Texas Rangers: Was Letting Andrew Cashner Walk the Right Move?

The main focus of the Texas Rangers front office this off-season will be acquiring starting pitching. The organization just let starter Andrew Cashner walk into free agency, was that the right move for the future?

At first glance it seems like the Texas Rangers front office made a mistake by letting starter Andrew Cashner leave. The organization decided against offering the 31-year-old pitcher the $17.4 qualifying offer.

In 2017, Cashner went 11-11 with a 3.40 ERA in 28 starts with Texas. Despite a few disabled list stints, Cashner was the Rangers most reliable starter all season long. It has to be tough for the team to watch Cashner leave after having a career year.

It was quite a lot of money to spend for one pitcher from the front office view. As of now the Rangers have two starters for 2017: Cole Hamels and Martin Perez. The rest of the spots are wide open for Texas to fill.

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The free agent market isn’t going to be cheap this winter. The pitching market is headlined by former Rangers starter Yu Darvish and former Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta. The second tier pitchers are Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb, Jason Vargas, and Cashner.

The Rangers have three spots to fill and spending $17.4 million on a pitcher for a single season is a bit ridiculous. There is still a chance that Cashner returns in 2018, but not for over $17 million a year.

None of these pitchers are going to be cheap and all will be seeking multiple year deals. It will be nearly impossible for the Rangers to fill these spots internally. The Rangers will have to spend some money if they plan to win in 2018.

The Rangers want to see what the price tags are on the open market and go from there. Cashner could return to Arlington in 2018, but Texas wants to keep their options open this winter.

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