4 Former Rangers that Texas Will Regret Letting Walk in 2024
Just because the Texas Rangers won the 2023 World Series doesn't mean that they won't regret letting these four players walk this winter.
While it seems like the Texas Rangers won the 2023 World Series yesterday, the start of the 2024 MLB season is nearly here. The baseball world hasn't seen a back-to-back champion in nearly 25 years, leaving time to tell if the Rangers can be the first club to do so since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees won three in a row.
Repeating as the World Series Champions is never easy, especially after the offseason the Rangers just experienced. Although they signed a handful of players to help remain a title threat, they also lost some key names that'll make it difficult to go all the way in 2024.
With that in mind, here are four former Rangers that Texas will regret letting walk this offseason.
1. LHP Jordan Montgomery
The Rangers bolstered their starting rotation in July by acquiring Jordan Montgomery in a five-player deal with the St. Louis Cardinals ahead of the deadline. The former 2014 fourth-rounder was excellent for Texas down the stretch, going 4-2 with a 2.79 ERA and 1.094 WHIP with 58 strikeouts across 67 2/3 innings in 11 starts.
He also led the Rangers to three postseason victories, which included beating the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.
But rather than reward Montgomery for his efforts, Texas has allowed the veteran hurler to rot in free agency. Although, in theory, a reunion could still happen, it was only on Feb. 14 that Texas general manager Chris Young revealed that there likely won't be "any additions coming at this point" at this point of the offseason, likely due to the TV broadcast contract negotiations.
The longer Montgomery sits in free agency, the more likely it is that he'll sign with another team. Considering how integral the 31-year-old was to the Rangers' World Series run, it isn't hard to imagine that it'll be harder to pull off an encore without him.