Texas Rangers

The New York Mets are reportedly "most worried" about the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers as they attempt to re-sign starting pitcher Jacob deGrom, who opted out of his contract to become a free agent.

SNY's Andy Martino reported Tuesday the Mets are expected to make a "strong" offer to bring back deGrom early in free agency but aren't planning to stay in a long-term bidding war with the Braves, Rangers and other interested clubs if that's how the situation plays out.

Martino also noted the two sides have had "preliminary contact":

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The top of New York's pitching staff is the main point of concern as free agency gets prepared to open Thursday, especially after the team was able to re-sign closer Edwin Diaz to solidify the back end of the bullpen.

There are a lot of question marks behind Max Scherzer, which means multiple additions could be necessary if Carlos Carrasco and Chris Bassitt also depart.

DeGrom coming back would provide a major boost, but it doesn't sound like the Mets' front office is willing to meet or exceed any offer to keep him.

The club is willing to pay fair market value or "perhaps go a bit higher" but will otherwise attempt to fill the void in another way, per Martino.

Watching the two-time Cy Young Award winner, who's pitched his entire nine-year career with the Mets, land with the NL East rival Braves would be a tough pill to swallow, though.

Atlanta already features one of MLB's best rotations with Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Kyle Wright and Charlie Morton, and picking up a starter with a 2.52 ERA across 209 career starts would give the Braves the best starting group in baseball.

Meanwhile, deGrom represents a bigger need for the Rangers, who have more talent on their roster than their 68-94 record in 2022 would indicate. One of the missing pieces is a true ace.

In October, Texas general manager Chris Young didn't hide his intention to enter free agency with an eye toward improving the rotation.

"We will be active on the free-agent market with the intention of signing multiple starting pitchers," Young told reporters.

Landing deGrom would be a massive step in the right direction toward rebuilding that area of the roster.

All told, it's hard to imagine the Mets won't do everything in their power to keep their longtime ace, but all signs point toward ample competition on the market.

The Texas Rangers may pursue New York Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom if the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner declines his $32.5 million player option for 2023 and becomes a free agent next offseason.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post provided the news Thursday.

"The Rangers are intent on adding a big-time starter, and word is they may go for Jacob deGrom. Folks marvel at how MLB’s best pitcher is throwing better than ever off his 13-month layoff, and while there aren’t a lot of teams ready to take a $40 million gamble, the Rangers might.

"Rangers baseball president Chris Young wouldn’t address any specific pitching targets but said they 'will leave no stone unturned' in their search to upgrade pitching a year after they significantly upgraded offense."

DeGrom, 34, has posted a 5-2 record, a 2.32 ERA, a 0.61 WHIP and 86 strikeouts in 54.1 innings over nine starts this season. He missed the first half of the season after suffering a stress reaction on his scapula.

Since 2018, deGrom has gone 37-23 with a 1.97 ERA, a 0.86 WHIP and a 12.2 K/9 rate.

DeGrom told reporters in spring training that he planned to opt out of his contract and enter free agency. However, he also made clear that he was interested in sticking around long-term with the Mets.

The ace won't have a shortage of suitors, though. Texas isn't shy about spending big money and notably paid $500 million for middle infielders Corey Seager and Marcus Semien last offseason.

However, the 65-84 Rangers' pitching staff sports the fourth-highest ERA in the American League. They need more help in the rotation and bullpen to get back in the playoff mix, and deGrom could go a long way toward making that happen.

At the same time, Mets owner Steve Cohen isn't shy about spending money either. New York has the second-highest payroll in baseball these days behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As Heyman noted on Sept. 1, "Mets owner Steve Cohen told The Post he wants to keep deGrom, and you have to think he has that ability." That's despite the fact that Heyman also wrote that some believe deGrom "will shoot to become the first $50 million player."

Cohen brought in big talents such as Max Scherzer and Francisco Lindor to fat contracts that have enabled the team to reside in first place in the National League East.

