Texas Rangers: A Look At Needs Heading Into 2020
By Cody Smith
As the off-season continues to carry on, the Texas Rangers have a variety of needs that have to be addressed.
With the off-season off to a sluggish start for most of the teams in the MLB, everything is currently in speculation, and that is all the same for the Texas Rangers. The team has some needs that need to be addressed this off-season, and if they take advantage of some opportunities, they could find themselves as a favorite to secure a playoff spot in 2020.
Some of the big needs that the Texas Rangers need to address in the off-season are starting pitching, third base, and catcher.
Free Agency
The starting pitching group is a fairly strong one, and with the Rangers seeming like players this off-season, they should certainly be able to find a solid #3 starter at the worse to put behind Mike Minor and Lance Lynn. Some of the big name options that they could look at are Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Zack Wheeler, and Madison Bumgarner.
Just the addition of one of those starters would give the Texas Rangers a very nice rotation, and would be just one piece away from having one of the deeper starting rotations in the MLB.
Prediction: Unless the market goes bananas over starting pitching, paying all of these guys loads of money, the Rangers will probably target Ryu on a three to four-year deal with around $20 million per season.
Third base is another position that the Texas Rangers are probably going to go hard after. They have a big void to fill, and are still searching for someone to fill it since Adrian Beltre retired in 2018. The third base market has plenty of options with Anthony Rendon, Josh Donaldson, and Mike Moustakas heading up that market.
Prediction: The Rangers are going to push hard for Rendon, and if they miss out, they will then push just as hard to acquire Donaldson, and there is a good chance that they will land one of the two.
Catching has been a major issue for the Rangers for a long time, as they have yet to really find someone who can be their everyday catcher since in well over a decade, despite Mike Napoli and Jonathan Lucroy having brief stints catching for about a year or so each.
Even with Jose Trevino flashing glimmers of hope towards the end of the 2019 season, the Texas Rangers should still look for another catching option to possibly platoon with him, as there are not really any guys that can be starters, and the team needs a catcher, because Jeff Mathis clearly is not capable of hitting at the major league level.
Prediction: The Rangers take a look at the catching market, but do not dig too deep into their pocket books, and sign someone like a Robinson Chirinos to platoon with Trevino.
Trades
The trade market could be an interesting one to watch for the Texas Rangers this off-season, as there are a lot of options that they could look at. My favorite rumor is the Cubs trading Kris Bryant to the Rangers for a huge prospect haul, and then signing an extension similar to a deal like Anthony Rendon.
Other moves they could make are ones to acquire a #3 starter, as teams like the Red Sox may be looking to shred salary. Nomar Mazara may be a name that comes up frequently in trade talks as well, as the Texas Rangers have too many corner OF/DH type players (Mazara, Willie Calhoun, Shin-Soo Choo, and Nick Solak).
The Texas Rangers can easily capitalize on the trade market, if they play it correctly. If the Rangers manage to acquire just one of the aforementioned starting pitchers or third basement, then they should for sure look into acquiring someone to fill the other spot via a trade.
This off-season should be a fun one for Texas Rangers fans to watch, as the club is expected to make some significant moves for the first time since the signing of Shin-Soo Choo, and they for sure have the money to do so this off-season, which should not only make the off-season exciting for their fans, but should make them a team that everyone across the league should keep an eye on.