Joc Pederson has officially exercised his $18.5MM player option for the 2026 season, according to a report from The Associated Press. The deal contains a matching mutual option for 2027. This was the only option decision for the Rangers this offseason.
It was also one of the easiest option calls of the winter. Pederson’s first season in Arlington was terrible. He signed as a near full-time designated hitter who was supposed to tee off on right-handed pitching. He instead hit .181/.285/.328 with nine home runs over 306 trips to the plate. He started the year slowly, fractured his right hand when he was hit by a pitch in May, and was only marginally better in the second half. Pederson had a strong August but otherwise struggled throughout the year.
He obviously wouldn’t have come close to an $18.5MM salary on the open market. That made it a no-brainer to stick around for what he hopes to be a rebound season. Pederson mashed at a .275/.393/.515 clip with the Diamondbacks two seasons ago. The Rangers probably don’t have much choice but to run it back with him as their primary DH. They’d be unable to offload more than a couple million dollars in a trade.
Texas is likely to reshape the offense via trades or non-tenders of the likes of Adolis García, Jonah Heim and Josh Jung. They’d have a tougher time finding a taker for the underwater Pederson and Marcus Semien deals. It’d be surprising if they trade Corey Seager, whose contract would be prohibitive for all but a handful of teams and who remains one of the team’s two or three best hitters.
His collapse was rapid, which suggests perhaps some other underlying cause. Wouldn’t surprise me if he had a bounce back in 2026.
Does a broken hand qualify as an underlying cause?
Hypothetically of course, what bad contract would the Rangers have to take back to trade Pederson.
Nolan Arenado level or worse. At least Nolan can still play defense. Joc needs to get into better shape
Joc needs to lose weight and arrive at Spring Training in better playing shape. This would help him in any comeback attempt.
@Redstitch108*2 I 100% agree. It looked like he came into spring training 30 pounds over weight last year
One of entirely too many back contracts on the Rangers’ books.
Bye bye TEX.