{"id":360331,"date":"2025-10-03T23:51:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T23:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/360331\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T23:51:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T23:51:14","slug":"heres-why-texas-rangers-ray-davis-cant-afford-not-to-spend-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/360331\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s why Texas Rangers, Ray Davis can\u2019t afford not to spend this offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON \u2013 The Rangers have missed the playoffs two years straight; the guy who managed them to their only world title is back on his couch<\/a>; his heir apparent left town this week without a deal<\/a>; it\u2019s still unclear if the owner will spend what\u2019s necessary to fix what went wrong; and the president didn\u2019t have any great answers<\/a> to all of the above at the season wrap-up.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, there was plenty of free parking at the Globe on Friday.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Frankly, it\u2019s hard to know where to start with all the uncertainty around a team just two seasons removed from a parade, unless it\u2019s up top.<\/p>\n

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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\u2019t Kansas City.<\/p>\n

No one\u2019s saying Davis needs to go toe-to-toe with the Dodgers, Mets or Yankees. Not even the Phillies. But when you represent the nation\u2019s fourth-largest market, you shouldn\u2019t act ashamed to spend like it, an old complaint around here.<\/p>\n

The Rangers\u2019 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\u2019t keep up with the Joneses. Davis has deeper pockets, but he\u2019s also what you might call \u201ccareful\u201d with his money.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I\u2019m not even sure how Young talked him into paying for Seager, Semien, deGrom and Eovaldi, but, once you\u2019ve made such a commitment, you can\u2019t suddenly turn out your pockets. Not if you want to protect your investment.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Because here\u2019s the thing: Davis could complain he didn\u2019t get his money\u2019s worth from his biggest stars this season, and he\u2019d get no objection here, but he got more from them than anyone else.<\/p>\n

Seager (6.1), Eovaldi (4.2), Semien (3.5) and DeGrom (2.9) made up about half of the Rangers\u2019 payroll this year, but they were also first, third, fourth and sixth on the club in baseballreference.com<\/a>\u2019s Wins Above Replacement, or WAR. According to WAR, the Rangers\u2019 top seven players were rounded out by Wyatt Langford (5.6), Josh Smith (3.0) and Adolis Garcia (2.7).<\/p>\n

The combined commitment to those seven players, according to spotrac.com<\/a>, was $132.8 million.<\/p>\n

Consider the Astros, who also happen to be free this October<\/a> and posted a total payroll in the same vicinity as the Rangers. Houston\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n

Tax, title and license for the Astros above: $36.8 million, not even a Highland Park bungalow within deGrom.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t say the same. Their farm system simply hasn\u2019t produced at the same rate as Houston\u2019s. Until Sebastian Walcott grows up<\/a>, if then, the Rangers\u2019 young stars won\u2019t catch the Astros\u2019 anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Think what the Astros might have done if they\u2019d brought back Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, as they should have.<\/p>\n

Jim Crane dismantled a dynasty before its time was up because he didn\u2019t want to pay for it. The only way the Rangers can challenge the Astros and Mariners next year is if they don\u2019t make the same mistake.<\/p>\n

Other than saying he\u2019s not sure what the payroll\u2019s floor will be next year, or that it \u201ccertainly\u201d won\u2019t exceed the CBT threshold of $244 million, Young didn\u2019t complain about his boss\u2019s spending habits. Whatever his payroll, he said, \u201cWe are going to have no excuses whatsoever in terms of competing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s impossible to say how low the floor could go. If it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Forget a big-time free agent like Kyle Schwarber, who would be the best thing that\u2019s happened to the Rangers since air conditioning.<\/p>\n

Besides, unless you think the problem with the Rangers\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

J.T. Realmuto isn\u2019t, 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.<\/p>\n

Luis Arraez, a three-time batting champ, doesn\u2019t have much pop, is a below-average defender and isn\u2019t fast, but he\u2019s the classic anti-Ranger:<\/p>\n

Struck out just 21 times in 675 at-bats. His 3.1% K rate was the lowest in baseball by four percentage points.<\/p>\n

One of his former managers said last year it wasn\u2019t just Arraez\u2019s contact rate that makes him special. He called him \u201cone of my favorite teammates\u201d and \u201can unbelievable human\u201d who \u201cbrought energy every day\u201d and \u201clight to any clubhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe Skip Schumaker, the author of those quotes, can whisper something in Young\u2019s ear. If he ever takes the job, that is.<\/p>\n

Twitter\/X: @KSherringtonDMN <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Round<\/a>Texas Rangers won\u2019t renew Round Rock manager\u2019s contract, now have opening at Triple-A<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just a major league manager the Rangers are seeking after parting ways with Round Rock\u2019s Doug Davis.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>Chris Young performs autopsy on Rangers\u2019 lifeless offense: What needs fixing before 2026?<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rangers\u2019 President spelled out his offseason to-do list during an end-of-year news conference on Friday.<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON \u2013 The Rangers have missed the playoffs two years straight; the guy who managed them to their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[3418,5,3246,4368,384,386,4,149,16701,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-360331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-adolis-garcia","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-chris-young","11":"tag-commentary","12":"tag-corey-seager","13":"tag-marcus-semien","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-rangers","16":"tag-ray-davis","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-texas-rangers","19":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115312924316155657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}