Following an Offseason which saw the Rangers sign both Marcus Semien and Corey Seager hours before an MLB Lockout, not many people expected Texas to top that in the offseason following the 2022 season. Little did they know, GM Chris Young and the Rangers’ front office had some major moves up their sleeves.
Now that the full squad is back in Surprise getting ready for one of the most anticipated seasons in franchise history, let’s take a look back at what took place this winter.
The Big Fish –Coming into the offseason, I think that a lot of people thought that the “big fish” the Rangers would land from the free agent market would be Carlos Rodon. Instead, Texas had its sights set on something higher. The Rangers landed Jacob deGrom on a 5 year $185 million dollar contract. When healthy there is no doubt that deGrom is the best pitcher in all of baseball and the Rangers went out and made a slash like the franchise hasn’t seen since Nolan Ryan.
Creating a top rotation – The Texas Rangers 2022-2023 winter was pretty much solely focused on starting pitching and rightfully so. In 2022 Texas finished 22nd in the pitching era and it became very clear that change needed to be made. The Rangers started out by bringing back Martin Perez on the qualifying offer. Perez was rewarded after being named an all-star in 2022 and finishing the season with a 2.89 ERA. However, the major difference in 2023 is that Perez won’t need to be the ace anymore. The Rangers went out and signed Andrew Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi to round out their rotation which is now looking to be one of the best in baseball.
The most underrated part of the offseason – I am really struggling to understand the fact that when people bring up the Rangers’ offseason, they never mention the additions of Bruce Bochy and Mike Maddux. In my opinion, these moves to the coaching staff bring the Rangers’ off-season grade up a whole lot. The fact that the Texas Rangers were able to convince one of the best managers in baseball history to come out of retirement to lead their club says something about the direction of their organization. Pretty much since Mike Maddux left, the Rangers have been logging for a successful change in leadership of their pitching staff. Little did we know that Mike Maddux would be back in 2023 and ready to lead this new and improved rotation to levels that we’ve never seen before. The auditions of Bochy, Maddux, and also Will Venable along with the returnees of Donnie Ecker and Tim Hyers make a championship-level coaching staff for the Rangers.
An Offseason Grade – I will be giving the Texas Rangers an A for their 2022-2023 offseason. The additions of the starting rotation alone would have had the Rangers at an A- in my opinion but the coaching staff that has been assembled here in the Lone Star State bumps them up to an A for me. This would have been an A+ offseason had the team gone out and acquired a middle-of-the-order outfield bat but the Rangers remain committed to filling that hole with internal options.
Overall, this has been an offseason to remember for the Texas Rangers. This type of anticipation coming into a season has not existed in years and I think we’re all really excited to see where this team goes in 2023.
