The Good, Bad and the Ugly of the Rangers offseason so far

Christmas has come and gone, and before you know it, pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Spring Training. This offseason has been quiet for a lot of teams, including the Texas Rangers. Going into the offseason, it was already well known that the Rangers were not going to be big spenders, so the lack of activity should not come as a surprise.

As Spring training comes closer to its start date, it may be possible to find team friendly one-year bargains. I think a lot of owners are reluctant to sign players this offseason due to the impending lockout that is probably coming after the 2026 World Series. Maybe this will benefit the Rangers.

Here is the some Good, Bad and the Ugly of the Rangers offseason to date.

The Good:

On paper the Rangers got better offensively with addition by subtraction. Gone from the team is Adolis Garcia, Marcus Semien and Jonah Heim. Offensively, all three players were a black hole in the lineup. All three players have declined rapidly in the last two seasons. Marcus and Adolis for the most part have been near the top of the lineup the last two years.

The Rangers allowed Adolis and Jonah to walk. Semien was traded for Brandon Nimmo. Losing Adolis's glove might hurt, but hopefully gaining Nimmo's bat will make up for it.

Losing Semien's glove will also hurt, but if rumors are to be believed about a club house rift, involving Semien and Seager, then maybe this team will actually look like they are having fun on the field. The way it did when Marcus Semien went out of the lineup with a foot fracture.

Danny Jansen was signed by the Rangers, to replace Heim. Both Heim (2.01) and Kyle Higashioka (2.03) were near the bottom of MLB in pop time to 2B. Jansen is just a tick better at 2.00. In 2025, he had a .720 OPS and a .321 OBP with 14 HRS. Heim's 2025 OPS was .603, his OBP was .271. Post All Star break, Heim's OPS was .592. In September, Heim hit for a .163 AVG, and a .513 OPS. Not ideal, especially when you were still in the playoff hunt.

The Bad:

Marcus Semien's defense, and his reliability to be on the field every day is gone. He was the anchor to the infield. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think the Rangers are going to fill second base with a huge free agent signing.

In a perfect world, Josh Smith plays second base, and everything is fine. The problem with that thought process is the odds are against Josh Jung and Corey Seager staying healthy.

The last thing the Rangers need is a situation where they are platooning players at 2B, SS, and 3B. There has to be some stability somewhere in the infield. You may not even have that at first base. Jake Burger had his own problems staying on the field at first. He only played in 91 games at 1B last season.

Sam Haggerty, Cody Freeman, Ezequiel Duran and possibly Michael Helman are all possibilities at 2B as well as other infield spots.

The Ugly:

The Rangers opted not to resign Merrill Kelly after giving up Kohl Drake and Mitch Bratt to get him. Drake and Bratt are both near MLB ready starting pitchers. Both pitchers probably have the potential to be 2nd or 3rd starters in a rotation.

I respect the Rangers for making the trade for a playoff run, but if you're going to make that trade, then at least try to resign the guy you got in the return. In Kelly's 8 games he wasn't perfect, but pitchers often aren't at the end of the season.

By not resigning Kelly, it leaves a bigger gap in the rotation. Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, and Jack Leiter, will be the top of the rotation. Patrick Corbin is still unsigned, so is Tyler Mahle. I wouldn't expect either to be back.

The Rangers hope Kumar Rocker takes a big step forward in the spring. At the end of the day Kumar has only pitched in 21 minor league games and 17 MLB games. His college teammate, Jack Leiter had 58 minor league starts before things started to click for him in 2025.

Jacob Latz might be an option as well as a starter, after all in 8 starts he posted a 2.72 ERA. He also had 25 appearances out of the bullpen, with a 2.93 ERA. Which takes us to our next problem.

The bullpen is he one thing that many had hoped the Rangers would actually spend money on. So far, they have not. Shawn Armstrong, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb and Phil Maton are all gone. Those are a lot of innings to fill. Trade deadline acquisition Danny Coulombe is one of the best relief pitchers left on the market and given what you have seen so far from the Rangers, there is no reason to believe they are going to resign him.

That leaves Robert Garcia, Cole Winn, and Chris Martin to build around. The Rangers did sign former All Star, Alexis Diaz. In 2025 Alexis pitched in 18 games with the Reds, Dodgers, and Braves. He had an 8.15 ERA. The Rangers also signed Tyler Alexander. Alexander has a career ERA of 4.63. In 2025 in 52 games (5 Starts), Alexander posted a 4.98 ERA.

The offseason is not complete, but the clock is ticking. Hopefully the Rangers will get good value out of the time they have left.