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?
At the very least it’s a handy excuse.
Left handy or right handy?
He was terrible before the broken hand. He set the Rangers record for consecutive ABs without a hit in April and didn’t break his hand until May.
With the limited information provided, I think I can piece together what happened.
So Joc is trying to extend his hitless streak, accidentally hits a single, walls back to the dugout and punches a wall in disgust, breaking his hand.
Then got angrier because his hand made contact.
Nah. Back in my day we’d rub dirt on it and all would be good.
In my day I walked five miles to school in the snow, and it was uphill in both directions.
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
And ended the season 50 pounds overweight!
I’m glad that others like y’all see that. I always raised an eyebrow at the fact he used to be a good CF and went from that to unplayable in the OF by the time he was 28 or 29
A couple of off-seasons ago, my son saw Joc being stretched out by a trainer on the Palo Alto high school track infield. I asked if he was sure the trainer wasn’t performing CPR.
One of entirely too many back contracts on the Rangers’ books.
Bye bye TEX.
Not for Joc but the Braves make sense for a few players that Texas has and could possibly look to move in an effort to create financial flexibility. Seager, Eovaldi, and even deGrom, all would work for some of Atlanta’s needs
I’m particularly curious around Sean Murphy being a part of the deal not just for money but because if truly healthy his value as a good hitting catcher would be great for Texas.
You’re kidding, right?
Why would Texas trade deGrom, Seager and Eovaldi?
They’re the Rangers three best players. The franchise isn’t liquidating.
Yes, he was kidding.
Easy call there, maybe some stability will help him. Always on the move.
I think he and Ozuna will have surprisingly better years this year. Both were playing through injuries and for sure have prove it written all over them.
Up until 2025, his career was structured more like a wave with slight ups and downs, not real consistent improvement or decline. Definitely not an everyday player anymore.
Making more than Shane Bieber! Crazy.
Comeback player of the year candidate.
In other news, water is wet.
I knew this was happening, and although it is likely to be bad, I hope he breaks out of that slump (And get back to form).
Looks like Babe Ruth, hits worse than Michael Conforto!
Pederson’s contract raised eyebrows from the start.
Then the guy showed up overweight and overconfident. He had Marlon Byrd — drug suspendee Marlon Byrd!! — as his personal hitting coach and refused to flush him even after Joc’s record terrible start.
After he broke his hand, the Rangers wanted him to do a minor league rehab stint until he got his swing back. Joc spent two days there and said, “Naw, I’m good.” But of course he wasn’t.
Pederson deserves a solid 25% (if not more) share of the blame for the Rangers’ disappointing season. (Garcia, Semien and Heim deserve most of the rest).
Now Pederson wants to steal more money and of course he exercised his $18.5 mil option.
But I’ll bet he shows up fat and lazy and doesn’t hit during spring training, the Rangers will just cut him and move on.
Fat dude is gonna rake next year. No need to cut him in spring training
How did Pederson steal if the Rangers and his agent mutually agreed on the money?
I would say he is stealing by showing up 40 lbs overweight. It literally states in mlb contracts to stay in first class physical condition. Doesn’t seem like a lot to ask to get paid $18M a year. Dude used to play centerfield.
How is Semien’s deal underwater? Gold glove and WAR is not out of line with career numbers, but low this past year.
Not sure that Seager’s “contract would be prohibitive for all but a handful of teams” Most people are saying that the market for Bo Bichette is +/-$200 million. Seager’s remaining contract is six years and about $190 million. And Seager’s a much better player than Bichette. He finished fiifth in the AL in bWAR, despite playing only 102 games. Bichette was tied for 30th, in 139 games. And Seager still plays an outstanding SS, Bichette may have to move to 2B or 3B. Yes, Seager is older than Bichette, but I think a lot of mid market teams would stretch to put Seager in the middle of their lineup and infield. I don’t think the Rangers should trade him (unless they also trade deGrom and Eovaldi and go for a full rebuild), but if they did, there is likely a strong market for him, both among midmarket teams and, of the big market teams, the Dodgers, Yankees and Jays (if Bichette leaves) all could stand to improve at SS.