Chris Young’s nimble approach hints at predictable Rangers frustration

In the process of building the team that would win the Texas Rangers their first World Series title in 2023, Ray Davis and the ownership group made splash move after splash move. They brought in big-dollar free agents, including Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Corey Seager, and Marcus Semien. It felt like the organization would be willing to spend whatever it took to field a contender in Arlington.

Alas, in the years that have followed the climb to the apex of Major League Baseball, Davis has clutched onto his checkbook so tightly that the organization hasn't visited the postseason since. And after reading Chris Young's cautious, tepid comments regarding how the club will approach this offseason, even the most optimistic of Rangers fans have to be getting frustrated.

Chris Young's hemming and hawing over salary restrictions are enough to frustrate even the most die-hard Rangers fans

We've heard it quite a bit over the past several seasons, haven't we? Young was recently quoted as saying, “In the offseason, you go into it with a number of different paths....You choose a path, and it leads you to another set of paths, so to speak. We're very nimble. We're prepared on a number of different fronts."

The Rangers' president of baseball operations continued, “Some of that is not perfectly up to us to determine. The market will determine some of it, and then once we commit to a lane, then we'll continue down that lane and make the best decisions possible within the lane we choose.”

Notice some of the words that he intentionally avoided in the above quotes, like "aggressively pursue", "firm commitment", and "concerted effort to prioritize game-changing assets". These are the words that the fans want to hear as he meets with the 29 other GMs in Las Vegas.

But we won't. It shouldn't come as a surprise at this point. He made similar statements at the trade deadline last August, and, sure enough, the team didn't make any moves that moved the needle as the Rangers faltered down the stretch, vying for a very winnable AL West.

It's not even Young's fault. He can't spend money that isn't there or make the current players pitch better and hit more consistently. Davis has him working with one hand tied behind his back. He is going into the GM meetings without an ace up his sleeve. Davis slid him a four of diamonds and said, "Go get 'em, CY!"

The Rangers and Davis are seemingly happy to go another year, hoping that the fanbase's goodwill and appreciation for the first championship in North Texas will be enough to get by. Purgatory never felt so familiar or predictable.

For now, based on the scuttlebutt coming out of Globe Life and the front office, it appears we'll have to hope that aging stars like Seager, deGrom, and Evo somehow find that magic one more time. It would be nice if Seager didn't plan on missing 40 games a year before he even gets to spring training.

Hell, maybe Justin Foscue, Josh Jung, Ezequiel Duran, Jake Burger, Jack Leiter, and the rest of the Rangers' younger players take the next step and elevate this team. Maybe Sebastian Walcott can be a wunderkind and mash at the major league level like Jackson Chourio has for the Brewers or how Bryce Harper, Andruw Jones, and Alex Rodriguez did as 20-year-old phenoms. Because it sure doesn't sound like help is coming from anywhere else, listening to Young over the last several days and weeks.

And while you can't blame Young for the budget, you can blame him for a lack of creativity. He speaks of lanes and paths, but he couldn't pick one at the trade deadline and Texas both fell short of the playoffs while also whiffing on any opportunities to significantly change its future trajectory. Last offseason was a similar story, with the MacKenzie Gore trade as a notable exception, and a big misstep.

We can hope, can't we? Davis and his frugality can never take that away from us. Maybe some inspiration strikes Young and he finds the inspiration to thread this needle, shed the aging, big-money stars, and still field a contender in 2027. It doesn't seem likely, though.

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