Eyes on Evan Carter, finding a catcher and more

So, it’s almost Christmas. And what have they done? Another winter meetings over; a long offseason of work just begun.

As the Rangers left Orlando and the great money-gulping machine of Mickey Mouse, they didn’t take home a lot of souvenirs. Signed a non-roster deal with an outfielder. Added a pitcher via the Rule 5 draft.

They watched guys like Edwin Diaz, who could kinda help the back end of a bullpen and also make trumpet music hot in the area, come off the board. They watched Kyle Schwarber, purveyor of walks, homers and clubhouse culture, return to Philadelphia. They watched Pete Alonso sign with a team that had more problems producing runs than they did.

So what did we learn as all this took place?

Rangers

Well, besides the fact that a fried chicken sandwich went for $31 at the lobby bar?

Here are five pertinent things we think we learned while digging deep into our pockets to feed Mickey’s insatiable appetite for cash:

A baseball rests on a table as Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young...

— Save for J.T. Realmuto, who is apparently out of the Rangers’ price range, there just doesn’t appear to be a great deal of difference among the available catchers on the market. Looking at Fangraphs’ projections for 2026, a great majority of the available catchers fall between 0.6 projected WAR and 1.1. So, despite the Rangers significant need, there isn’t as much urgency there to go out and grab somebody. Somebody, either a free agent or trade partner, will take what the Rangers are offering.

If there is somebody who is a “favorite,” so to speak, it still seems to be veteran free agent Victor Caratini. The only trade possibility that seems moderately intriguing would be if the Chicago White Sox made pre-arbitration catchers Kyle Teel or Edgar Quero available. Of those, Quero would seem more likely.

— On remaking the bullpen, though, the challenge is going to be tougher. Inflation, right? Consider this: Hoby Milner, who received $2.5 million in guaranteed money last year from the Rangers, reportedly will get $3.5 million from the Cubs. That’s a 40% increase in guaranteed money. And higher up the market, the price jumps are even higher. Phil Maton, who finished 2025 with the Rangers, went from a one-year, $2 million deal to two years and $14.5 million, also with the Cubs.

The Rangers signed five low-level free agents last offseason — Chris Martin, Shawn Armstrong, Jacob Webb, Luke Jackson and Milner — for a total of $12 million. They overperformed by a great deal. At a bare minimum, it feels like the price for a similar pool of relievers is going to jump to $20 million. Not sure the Rangers have $20 million to spend on free agents. That’s why the trade to acquire Rule 5 selection Carter Baumler could really help — if he can hold on to a roster spot all year.

— Dropping from 14th to 16th in the first round of the draft via bad lottery luck wasn’t a tremendous loss for the Rangers, but it will hurt some down the draft. A year ago, there was about $1.1 million difference in total draft bonus pool between the 14th- and 16th-largest pools. Ironically, the Rangers had the 16th-largest pool last year, too. Final pool totals have yet to be calculated for 2026.

It means in the area where the draft gets creative, rounds 11 through 20, the Rangers won’t have as much wriggle room to add money from their pool to the $125,000 general max to maybe help convince a player to sign. For a club that has the 26th-ranked talent pool in MLB, according to MLB Pipeline, every available dollar is important.

— Despite the injuries he’s dealt with, there is still significant interest in Evan Carter. Not that the Rangers are looking to move him. According to three people with knowledge of Rangers’ talks, Carter’s name was among the most mentioned when clubs checked in (see below for context).

If there were doubts about Carter rising in the organization, due to his back injuries and the struggles he’s endured against lefties, it’s a good check-and-balance point to know others still value the talent.

— We need an official guide for reporting on trade talks. What was described as “discussions” in Boston in regards to Corey Seager seemed more like “due diligence.” There is a big difference between a team saying “we’d like to talk about a specific player,” and teams actually having dialogue about the player. The Rangers were made aware that Boston and some other teams consider Seager very good and very desirable. They did not even so much as reply with “here’s what we’d like in return.”

We suggest: “Checked in,” to describe a team saying it likes a player, “Chit-chatted,” to describe some basic banter, “are discussing,” to describe active negotiations and “closing in on,” to describe a deal that is moving toward completion. If team officials and the Baseball Writers Association of America would all adopt these, we could maybe avoid some panic among fans.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

Ex-Rangers reliever Hoby Milner agrees to one-year deal with Cubs, reports say