Should the Texas Rangers take a gamble on Clint Frazier?

Another free agent option emerged for the Texas Rangers on Tuesday with the news that former Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier was released.

The Rangers know a thing or two about about free agent Fraziers (they signed Todd for the 2020 season), but should they take a chance on this red-headed talent?

The Texas Rangers could benefit from taking a flyer on Clint Frazier

Looking at his career numbers and injury history, the profile seems alarming at first glance. And yet it also seems like another case of David Dahl, who if you recall, Texas signed to a one-year contract in free agency last winter.  That experiment didn’t go so well, with Dahl being released and spending some time in Milwaukee’s minor league system as depth.

For his career, Frazier owns a surprisingly decent .761 OPS and 104 OPS+. Those numbers are actually on par with Dahl’s career stats (.785 OPS, 95+). Last season, Frazier posted a .633 OPS and a -1.4 WAR in 183 at-bats and by July, he wasn’t even a factor on the Yankees anymore. You may as well have cloned David Dahl and named him Clint Frazier.

Frazier has had his fallings out with the New York media and has not lived up to his first round and top prospect pedigree, and he has certainly been a disappointment in the context of the Andrew Miller trade with Cleveland that sent him to the Yankees in the first place. The Texas Rangers wouldn’t be bringing the 27-year-old in hopes of him suddenly rekindling that old form. But there’s room for the team to take a gamble on Frazier if they so choose.

Now, the Rangers shouldn’t prioritize Frazier’s services by any means, especially with such a loaded free agent class at their disposal. Surely Texas has higher ambitions on the market than taking a flyer on a Yankee bust.

When push comes to shove, though, a minor league deal or even a one-year contract for Clint Frazier could be a steal for the Texas Rangers. At minimum, he would be a warm body at spring training and provide organizational depth in the outfield.

The David Dahl experiment didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean a Clint Frazier one wouldn’t.