The Heim deal - Andrus, Aramis Garcia and cash to Oakland for Heim, pitching prospect Dane Acker and veteran payroll anchor Khris Davis - looks particularly shrewd in hindsight. He moved veterans who no longer fit for Brock Burke (moving Jurickson Profar in 2018), Taylor Hearn (Keone Kela in 2018), Dane Dunning ( Lance Lynn in 2020), Jonah Heim ( Elvis Andrus in 2021) and Mitch Garver ( Isiah Kiner-Falefa in 2022). While former GM Jon Daniels and current GM Chris Young share credit in the first category, for now, this one belongs primarily to Daniels. Luring elite free agents next winter shouldn’t require as great a leap of faith from the players. Whether the club had to pay a premium to those six to overcome its run of losing seasons can be debated, but without them - even as part-timers so far in deGrom’s and Seager’s case - it’s virtually certain that the Rangers wouldn’t be leading the division this deep into the season. But the last two winters have seen the Rangers bring in what amounts to their core via free agency, signing shortstop Corey Seager ($325 million) and second baseman Marcus Semien ($175 million) along with starting pitcher Jon Gray ($56 million) just before the lockout in December of 2021, and Jacob deGrom ($185 million), Nathan Eovaldi ($34 million) and Andrew Heaney ($25 million) a year later. Most teams - including the Rangers themselves in 2011 - tend to wait until they are already in the pennant race conversation before signing a marquee free agent to put them over the top.

One method, in particular, has - relatively speaking - been neglected, and its absence has seemingly factored into the roster’s one apparent weak spot.įirst, the five areas the Rangers have taken advantage of in building the current roster: Impact free-agent dealsĪrguably, Texas has gone about this in reverse.

Others haven’t really been a fit given the cycle the team has been in the last few years.

If we were to break those methods into categories, we can see that some of them have fed the 2023 Rangers in meaningful ways. The Rangers have done just that in putting together a roster that, after six straight sub-.500 seasons, has spent only one day out of first place in the AL West this season. Capitalizing on multiple fronts is a more dependable way to build.

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