Keeping deGrom around should certainly be No. 1 on Cohen's to-do list this offseason as the Mets look to create a sustained run of playoff success. The Rangers and other teams will obviously be in pursuit, but the Mets have the deep pockets to get it done as well.

Amid a disappointing 2022 season after spending big money to upgrade their roster last offseason, the Texas Rangers continue to clean house with Jon Daniels the latest person to be let go.

The Rangers announced Wednesday that Daniels has been fired as president of baseball operations. General manager Chris Young will take over his role.

The Rangers today announced that Jon Daniels has been relieved of his duties as President of Baseball Operations, effective immediately. Executive Vice President & General Manager Chris Young will assume oversight of all aspects of the Rangers’ baseball operations department. pic.twitter.com/lc1ACfp1tZ

— Texas Rangers PR (@TXRangersPR) August 17, 2022

Wednesday's announcement comes two days after the Rangers parted ways with manager Chris Woodward.

The Rangers were one of the most aggressive teams in Major League Baseball when it came to spending over the winter. They handed out contracts totaling $556 million to sign Corey Seager (10 years, $325 million), Marcus Semien (seven years, $175 million) and Jon Gray (four years, $56 million).

It seemed like a sound strategy to accelerate the franchise's return to postseason contention. They finished with a sub-.400 winning percentage in each of the previous two seasons, including a 60-102 record in 2021.

"We've been very transparent," Young told reporters in December when the Rangers introduced their free-agent signings. "We were a 102-loss team. We haven't run from that. But we have a vision, we have a plan and this is how we're going to accomplish it. 'Does this scare you? Do you want to be part of this? Do you want to do something special that's never been done in Texas Ranger history?'

"We knew the answer with these players before we asked the question. And that's part of the process for us identifying the right people to help turn this organization around.”

Seager and Gray have played well this season, though maybe not up to the full potential based on the deals they signed. Seager leads the team with 26 homers and was named to the American League All-Star team. Gray has a 3.83 ERA and is averaging a career-high 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings, but he's currently on the injured list with a strained oblique.

Semien has been a huge disappointment with a .236/.294/.403 slash line in 115 games. He finished third in AL MVP voting twice in the previous three seasons and hit a career-high 45 homers for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021.

The Rangers have played better overall in 2022 than in recent years, but their 52-64 record is still 9.5 games behind the Blue Jays for the final playoff spot in the AL.

Daniels has worked in Texas' front office since 2002. He became the youngest general manager in MLB history (28 years old) when the Rangers promoted him to the job after John Hart stepped down in October 2005.

The Rangers added the title of president of baseball operations to Daniels' résumé in March 2013. Young came on board as general manager and executive vice president in December 2020.

The Texas Rangers fired manager Chris Woodward on Monday amid a disappointing season.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News initially reported the news.

Texas is coming off back-to-back wins against the Seattle Mariners, but it entered Monday with a 51-63 record that puts it 9.5 games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League.

The team is just 10-14 since the All-Star break.

In three-and-a-half seasons with the Rangers, Woodward had a 211-287 record with zero years over .500.

Woodward spent 12 seasons in the majors as a player, including seven with the Toronto Blue Jays, excelling as a utility player in the field who lined up at seven different positions.

The 46-year-old quickly entered the coaching ranks after retiring in 2012, serving as an infield coach with the Miami Marlins before becoming the Los Angeles Dodgers' third-base coach. He was hired as the Texas manager after the 2018 season, taking over a team that went just 67-95 the previous year.

There were slight improvements in 2019, but the team still couldn't get over the hump toward playoff contention.

Even after finishing 60-102 in 2021, the Rangers gave Woodward a contract extension through 2023.

"He is the leader on and off field the field, in the way he goes about pushing the group and consistency pushing that message throughout the organization," president of baseball operations Jon Daniels told reporters last November. "I just feel really strongly about him and how he goes about his business and who he is as a person."

It now seems the patience has worn out after another poor start in 2022.

The Rangers have invested heavily in free agency, adding Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and others, but now they need a new manager to get the most out of the roster in 2023 and beyond.

Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward called Yankee Stadium a "Little League ballpark" on Sunday after Gleyber Torres hit a walk-off homer against the Rangers over the right field fence. Yankee Stadium has one of the shortest right-field porches in baseball.

On Monday, Woodward clarified his remarks.

"Probably bad words on my part," he told reporters. "I gave it a layup for a lot of people. But listen, I meant no disrespect, obviously, to this place. And it's obviously a world-class organization, ballpark. I talk about it as always being like one of my favorite places to come play, but I understand why Yankee fans will get upset about it. That's why I love them."

Torres' homer traveled 369 feet, which according to MLB Statcast would have made it a home run in 26 of the MLB's 30 ballparks.

Gleyby Boom 💪 pic.twitter.com/6eAmbTyTvO

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 8, 2022

Woodward didn't have those stats in front of him after the game when he made his remarks, however.

"Small ballpark. That's an easy out in 99 percent of ballparks," he said at the time. "Just happened to hit it in a Little League ballpark to right field."

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Woodward's comments may have been borne slightly out of frustration with his team's play to start the year. The Rangers are 11-15, while the Yankees are an American League-best 19-8. 

Torres had his own take on the remarks. 

"Both teams play in the same ballpark. It's the same dimension," he said. "I feel good to hit a walk-off homer in the Little League ballpark."

So did the Yankees after Giancarlo Stanton blasted a 461-foot bomb in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader:

We are going to guess this is a home run in 30/30 Major League ballparks. pic.twitter.com/065f7tEAI3

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 8, 2022

Even Yankees announcer Michael Kay got in on the action:

"Guess Woodward would like that one"

Shots fired @RealMichaelKay pic.twitter.com/rZxzEs5uV9

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 8, 2022

Woodward, who played in New York for the Mets in the 2005 and 2006 seasons, walked back his comments on Monday.

"I adore the city. The ballpark is probably one of my favorite places to come," he said. "They've got a short right field. They always have. Honestly, it was back to the old park. And that's kind of what makes this place unique in a lot of ways. And hats off to Gleyber. Man, he hit that ball hard."

After making several big splashes in free agency, the Texas Rangers may look to the trade market to continue upgrading their roster.

Per MLB Network's Jon Morosi, the Rangers have contacted the Cincinnati Reds about acquiring a starting pitcher from the trio of Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray and Tyler Mahle.

The Rangers have been the surprise team of the offseason. They have spent $561.2 million on reported agreements with Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Kole Calhoun and Jon Gray.

Top 10 $ committed to free agents so far:

Texas: $561.2 million
New York Mets: $254 million
Toronto: $121 million
Seattle: $115 million
Detroit: $77 million
Houston: $67 million
Miami: $53 million
Los Angeles Angels: $45 million
St. Louis: $44 million
San Francisco: $36 million

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 29, 2021

After reporting Semien's seven-year, $175 million deal, ESPN's Jeff Passan noted the Rangers "aren't done" and "went into this winter with money to spend."

The agreements with Seager and Gray followed suit, but it still doesn't appear as if Texas' front office is standing down.

The Reds apparently came into this offseason with the goal of cutting payroll. General manager Nick Krall told reporters Nov. 3 after trading catcher Tucker Barnhart to the Detroit Tigers that they "must align our payroll to our resources and continue focusing on scouting and developing young talent from within our system."

Per Spotrac, Gray is the Reds' fourth-highest-paid player in 2022 with a base salary of $10.4 million. Castillo and Mahle are both entering their second year of arbitration with projected salaries of $7.5 million and $5.5 million, respectively, for next season. 

Mahle is the youngest of that group at 27 years old. He led Reds starters with 210 strikeouts and ranked second with a 3.75 ERA. Castillo tied for the MLB lead with 33 starts and posted a 3.98 ERA in 187.2 innings.

Gray posted his highest ERA (4.19) since 2018, but he averaged more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings for the third consecutive season.

The Rangers' moves suggest a strong desire to improve after finishing last in the American League West with a 60-102 record. Adding more help to their starting rotation would go a long way toward making them competitive in a loaded division with the Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics.   

