ARLINGTON – The Rangers have missed the playoffs two years straight; the guy who managed them to their only world title is back on his couch; his heir apparent left town this week without a deal; it’s still unclear if the owner will spend what’s necessary to fix what went wrong; and the president didn’t have any great answers to all of the above at the season wrap-up.
On the plus side, there was plenty of free parking at the Globe on Friday.
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Frankly, it’s hard to know where to start with all the uncertainty around a team just two seasons removed from a parade, unless it’s up top.
Rangers
Bottom line: Ray Davis needs to rethink putting a hard cap on his spending this winter, as Chris Young indicated would be the case, because this ain’t Kansas City.
No one’s saying Davis needs to go toe-to-toe with the Dodgers, Mets or Yankees. Not even the Phillies. But when you represent the nation’s fourth-largest market, you shouldn’t act ashamed to spend like it, an old complaint around here.
The Rangers’ history with two sets of owners this century is that they drop a bank on Alex Rodriguez or Corey Seager or Jacob deGrom or Marcus Semien, then shut it down. Tom Hicks simply couldn’t keep up with the Joneses. Davis has deeper pockets, but he’s also what you might call “careful” with his money.
Frankly, I’m not even sure how Young talked him into paying for Seager, Semien, deGrom and Eovaldi, but, once you’ve made such a commitment, you can’t suddenly turn out your pockets. Not if you want to protect your investment.
Texas Rangers president of baseball, Chris Young (left) and general manager Ross Fenstermaker listen during a post season press conference, on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
Because here’s the thing: Davis could complain he didn’t get his money’s worth from his biggest stars this season, and he’d get no objection here, but he got more from them than anyone else.
Seager (6.1), Eovaldi (4.2), Semien (3.5) and DeGrom (2.9) made up about half of the Rangers’ payroll this year, but they were also first, third, fourth and sixth on the club in baseballreference.com’s Wins Above Replacement, or WAR. According to WAR, the Rangers’ top seven players were rounded out by Wyatt Langford (5.6), Josh Smith (3.0) and Adolis Garcia (2.7).
The combined commitment to those seven players, according to spotrac.com, was $132.8 million.
Consider the Astros, who also happen to be free this October and posted a total payroll in the same vicinity as the Rangers. Houston’s top seven WARs were Hunter Brown (6.1), Jeremy Pena (5.6), Framber Valdez (3.8), Yainer Diaz (2.7), Bryan Abreu (2.6), Jake Myers (2.5) and Isaac Paredes (2.3).
Tax, title and license for the Astros above: $36.8 million, not even a Highland Park bungalow within deGrom.
What this evidence suggests is, even without Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Christian Walker or Lance McCullers putting up big numbers, the Astros remained competitive because of the production from their cheaper goods. The Rangers can’t say the same. Their farm system simply hasn’t produced at the same rate as Houston’s. Until Sebastian Walcott grows up, if then, the Rangers’ young stars won’t catch the Astros’ anytime soon.
Think what the Astros might have done if they’d brought back Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, as they should have.
Jim Crane dismantled a dynasty before its time was up because he didn’t want to pay for it. The only way the Rangers can challenge the Astros and Mariners next year is if they don’t make the same mistake.
Other than saying he’s not sure what the payroll’s floor will be next year, or that it “certainly” won’t exceed the CBT threshold of $244 million, Young didn’t complain about his boss’s spending habits. Whatever his payroll, he said, “We are going to have no excuses whatsoever in terms of competing.”
Davis is no doubt skittish with a lockout in December of next year almost a certainty, and not a brief hiatus, either. Given that backdrop, it’s impossible to say how low the floor could go. If it’s in the same $240 million neighborhood as this year, it would mean minimal improvements. The $52 million no longer owed to Adolis, Jonah Heim, Jon Gray, Tyler Mahle and Chris Martin would mostly be absorbed by arbitration deals for Josh Jung, Josh Smith and Jake Burger as well as the reconstruction of the bullpen.
Forget a big-time free agent like Kyle Schwarber, who would be the best thing that’s happened to the Rangers since air conditioning.
Besides, unless you think the problem with the Rangers’ offense was Bruce Bochy, they need more than one bat. The fastest path to an improved offense is better hitters. As a public service, here are my recommendations. Any two would do just fine, with the caveat that it would probably also bust the CBT by $20 million or so.
J.T. Realmuto isn’t, at 34, the force he once was at catcher, but his 2.6 WAR was better than Heim and Kyle Higashioka combined. First baseman Josh Naylor not only compiled a .295/.353/.462/.816 slash line this year between Arizona and Seattle, he stole 30 bases. Harrison Bader is a terrific centerfielder coming off a career year.
Luis Arraez, a three-time batting champ, doesn’t have much pop, is a below-average defender and isn’t fast, but he’s the classic anti-Ranger:
Struck out just 21 times in 675 at-bats. His 3.1% K rate was the lowest in baseball by four percentage points.
One of his former managers said last year it wasn’t just Arraez’s contact rate that makes him special. He called him “one of my favorite teammates” and “an unbelievable human” who “brought energy every day” and “light to any clubhouse.”
Maybe Skip Schumaker, the author of those quotes, can whisper something in Young’s ear. If he ever takes the job, that is.
Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN
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