The Texas Rangers offseason spending budget might surprise you

With the 2022 MLB officially in the books, it’s time to look towards the future. The offseason can be one of the most exciting times of the year. The air is filled with anticipation and when Jeff Passan finally shows up on your feed for a Texas Rangers that is when things get interesting.

So how much room do the Texas Rangers have to spend?

Each team has a vastly different outlook on their offseason since there is no true salary cap in the MLB. Teams like the Dodgers or Yankees are always expected to be players for the marquee names while a team like the Pirates is usually swept under the rug. This is because the MLB has opted to institute luxury tax thresholds with each threshold being more expensive and the penalties becoming sharper over the course of each threshold.

The Texas Rangers went out and spent in 2021, landing both Marcus Semien and Corey Seager with contracts totaling $500 million between the two of them. The Texas Rangers made 14 signings this past offseason but despite that, they actually still have a decent amount of wiggle room to make some real moves this offseason.

According to spotrac.com the Texas Rangers have the 17th highest payroll in 2023 with $92 million guaranteed to be on the books. Spotrac projects their total payroll to be approximately $112 million when factoring in pre-arb and arbitration salaries. This gives plenty of spending space with the lowest tax threshold sitting at $233 million.

The Texas Rangers have five players slotted to enter in free agency but only two of them were above replacement level players according to fWAR. Those two being Martin Perez and Matt Moore. Both should be a priority for this squad as the Rangers pitching left a lot to be desired and these two were bright spots for such a weak unit.

It is a fairly strong free agent class in 2023. Some of the headline guys include Aaron Judge, Trea Turner, Carlos Rodon, Dansby Swanson, among others. The Rangers need to address pitching so Turner and Swanson won’t be of much use especially with the middle infield locked down for the next seven years.

Instead, the Rangers should look to use the majority of their payroll on guys like Clayton Kershaw, whom they’ve been linked to, Chris Bassit, and/or Tyler Anderson. Some middle-of-the-pack AAV (Average Annual Value) players who can make a real impact. Or they could go for the big splash in Jacob Degrom who has a projected salary of 3 years, $125M and look to add some smaller supplemental pieces around him.

The Texas Rangers have plenty of space to get themselves on an upwards trajectory through the upcoming free agent class. On November 10, the free agent market is completely open to all teams and chaos begins.

Want your voice heard? Join the Sports Dallas Fort-Worth team!

Write for us!

Buckle up, Rangers fans