The Texas Rangers have thrown their hat into the ring of teams that mean to contend in the near future, and all it cost them was $560 million.

That's for the four players they've signed over the last few days, with right fielder Kole Calhoun on the low end at one year and $5.2 million and shortstop Corey Seager on the high end at 10 years and $325 million. In the middle are right-hander Jon Gray at four years, $56 million and second baseman Marcus Semien at seven years, $175 million.

When you do a thing like this, you've earned the right to make tweets like these:

pic.twitter.com/0I5VBg52EX

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) November 29, 2021

Simply working with the average salaries of these deals, the Rangers have added about $77 million to their payroll for 2022. And they might not be done yet. As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported, Texas could have a $100 million budget for new salaries this winter. 

And yet, there is that nagging sense of doubt. Because while the Rangers are undeniably improved, what they've improved is a 102-loss team that's stuck in an American League West division headlined by the reigning league champions and at least two other contenders.

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The Rangers Definitely Aren't Worse

Even relative to their 22-38 slide through the shortened 2020 season, there's really no way to sugarcoat just how awful the Rangers were in 2021.

By way of an AL-low .294 OBP, the only thing their offense was good at was making outs. Their pitchers, meanwhile, ranked second from the bottom in strikeouts and third from the bottom in home runs. Hence how they allowed 190 more runs than they scored.

As if all this wasn't enough to make Rangers fans go "ugh" on a daily basis, the team also parted ways with stars like Joey Gallo, Kyle Gibson and Ian Kennedy at the trade deadline. Yet its farm system was still outside MLB.com's top 10 come August, and the lack of further stars to trade left virtually no hope for further growth in that department in the winter.

To their credit, though, the Rangers started to get creative even before owners Ray Davis and Bob Simpson opened the organization's checkbook.

In addition to mixing up their front office in September, the Rangers also made a low-key excellent hire earlier in November when they brought in Donnie Ecker to be their bench coach and offense coordinator under manager Chris Woodward. Ecker previously had a hand in turning the San Francisco Giants offense into a home run machine in 2021.

The Rangers nonetheless had to give Ecker something to work with, so good on them for forming perhaps the best offensive middle infield in baseball.

For his part, Semien has been an MVP finalist in two of the last three years and is coming off setting a record for a primary second baseman with a 45-homer season for the Toronto Blue Jays. For his, Seager is one of the most gifted hitters in the sport and, in a related story, one of just two shortstops to top a 125 OPS+ four times since 2016.

There's nowhere on the diamond that Seager and Semien wouldn't be upgrades over what the Rangers had in 2021, but they're especially welcome on the middle of the infield. To wit, Texas got sub-.700 OPSes and 24 total homers from second base and shortstop this year.

Calhoun will be a less exciting addition if he can't move on from the .670 OPS he had in 2021. The fact that the Rangers wanted him on a major league deal, though, could indicate that they (and specifically Ecker) see a way to get him back to the .864 OPS he posted in 2020.

On the other side of the ball, the task before Gray is to help lift a starting rotation that ranked 28th with minus-0.1 rWAR in 2021. He can do that simply by living up to his generally above-average track record, as he pitched to a 107 ERA+ in seven years with the Colorado Rockies.

So, there you have it. Four players, four much-needed signs of hope for 2022 and beyond.

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But Where Is the Rangers' Path to Contention?

Trouble is, the Rangers are still looking up at some tough competition within the AL West.

Of the four teams that finished ahead of them this year, only one is vulnerable. That's the Oakland Athletics, who've reached one of those points when their payroll has gotten too big for comfort and therefore must be pared down. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, none of Matt Olson, Matt Chapman or any other A is untouchable.

On the other hand, the Houston Astros are clearly uninterested in vacating their throne as the de facto kings of the division.

