Grading the Texas Rangers’ signings and trades ahead of Opening Day

The most exciting Rangers offseason in franchise history is coming to a close. Finally, after a grueling four months of being restricted of a lot of offseason content, we’ve been able to soak in Spring Training, and there is clear, definitive proof that the Texas Rangers have fun, new baseball players.

There were a lot of moves this off-season. Some of them were good, some of them were bad, and some of them in the middle. I’m taking a look at the major transactions dealt by Chris Young and Jon Daniels, and how much sense they make heading into the 2022 season and beyond.

Now, take all of this with a grain of salt. The Rangers have not played one regular season game with any of these dudes yet, so we’re simply taking a look at the potential of these moves and whether they make sense as they happen. There might even be more moves before Friday’s Opening Day start – you never know.

Grading the Texas Rangers’ signings and trades ahead of Opening Day

SS Corey Seager and 2B Marcus Semien: A+

What else needs to be said? The Rangers threw the kitchen sink at two of the top-20 players in the league. They now have the best middle infield in the majors.

I wrote a few months ago that Semien and Seager alone dramatically increase the team’s offensive production. I am personally a huge “moneyball” believer – OBP is what will generate you wins. Three of the top six team OBP clubs in 2021 made their respective league championship series. Hate ’em as you might, the Astros have finished in the top 5 in OBP every year since 2017 sans 2020, and it’s gotten them to five straight ALCS appearances.

Seager and Semien alone make the Rangers infinitely more enjoyable to watch and offensively threatening. For the last few years, many of the bright spots of this organization had a catch to them. Andrus and Choo were good, productive veterans, but they were both well past their prime by the time 2020 rolled around. Joey Gallo is an elite plate discipline hitter, but he swings for power and strikes out more than the casual fan can care to enjoy. There’s the Corey Kluber incident. Many fan-favorites including Jose Trevino, Lance Lynn, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and many more have been dealt to improve the direction of the ballclub.

Tanking sucks. Losing sucks. Being the worst offense in the league REALLY sucks. But Corey Seager and Marcus Semien are two extremely versatile hitters with leadership mentalities and plenty of baseball ahead of them in their careers. The former was a World Series MVP and Champion as recently as 2020. The latter *literally* had the best hitting season for a second baseman EVER last year. The Rangers are tired of being a rollover franchise and this was the first of many moves to get out of that rut.

Grading the Texas Rangers’ off-season acquisitions

C Mitch Garver: B+

Mitch Garver has the potential to be the best Rangers hitting catcher since Mike Napoli.

Now there’s the keyword: potential. If you don’t know much about Mitch Garver, I’ll keep it short and sweet for you. He’s had a myriad of injury problems throughout his career, but his 2019 season was elite at the plate and he can swing for a lot of power. The team has heavily prioritized defensive catching in recent years with guys like Robinson Chirinos, Jeff Mathis, and Jose Trevino. There’s nothing wrong with that in theory, but it’s been a really long time since the Rangers had longevity in terms of hitting out of their catchers.

Garver is going to be splitting a fair amount of time between catcher and DH this year, which is good. If he can stay on the field, his bat should supply the Rangers lineup with plenty of power and run production. Since his breakout year in 2019, Garver has accumulated a slash line of .254/.348/.546, with 46 home runs and 106 runs batted in in 184 games during that time span. His career hard hit rate is 49.6%, and his swings churn out a lot of lifted balls.

I know it’s a dead horse for Garver at this point, but the team just needs him to stay healthy. 100+ games and 375-ish at-bats is the goal for him at this point, and if the team receives that out of him, it will provide massive benefits to the offensive production.

Grading the Texas Rangers’ off-season acquisitions

SP Jon Gray: B

The Rangers have their rotation ace in Jon Gray after signing him to a four-year deal in November. Gray spent seven years with the Rockies and broke out as one of the bright spots in a historically weak franchise when it comes to pitching. As recently as 2019, Gray was a 4.0 WAR player, striking out 180+ batters in a season and thriving about as one can be expected to when pitching at 5,000 feet.

What remains to be seen is whether his performance will enhance by playing outside of Coors Field in Denver’s high elevation. However, contrary to popular belief, Gray’s stats have actually been better *in* Coors rather than away. In 2022, he posted 80 K’s in 78 innings, a 1.15 WHIP, and eight out of 14 possible quality starts at home. On the road, he only had three quality starts in 15 games pitched, and his ERA shot up to 5.22 as opposed to 4.02 at home.

Entering his age 30 season, Gray poses as a low risk, high reward type player for the club. He has struggled since 2020, at least compared to some of his more promising seasons in 2017 and 2019, but pitching in a climate-controlled setting could bring out some of his best stuff. He’s eclipsed 150 strikeouts four times in seven years. He’s a career 19.7% fly ball percentage pitcher (which is really good!). Will he see a resurgence and a return to form in Arlington? If he can stay healthy, after having had a variety of sporadic injuries throughout his career, the Rangers may get their answer and be pleased with it.

Grading the Texas Rangers’ off-season acquisitions

INF Brad Miller: B-

The Rangers need more guys who pimp flip home runs. Brad Miller is good at doing this. Miller will likely fill the Charlie Culberson/Brock Holt utility role for the team in 2022, and he’ll do so with nearly a full season of MLB experience under his belt. 2021 saw Brad Miller getting the most playing time (by a significant margin) that he’s had since 2017, as he had 331 at-bats in 140 games.

Brad Miller is the epitome of a mixed bag type player. He strikes out a fair bit, but he cranked 20 home runs last year in Philadelphia, and when he makes contact he has a lot of pop in his swing. His career strikeout rate is higher than the league average, but the same applies to his walk rate, exit velocity, and rOBA numbers. He’s a lefty hitter that is capable of hitting well against right-handed pitching. His 106 WRC+ (weighted runs created plus) in 2021 ranked higher than every Texas Ranger not named Joey Gallo, Nate Lowe, and Andy Ibanez. Is he gonna be a .300+ hitter smacking home runs left and right? Probably not.

He probably won’t see much playing time once Josh Jung is healthy again. In the meantime, he will be able to split platoon time with Ibanez at third base and get the Rangers at least a fair share of production in the bottom third of their lineup.