3 Rangers Playing Their Last Season in Texas

Andrew Heaney

Last offseason, the Rangers signed veteran pitcher Andrew Heaney to a two-year deal. Heaney was coming off of a pedestrian year with the Dodgers and was considered somewhat of an afterthought and just another arm to put in the back of the Rangers' rotation.

Once Jacob deGrom went down early in the season, however, Heaney became much more than an afterthought for the Rangers. He was forced to step up while moving up in the rotation and was tasked with helping keep the Rangers' rotation afloat throughout the regular season.

He put up solid numbers throughout the season, including winning ten games while on the mound and finishing with a 4.15 ERA, which helped keep the Rangers' rotation stabilized, especially until Max Scherzer arrived on the scene at the beginning of August.

However, Heaney is going into the final year of his contract, and the odds of the Rangers re-signing him are pretty unlikely. The Rangers currently have several young pitchers developing, including Jack Leiter, who is expected to be ready to begin his career in the majors by next season.

If the Rangers were to re-sign Heaney, he would simply be standing in the way of player development, even if he could put up reliable numbers at the end of the Rangers rotation. 

Overall, Heaney's time with the Rangers may be coming to an end soon, but hopefully, he can put up another solid season in the time being. Like last season, he will be tasked once again with helping hold down the rotation at least for the first half of the season until Scherzer and deGrom return from the IL around the season's midway point.