Mere weeks removed from playing in their third World Series in five years, the Astros have already re-signed Justin Verlander and also added relief ace Hector Neris. Next, they apparently mean to find an appropriate replacement for Carlos Correa at shortstop:

The Astros continue to send the message to other teams and agents that they fully intend to compete in the years ahead. The signing of Justin Verlander fits that, and they are in the market for elite shortstops.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 21, 2021

Far from content to sit on this year's 90-win roster, the Seattle Mariners also mean to move forward. They scored a huge hit in signing AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray, though their trade for All-Star infielder Adam Frazier is not one to be overlooked.

And as tempting as it may be, don't sleep on the Los Angeles Angels.

Though AL MVP Shohei Ohtani deserves the lion's share of the credit, it's no small feat that the Angels lost only 85 games in 2021 even though Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon were non-factors due to injuries. If they and newcomer ace Noah Syndergaard stay healthy, the Angels will have a good chance of snapping a string of six straight losing seasons in 2022.

Put simply, there is no power vacuum in the AL West right now. Which, of course, makes it odd that the Rangers are acting as if there is.

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The Rangers Need More

Though it's way too early to have any real sense of how the five teams in the AL West stack up for 2022, FanGraphs' WAR projections allow for a general sense:

• Astros: 45.6
• Angels: 39.1
• Mariners: 33.5
• Athletics: 32.9
• Rangers: 32.5

Never mind from the outhouse to the penthouse. If this is any indication, the Rangers have gone from the outhouse to...a slightly bigger outhouse?

There are avenues from which to quibble with this prognostication. For example, it's hard to account for the possible impact that Ecker will have on Adolis Garcia, Nathaniel Lowe and other incumbent bats. There's also the possibility of ample contributions from MLB-ready prospects like infielders Josh Jung and Ezequiel Duran and right-hander Cole Winn.

However, none of those prospects are what you'd call blue-chip talents. And of the players the Rangers had on their major league roster before their four new additions, only Garcia came out of 2021 looking anything like a star. And since he only had a .286 OBP to go with his 31 homers this year, giving him that much credit is a kindness.

So this is not, say, the Chicago Cubs signing Jon Lester and Jason Heyward or the Blue Jays signing Semien and George Springer. Those were cases of teams spending big bucks to plug veterans into what gaps still remained in talented, homegrown rosters. The Rangers don't have one of those.

Not yet, anyway. Perhaps they will in a few years' time when Seager, Semien and Gray will still be around. But if their true purpose is to make a play for 2023 or 2024, they could have A) not committed $231 million to two guys who are already over 30 or B) just waited.

What the Rangers have done is still worth clapping for, if for no other reason than they're not tanking even though they had that option. But if they want to silence doubts about their readiness to contend, they'll have to spend even more than $560 million.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs.

In the aftermath of their agreements with Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, the Texas Rangers could turn to the trade market to free up space in their infield.

Per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the New York Yankees are pursuing a trade with the Rangers for 2020 Gold Glove winner Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Sunday the Rangers agreed to a seven-year, $175 million deal with Semien.

On Monday, Passan reported Seager agreed to join the Rangers on a 10-year, $325 million contract.

Kiner-Falefa has played shortstop, third base and catcher in his career. He won the AL Gold Glove at third base last year after leading the league with seven defensive runs saved, per FanGraphs.

After Elvis Andrus was traded to the Oakland Athletics before the start of the 2021 campaign, the Rangers moved Kiner-Falefa over to shortstop. His defense didn't suffer, as he ranked third among all qualified players at the position with 10 defensive runs saved.

Kiner-Falefa doesn't boast a lot of power in his swing, but he makes enough contact to hit for a solid average. The 26-year-old has a .265/.316/.354 slash line in 392 games with the Rangers.

Since the start of 2020, Kiner-Falefa has a .273 batting average with 11 homers and 63 RBI in 216 games.

The Yankees ranked 22nd in FanGraphs' defensive value in 2021. Their shortstops, primarily Gleyber Torres, finished tied for 26th in MLB with minus-15 defensive runs saved.

Kiner-Falefa wouldn't be the big splash acquisition that Yankees fans would get excited about, but his defensive skill set would be an upgrade for the team in 2022 and beyond.