Texas Rangers: 3 Free Agents to Sign This Winter

Here are three players the Texas Rangers should sign in free agency this winter

The 2020 MLB off-season is finally here, which means that the Texas Rangers can finally start to make some roster moves. They can even look at signing some new players to help turn the team around.

Today, I am going to go over three potential players that the Texas Rangers should sign. Now, it does not necessarily mean that they will sign them, or even reach out to them, but their additions will most certain impact the team in a positive way hence the recommendation.

Corey Kluber-SP

Yes, the Texas Rangers just opted out of his deal for the 2021 season, but that does not necessarily rule out a return to the club for the Coppell native.

It makes sense for the team to try to bring him back on something like a 2-year deal with a lot of incentives and a team opt-out after the 2021 season, especially since he has some continuity with the franchise, and is from the area.

Maybe something that has a base of $10 million, but a max of $35 million if he hits certain marks for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. This would be one of those semi-low risk-high reward signings that Jon Daniels has been doing the past few years with Mike Minor, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Jordan Lyles.

I think that Kluber would be interested in staying around, as his market is probably questionable for this off-season, given his injury issues the past two years. The real question mark would be if the Texas Rangers are willing to go after him, or give opportunities to their younger players.

James McCann-C

McCann has been excellent his last two seasons, as he has hit .276 in 159 games for the Chicago White Sox, and even made the All-Star team in 2019.

The Texas Rangers have a pretty clear need at catcher, even with how impressive Sam Huff was in his ten games of action in 2020.

McCann is a guy that could be their primary catcher for probably the next two to three seasons, and the club could use Huff there to give him days off when needed.

And even if Huff is ready to be an everyday MLB player, the Rangers still have a need at first base that could probably be filled by one of those guys as they platoon.

McCann is a dream signing, as the team would likely have to shell out a decent amount of money to land him. But he would be well worth it, because his signing would shore up the catching position for a team that has struggled mightily there since the days of Ivan Rodriguez (excluding Mike Napoli and Jonathan Lucroy stints).

To sign McCann, the Texas Rangers would probably have to give him a 4 year deal worth around $15 million per year. The Rangers want to cut payroll, and they would still accomplish that in signing McCann thanks to Shin-Soo Choo‘s expiring deal, and opting out of Kluber’s contract.

That being said, I think if McCann came to Texas, he would probably get something like a 4 year $60 million deal with a fourth year buyout of around $5 million (so $50 million guaranteed).

Greg Holland-RP

As much as I wanted to say Trevor Bauer here, I needed to be realistic, and Holland honestly seems like someone that could fly under the radar and land with the Texas Rangers.

Holland posted a terrific 2020 season, after a mediocre 2019 campaign, which will likely worry teams and prevent a bidding war. And the fact that he is going to be 35 on Opening Day won’t help his cause much, either.

He seems like the type of player that the Rangers like to bring in to help shore up the back end of their bullpen, as the experienced arm, with the hopes of him posting an ERA around 4 (hopefully lower).

The cost probably won’t be something that the team is going to worry too much about, as I would expect him to get a deal in the neighborhood of $3.5 to $5 million max per season.

My prediction would be if he signs with the Texas Rangers, that it would be a 2 year, $7 million deal with the Rangers having the option to buy him out for $1 million after the 2021 season.

Texas Rangers Free Agent Summary

I think that Greg Holland, James McCann, and Corey Kluber would be a terrific off-season haul for the Texas Rangers, as they would help sure up some spots across the team, assuming they can stay healthy.

The two pitchers would be medium to low-risk signings with potential high rewards for the team, while McCann would help the Rangers out at catcher, and bridge the gap before Sam Huff officially takes over, and at the worst the Rangers can put one of them at first base.

Overall, the pre-renewal, arbitration, and extension signing Texas Rangers have cleared about $42 million in salary with the buy-out of Kluber ($1 million), and the expiring deals of Shin-Soo Choo and Jesse Chavez.

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Even if my calculations are a little bit off, the trio of players that the Texas Rangers would bring in would still save them around $15 million compared to 2020’s payroll, which would accomplish ownership’s goal of slashing the team’s budget, while also putting out a better product in 2021.

Published on 11/02/2020 at 17:01 PM
Last updated at 11/02/2020 at 15:31 PM

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