Yeah, they need more than your typical utility IF on the roster, which is what I consider Josh Smith. Duran was vital last year. And when you have luxury tax challenges, it's not the cheap, controllable guys that I look to move

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Worst case, we sign Jankowsi to play LF and slide Foscue into the Util role.

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Spoken like someone who has never seen Foscue play defense.

Look, the number one ability a utility player needs in his toolkit is the ability to play multiple positions, and play them well defensively.

Foscue is a hitter, no doubt. But he's average at the very best as a fielder. He can't play shortstop whatsoever. He's barely adequate at 2nd. Passable at 3rd and 1st.

If we're determined to have Foscue on the MLB roster (and some of you seem to be) his future is as a DH, maybe a fill-in 1st/3rd baseman. But Nate Lowe at his worst was better than Foscue in the field.

Smith is good for utility, but his bat still pisses me off. It's way too feckless. He's almost hits like a national league pitcher sometimes.

LOL... I know enough that when they drafted him, I declared him to be Willie Calhoun and about half-a-dozen other JD specials that were at best a backup LF who could hit enough to keep them in the lineup.

I'm aware of his defense, or lack there of.

Grapesoda2525 said:

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Smith is good for utility, but his bat still pisses me off. It's way too feckless. He's almost hits like a national league pitcher sometimes.

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Yes, but he is no Hedges.

Mr Gigem said:

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What are suggesting the return might be?

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I haven't spent much time looking at Duran's value, but I'd think more than we got from IKF.

Which was Mitch Garver.

Minnesota got Gary Sanchez (B/U C w/Power) and Gio Urshela from NYY.

I would only trade Duran or Taveras for a top end starting pitcher like Corbin Burnes. They are too valuable to trade for prospects.

When looking at trading Gray or Heaney who is out there that would be better and cheaper? You guys have to keep in mind we loaded up on pitching prior to the 23 season and STILL had to trade for two more pitchers. We should not be looking to trade quality pitching depth unless we can get multiple young arms that can contribute now. With the current pitching market I don't see teams making a trade like that.

Flounder Dorfman said:

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I'm not interested in trading any position starter from the World Series champion this offseason. Not one of them.

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If a team offers you greater value than what the player is now, you make that deal. That's how you keep winning for a long time.

Hold on to everyone and we have 2010-2011 again. Nice, but not sustainable.

That being said, Lowe and Taveras are the two places we really can upgrade. And Duran probably will bring the most in trade.

Duran can be the SS of the future for some franchise. Would a MLB starting pitcher, utility infielder and two Top 10 prospects do it for you? Start shopping Duran and I bet 10-12 clubs are very interested.

Water Boy said:

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When looking at trading Gray or Heaney who is out there that would be better and cheaper? You guys have to keep in mind we loaded up on pitching prior to the 23 season and STILL had to trade for two more pitchers. We should not be looking to trade quality pitching depth unless we can get multiple young arms that can contribute now. With the current pitching market I don't see teams making a trade like that.

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My thought with Gray or Heaney is that it would only be for young, controllable starting pitching.

Basically, there aren't many guys on the current roster that I would be looking to move. It's a really good mix of veterans and youth that now all have World Series winning experience. If you traded any of them I'm not sure what you would be looking to get in return, besides bullpen help. And you can get plenty of that in the FA market.

Water Boy said:

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When looking at trading Gray or Heaney who is out there that would be better and cheaper? You guys have to keep in mind we loaded up on pitching prior to the 23 season and STILL had to trade for two more pitchers. We should not be looking to trade quality pitching depth unless we can get multiple young arms that can contribute now. With the current pitching market I don't see teams making a trade like that.

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For me, I wouldn't be looking to trade either of them, unless I am doing it to make room to sign Montgomery while still staying under the luxury tax amount. CY has put out some statements that they intend to start the season under the luxury tax amount (**somebody also posted a statement that we might be willing to exceed the luxury tax amount... so who knows). But as we stand currently with the projected payroll, we can't sign Montgomery and also stay under the luxury tax amount. The only people we can reasonably trade that also have decent hit salary-wise to clear salary space is Heaney/Gray/Lowe.

I know what you're saying... we had 8-9 SPs going into '23 that we could pull from. Several were injury risks. It was why we go Eovaldi and Heaney on the cheap. They had limited IP coming into '23. deGrom was a "when" not "if." Odorizzi was a risk.

Personally, I like the #5 role for someone within the Org you are grooming along.

Talent wise, we were looking at Otto (27GS in 2022), Ragans (9GS in '22), and Howard (8GS in '22)

But here was our core:
Eovaldi - 25GS
Gray - 29GS
Heaney - 28GS, moved to BP for 6G
Perez - 20GS, moved to BP for 15G
Dunning - 9G, moved to SP for 26GS replaced deGrom.

That's 128 IP. Take out Perez and insert Max Scherzer.

Bradford is our #6/long-reliever
Bradford - 8GS, moved to BP for 12 G
Then OWhite, I suspect.

I'd like us to bring in 2-3 SPs on minor league deals.

Based on the assumption that we will not go over the luxury tax line, I guess the best we can do now is sign Garver or Hedges and maybe add a cheap low end bullpen arm. This can work if we are willing to make big moves before the trade deadline. I just don't see how we make a playoff run with the current team unless we stay relatively healthy and the bullpen can maintain their playoff caliber performance which is a big ask. It's baseball so who knows how the team will look in the middle of the season.

I sure would like to see more power from my first baseman. I guess our lineup has plenty of power from non-traditional places to get by.

