Texas Rangers sign Andrew Heaney
The Texas Rangers have once again addressed their biggest need (starting rotation) of the off-season by signing Andrew Heaney to a two-year $25MM deal.
The deal includes an opt-out after the 2023 season and will cost the Rangers $25MM. That’s an annual value of $12.5MM a year which isn’t far from the spotrac calculated market value of $11.6MM.
Heaney’s services were reportedly in high-demand as there were multi-year offers from nine teams. And he chose Texas. Part of the reason he chose the Rangers is likely the proximity to Oklahoma, where he lives.
He averaged 13.6 strikeouts per 9 innings while only walking 2.4 per 9 innings pitched. Both of those numbers are areas where the Rangers need to see improvement as a team.
In 2022, the Rangers issued 3.64 walks per 9 innings and struckout 8.24 batters per 9 innings.
The left-hander is expected to slot into the rotation after MartÃn Pérez and likely before Jake Odorizzi. Or flip Odorizzi and Heaney if you want to break up the lefty’s (Pérez and Heaney).
Heaney was drafted by the Miami Marlins in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft out of Oklahoma State University. He was traded to the Angels in the winter of 2014
He made his MLB debut with the Marlins on June 19, 2014, and was traded to the Los Angeles Angels in December 2014.
For his career Heaney has a 36-42 win-loss record with a 4.56 earned run average and a 6.6 bWAR.
Based on the projections provided by Steamer, Heaney’s expected fWAR for the year 2023 is surprisingly high at 2.6 in the coming year.
The Rangers will be his 5th team after the Marlins, Angels, Yankees and Dodgers.
The general sentiment surrounding this deal is that it falls within reason, especially when considering the context of other contracts in the market. For instance, when examining Kyle Gibson’s recent $10 million agreement for merely one year, this particular deal is viewed as justifiable. Moreover, there is a belief that if the player in question, presumably from the Dodgers, manages to maintain good health and perform at the same level as before, this could potentially be seen as an excellent steal.
Once again, there are some injury concerns with Heaney. He has started 30 games only once in 2018. He did pitch in 30 games in 2021 but only made 23 starts. Love the signing but the injury history concerns me.
They may be done with the pitching side of things for now. They’ve signed 2 starters in deGrom and Heaney and traded for Odorizzi but something tells me that the Rangers should try for Rodón or perhaps Senga. Senga would likely be cheaper and there is no draft pick attached to him.