Rangers go from quiet to quietly productive at Winter Meetings with trio of deals

There have been a lot of ways to describe the Texas Rangers offseason to date.

Let’s try on a new one: Productive.

For three days, we wandered around the winter meetings like zombies watching one team after another strike big deals and wondering what the Rangers were going to do with fewer resources than recent years and with a significant number of needs.

Then, on Friday night, it’s like Chris Young sped over into North Park on Christmas Eve, swerved into an empty parking spot, and, on a full sprint, while bypassing the bouncers and velvet ropes at the Prada and Chanel stores, wrangled three free agents off the sale racks at Dillard’s.

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He did all this for roughly $11 million in 2026 dollars, which is equal to the short-term savings the Rangers reaped from the Marcus Semien trade. When he was all done, darn if the Rangers didn’t look better. No, they didn’t look Edwin Diaz or J.T. Realmuto better, but they seem improved as the offseason’s midpoint fast approaches.

This is particularly true on offense, where, let’s face it, the Rangers needed to improve the most. By adding free agent catcher Danny Jansen and his .321 OBP to last month’s acquisition of Brandon Nimmo for Semien, a clearer picture of the 2026 Rangers offense emerges. The emphasis is going to be on getting more runners on base. With Jansen replacing Jonah Heim, Nimmo replacing Adolis García and Josh Smith stepping in for Marcus Semien, there is substance to go with supposition.

Milwaukee Brewers' Danny Jansen in action during a baseball game against the Washington...

Milwaukee Brewers’ Danny Jansen in action during a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Nick Wass / AP

Consider this: The Heim-García-Semien trio reached base at a .278 clip in 2025. Their replacements: .327 for a remarkably similar number of plate appearances (1,541 for the former, 1,552 for the latter).

The supposition is that four runners equals a run. That’s 20 more runs. Figure half of them come in close games. 10 runs would make a difference in five one-run games. Win five more games and they were an 86-76 team. It still would have fallen a game shy of making the playoffs, but, with the expanded playoff field, the general belief is that 84-85 wins gets you in.

And the above paragraph jammed full of numbers doesn’t account for the possibility of improvement by both Josh Jung and Jake Burger. Both have had better seasons than 2025, so the possibility isn’t merely a dream; it is based in some fact. And it doesn’t account for the possibility that Evan Carter will be able to employ his elite ball-strike judgement for what amounts to a full season. Or, for that matter, the possibility of keeping Corey Seager on the field for 130 or more games, which hasn’t happened since 2022.

Now, it doesn’t mean the offense is without flaws. What team — other than the Dodgers — is? If Smith is an everyday player, it leaves a big hole for a valuable super utility man. Given Seager’s and Jung’s injury history, that’s not an insignificant piece. But the offense, as a whole, should be better.

In the bullpen, the additions of Alexis Díaz, Tyler Alexander and Rule 5 pick Carter Baumler didn’t make waves, or even a ripple in the free agent pool, but let’s allow for the benefit of the doubt. The Rangers have done a good job in recent years of identifying potential bargains, landing them and helping them excel.

On a tight budget after 2023, the Rangers found Kirby Yates in 2024 to address their need for a closer. On a tighter budget in 2024, they bought in bulk and got a very solid group in Shawn Armstrong, Jacob Webb and Hoby Milner.

On the lefty side, Alexander’s 2025 and Milner’s 2024 are not terribly different. Alexander’s ability to log innings also makes it more feasible to move Jacob Latz to the rotation to further bolster it.

Despite a poor 2025, Díaz has significant closer experience. The Rangers’ bet is that after Díaz’s 2025 season was disrupted by a spring training hamstring injury that messed with his mechanics and wrecked his season, he’s a bounce-back candidate. Call him Chris Martin on the cheap. It is a challenge to keep Baumler on the active roster all season, but the bar for performance isn’t high. Caleb Boushley, Luis Curvelo and Gerson Garabito rotated as the last guy in the bullpen and combined to post a 6.30 ERA in 60 innings. Anything better is a plus.

If the Rangers don’t re-sign Armstrong, it’s a loss. He was the bullpen’s glue and led all right-handed relievers against right-handed hitters last year, holding them to a .113 batting average. But you know who was second? Cole Winn at .114. Granted, Armstrong faced more hitters, but Winn’s emergence was a significant step in development. If he can take another step, great. If somebody from the minor leagues such as Curvelo, Marc Church, Emiliano Teodo or Izack Tiger can follow in Winn’s footsteps, all the better.

Given the fact the Rangers haven’t spent a net dollar on free agency yet, there is reason to think Armstrong or others could still be in play. The Rangers still need bodies there and could use some rotation depth, as well.

You read all of this and it’s about a lot of things that could go right. Not the least of which is the idea that the Rangers would grab a bunch of low-priced relievers and have nearly all of them over-perform. That’s like betting a three- or four-legged parlay. It would also be dangerous to think the rotation is going to again lead the majors in ERA. Even the Rangers won’t be surprised if there is some regression. It was always going to be an uphill battle.

But the point is, the Rangers have done significant work towards remaking the team and done it on the cheap. Also, after Christmas, market prices tend to drop a bit and, traditionally, Ray Davis has freed up a few more dollars to finish off the roster. It’s up to Young to make a convincing case for why pushing a little further will make a difference. He’s done that.

And, quite frankly, with our own Christmas list in bad shape, we wish he could give us some tips for lightning-quick holiday shopping.

Twitter/X: @Evan_P_Grant

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