Or maybe it's just my bias against right handed first basemen.

Significant Shohei news could be coming down the pipeline today.

Tksymm7 said:

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Significant Shohei news could be coming down the pipeline today.

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Are you seeing anything about him going to Toronto? Pop up click bait headline indicated as much but I didn't actually read the article itself

I've seen some reports that Toronto is MUCH more in play than people would like to believe, but until he inks with anyone besides the Dodgers I still believe he's staying on the west coast. Just my opinion.

I wonder if his reduced power (and playoff futility) were the result of his mother's health.

It could be that he concentrated more on the Defensive side which took away from his hitting. If he returns to .300 and 25+ HRs at the bottom of the order, that would be incredible.

He has 3 yrs of Arb remaining.

The bigger question will be answered based on who we sign. If we sign Garver, who would be able to play C and DH... if we sign him to 2-3 years, then suddenly, you have Sam Huff as your 3rd C and potential 1B/DH guy, if he can show he can hit MLB pitching. Fantasy, but if we are still looking at Ohtani, he'd be a pure DH play. You might get him to add 1B.

Seager just had a fantastic season at SS. I know some have said his tenure there will be limited and suggest maybe Duran to SS and Seager to 1B/DH at some point.

You have Foscue at worse being DH and at best a Util guy that can fill-in at 1B and maybe OF. You have Huff who appears to have not settled on a position.

With rumors indicating the O's could be sold to Rubenstein (74, Carlyle Group Private Eq firm), I could see Toronto looking at what the NYY are doing and believe 2024 could be their best chance to win.

Rubenstein at his age, could be looking to do a Cohen/Mets thing. He has 1 son, I believe, and has pledged a portion of his wealth to charity. MLB is as good a charity as any, I suppose.

I think that may be a guess with no insider info. I haven't heard them mention at all the comments CY made about the luxury tax. I'm hoping they do know something and that's true though.

from Jeff Wilson today :

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Finances are thought to a concern depending on the length of a deal, even Young said that the Rangers' payroll could go over last season's total of $251 million.

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So CY is on record as saying they could go over last year's payroll, which btw exceeded the competitive balance (luxury) tax. So I think we can maybe slow down the hand wringing on that.

Jon Gray was on the Radio, yesterday with his wife and they were promoting the Rangers Charity, I believe.

Anyway, they grew up in small-town Oklahoma and have been friends since 13. Crazy. Seem like a great couple.

He was asked about his confidence in the post-season and basically said he was amped up and felt bad at the end of the season when they celebrated, because he felt like he didn't contribute to it. So, in the WS he really wanted to contribute.

Qs: Were you expecting to start G4? Were you surprised to pitch G3?
A: No, I was never told I was going to be the starter. Ready to go when called, so pitching in G3 wasn't a surprise. If asked to pitch G4 after pitching G3 he'd have been happy to go back out there.

Q about Scherzer.
A: He is like a little kid with a jersey. He said when Max first joined to team he (Jon) was very intimidated with his presence. Jon said he probably sounded stupid and said something like, "Welcome, I'm hoping I can learn some things from you."

Q about Hedges
A: He wouldn't go into the whole butt thing but he just giggled. Asked if he thought they should bring him back and he said he would love it. He said Hedges in the lockerroom is just as amped up as he is on the rail in the dugout.

Q: about winning another WS.
A: He said he felt they were positioned to win several more WS. When asked why, he said, "Seager."

So, I'm taking Jon Gray off the trade list. We have him for 2 more years and I'm hoping for a three-peat.

The Rangers seem unlikely to bring back Jordan Montgomery due to the financial uncertainty of losing local TV deal.

Per, @Ken_Rosenthal pic.twitter.com/ndI8VWuzf1

— Texas Rangers Insider (@RangersInsiders) December 8, 2023

rbtexan said:

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from Jeff Wilson today :

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Finances are thought to a concern depending on the length of a deal, even Young said that the Rangers' payroll could go over last season's total of $251 million.

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So CY is on record as saying they could go over last year's payroll, which btw exceeded the competitive balance (luxury) tax. So I think we can maybe slow down the hand wringing on that.

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To be fair, CY is on record of saying we plan to stay under the luxury tax AND he has also said we are willing to go over it. So lets just say, he is keeping his options open (at least publicly).

It's the off-season, so at least he is keeping the keyboard warriors busy.

And because we've covered it... I'll offer again.

2024
Heaney (33): $13M / FA in '25
Scherzer (39): $43M / FA in '25

2025
Eovaldi (34): $17M / v-p-opt $20M in '25 (156IP needed in '24. $2M buyout)
Gray (32): $13M / $13M in '25 / FA in '26

2026
Dunning (29): Arb1 / Arb2 in '25 / Arb3 in '26
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On 40
Bradford (26): Serf
OWhite (24): Serf
Winn (24): Serf
Zak Kent (28): @RR, 10GS, 3.97 ERA, 34.0 IP, 34 SO

If Eovaldi pitches well in 2024, he may very well opt-out.
Scherzer may love winning so much that he comes back on 1year deals.
Really want to see if Bradford and/or OWhite is an option for '25.
Monty on a backloaded contract would be wonderful.

We have other minor league SPs but none on the 40.

Lots of noise about Ohtani signing today.

Lots of noise from Toronto/Blue Jays.

No respect for the champs. Figured the Rangers would be a bigger talking point in the media considering we return most of our championship roster. We have a nice mix of vets and young potential stars. A move or two should put us right up there with anybody. Guess we have to go win it again in 24.