Texas Rangers: 5 biggest decisions to make this offseason

This will be no cakewalk offseason for the Texas Rangers. Important decisions need to be made not only for the 2019 season, but also for 2020 and beyond.

After a very disappointing 2018 season, the Texas Rangers have their work cut out this offseason to ensure a repeat does not occur in 2019. The problem is Texas is in a worse spot now than they were at this time last year.

Last offseason, the Rangers had two default starting pitchers assigned to the rotation (Cole Hamels and Martin Perez). That doesn’t seem like much (it isn’t), but they sadly only have one arm assigned to the rotation at the moment (Mike Minor). I don’t study every offseason for every team; however, I doubt I’m going out on a limb by saying a single-man rotation entering an offseason is a very rare occurrence.

In addition, this will likely be the first offseason in quite some time that Adrian Beltre is not penciled into the Ranger roster. All arrows point towards retirement for the future Hall of Famer, and he’s technically a free agent anyway.

There is one glaring positive this offseason compared to last year’s. That being the Rangers have an abundance of young talent that will make matters easy for them once entering camp. Though, they may have too much young talent. 2018 rookies like Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Willie Calhoun are primed for consistent playing time next season. The issue is neither have a guaranteed spot.

Oh, and don’t forget about replacing manager Jeff Banister.

Let’s take this odd offseason dynamic and attempt to simplify it. Here are the five biggest decisions the Texas Rangers will have to make…