sign a one-year, $14MM deal. Young might have to get creative to find room in the budget for a contract like that – Texas is reportedly trying to drop beneath the luxury tax threshold in 2025 – but his recent decision to trade Nathaniel Lowe shows he’s not afraid to do just that. RosterResource currently puts the Rangers’ luxury tax payroll at approximately $229MM, which is $12MM below the first tier of the tax. Signing Yates could push them over, but not so far over that Young wouldn’t be able to find a way to bring them back down.

The Rangers bullpen finished 26th in ERA and 23rd in SIERA in 2024. To make matters worse, they lost their four most experienced, high-leverage arms to free agency: Yates, David Robertson, Andrew Chafin, and José Leclerc. Arms like Webb, Garcia, Armstrong, and Milner will be much-needed reinforcements, but none can quite replace what the team lost at the back end of the ’pen. Thus, bringing back Yates makes perfect sense. A.J. Minter, another veteran arm who has been linked to the Rangers, could potentially fill that hole instead.

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Texas Rangers Kirby Yates

Astros DFA Grae Kessinger
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22 Comments

  1. murphy8

    7 months ago

    Cubs better get him

    3
    Reply
    • rememberthecoop

      7 months ago

      I wouldn’t hold your breath.

      1
      Reply
    • Acoss1331

      7 months ago

      It’d be nice, but Hoyer doesn’t like chasing the expensive relievers.

      Reply
  2. mlbnyyfan

    7 months ago

    Minter and Houdini in the Bronx would make the Bullpen complete. Come home Houdini. Yankees still need a Lefty for BP.

    Reply
    • Salzilla

      7 months ago

      Yates is a righty, but Minter would fit nicely.

      1
      Reply
  3. Ranger Danger19

    7 months ago

    Yates was fun for a year but man it can go south fast at his age. Find a way to get Ryan Helsley.

    1
    Reply
    • rememberthecoop

      7 months ago

      Cards aren’t trading him.

      Reply
      • Ranger Danger19

        7 months ago

        They would be stupid not to. They aren’t a contender and he’s worth more now than he will be in July.

        3
        Reply
  4. sad tormented neglected mariners fan

    7 months ago

    What a comeback from the dead for yates, from all star with padres to injured for 3 seasons to not used with braves to all star again with rangers

    2
    Reply
  5. Dorothy_Mantooth

    7 months ago

    Nothing more than a 1 year deal. $10M base with incentives to bring it to $15M

    1
    Reply
  6. Dalton1017

    7 months ago

    I would prefer to re-sign robertson

    1
    Reply
  7. tom brunanskys black sock

    7 months ago

    I am fuming ! [insert team here] hasn’t made the prerequisite moves I demand! [insert gm here] is dumpster diving! [insert owner here] has a diamond encrusted bellow set for his fireplace in his yacht! I demand satisfaction!

    4
    Reply
    • jra0113

      7 months ago

      Quit yelling at me

      1
      Reply
      • Gwynning

        7 months ago

        This is “our time” jra… [insert preferred gender] is yelling at all of us, equally loudly.

        Reply
  8. thatdudetg

    7 months ago

    Trade Leody for a low tier prospect and cash, use that cash and the additional $12m to sign Yates, solidify the bullpen.

    Carter, Langford, Garcia man the OF with days off spelled by Duran and Smith.

    2
    Reply
  9. Mondesi’s Cannon

    7 months ago

    Just an FYI. Wrong Robert Garcia was linked. Thanks!

    2
    Reply
  10. The North

    7 months ago

    He still owes Blue Jays a year of service.

    1
    Reply
    • CO Guardening

      7 months ago

      Yates would surely be a priority. None of their other signings are that good.

      Reply
  11. christopher8002

    7 months ago

    Still a LOT of reliever roulette happening right now. The teams with money are waiting out Tanner Scott and Jeff Hoffman to see if the price comes down a little. Plus they know there are still some decent Plan C’s out there. Once those two are gone, some teams might hope that the Kirby Yates and others of the world have some price reductions — but there’s going to be a fair amount of competition, so those guys might do OK after all, if they’re willing to gamble with some patience.

    1
    Reply
  12. Whiskey and leather balls

    7 months ago

    Could’ve given the Brewers nothing like the yanks and gotten Devon Williams

    Reply
    • Whiskey and leather balls

      7 months ago

      But lets throw more cash at a past his prime reliever & pray he can repeat last year. Real savy

      Reply
      • Jbigz12

        7 months ago

        Durbin is a prime brewers player and a pretty decent prospect. Cortes is a mid rotation starter.

        That’s the equivalent of something like Mahle (plus eating $8.5MM off his deal and Foscue) But the rangers don’t really have a ML ready prospect with the skill set of Durbin and I’d argue Cortes is the more valuable pitcher right now.

        Reply

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