See where ESPN ranks Texas Rangers’ ‘core’ of locked-in talent

Where does the Texas Rangers’ core of players like Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Jacob deGrom rank among other teams in MLB?

If you ask ESPN, right about in the middle of the road.

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel recently released his list of “core rankings” among major league teams in order of which franchises have the most locked-in talent, the steadiest crop of players currently under contract and firmly a part of their team’s future plans.

McDaniel judged teams based on players (and certain prospects) they have under contract through the next two seasons, and separated each franchise’s core into three tiers: elite players (MVP candidates), plus players (starters) and solid players (low-end starters and role players).

Rangers

McDaniel ranks the Rangers’ core as the 14th-best in the league of 30 teams. He split the Rangers tiers as follows:

Elite: Corey Seager, Wyatt Langford

Plus: Jacob deGrom, Marcus Semien, Nathan Eovaldi

Solid: Evan Carter, Josh Jung, Josh Smith, Sebastian Walcott, Cody Bradford, Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker, Jake Burger, David Davalillo, Winston Santos, Alejandro Osuna

The Rangers certainly do have a crop of talent locked into long-term contracts, according to McDaniel. The problem, however, is that it’s a tough task to spend the kind of money the Rangers have on players like Seager, Semien and deGrom and have those players hold up through their mid- and late-30s.

“It is deceptively difficult to spend big money in free agency and have those players hold their spots in the top two tiers for years,” McDaniel wrote.

The Rangers had a similar ranking last season (No. 15) and in 2022 (No. 14), with only their world championship 2023 season providing a leap in their ranking. McDaniel had them at No. 4 that season.

“This team has a few players set to hit free agency over the next two seasons,” McDaniel wrote of the 2025 team. “The best parts of the farm system are largely in the low minors (and thus not listed here) as Leiter, Rocker and Osuna graduated in the past year, and other minor leaguers were traded at the deadline for players on expiring deals. Walcott still has star potential but has some work over the next few years to realize it.”

Perhaps somewhat troubling for Rangers fans could be the Mariners’ ranking at No. 2, behind the somewhat easy call of putting the Dodgers at No. 1. The Mariners draw praise for their core of Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby, along with over a dozen other “plus” and “solid” players.

The Astros, with the promising talents of Jeremy Pena and Hunter Brown, are ranked at No. 8. The Rangers rank ahead of other division-mates, the Athletics (No. 20) and Angels (No. 28).

See the full list of McDaniel’s rankings here.

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