4 Texas Rangers who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans

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There has been a whole lot to like about the Texas Rangers' 2023 season. They sport one of the league's best offenses and were aggressive at the trade deadline to address their starting rotation when injuries to guys like Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi threatened to derail their season. This is a team that knows that their competitive window is now and has put their money where their mouth is.

A quick look at the Rangers' roster does not seem to show much in the way of holes in 2023. Their lineup is the best in the American League and only trails the Braves' offense in all of MLB although it is quite close. The starting rotation has certainly had some key injuries, but acquiring two of the better arms available at the trade deadline in Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery solves a lot of ills.

However, this roster is not perfect and the Rangers do have a few players that could be on their way to playing elsewhere after the 2023 season.

Here are 4 Rangers who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans

To be clear, putting a guy's name on this list does not mean it is a mortal lock they won't play for Texas next season nor does it mean that they are completely irredeemable as baseball players. These are simply the guys that have things about their profile that makes one question whether they deserve a roster spot on a good team like the Rangers. While a lot of teams make these sorts of judgments easy as they have objectively bad players on their rosters, Texas is a lot tougher to parse in this way and that is a credit to the roster depth the front office has built.

Anyways, enough of the rules and explanation. Let's take a look at 4 players could be playing their way out off of Texas's roster after the 2023 season.

Robbie Grossman

It is frankly remarkable what the Rangers have been able to accomplish offensively in 2023. Of the nine position players with more than 300 plate appearances so far in 2023, seven of them sport a wRC+ of 120 or better which is just absurd production. However, one player who hasn't performed well and who is the only position player with that much playing time for Texas that has posted a negative fWAR on the season is Robbie Grossman.

Grossman does serve a purpose as a switch-hitter who can play either corner outfield spot which does have some intrinsic value. However, the reality is that Grossman doesn't really bring a ton to the table when it comes to upside. He CAN play either corner outfield spot, but his -6 Outs Above Average this season points to him not being a great defender in either spot. Moreover, being a platoon busting switch-hitter only works if you can actually, well, hit and his 95 wRC+ and .233 batting average are the worst on the team amongst hitters with 300 plate appearances. In short, the Rangers can do better here.

Brock Burke

This is where the list gets trickier because the Rangers roster is really quite deep. For example, the bullpen has been a middle of the road group in 2023 by fWAR, but it is hard to point to specific names that have been true "problems" out of the bullpen for Texas this season. However, one name that does sort of stick out after a deeper look is Brock Burke.

On the surface, Burke has had a perfectly reasonable season with a 2.87 ERA in 38 appearances and one can appreciate his elite walk rate from the left side. However, he doesn't strike out a lot of batters and his 4.38 FIP and 86.1% strand rate points to a fair amount of luck on his side so far and the Regression Monster could come for him before too long. A quick look at his Statcast page also points to some concerns about the batted ball profile against him where he is decidedly meh. It won't be a shocker if he sticks around, but Texas may be better served moving him this offseason in favor of a peripherals upgrade while selling high on him.

Martin Perez

The Rangers' starting rotation should be in a good spot next season especially if the stars align and Jacob deGrom recovers reasonably quickly from Tommy John surgery. However, one name that appears to be heading for the door given his lack of production is long-time Ranger Martin Perez. Boy does offering him a qualifying offer seem like a bad decision in hindsight these days.

In fairness to Texas' front office, Perez was coming off his best season as a pro in 2022 with a 2.89 ERA and 3.8 fWAR in almost 200 innings. The Rangers wanted to keep him around and hope he would run back one more season like that which would make that nearly $20 million one year deal more than worth it. Sadly, Martin regressed back to his former self as he has posted a 4.85 ERA and 5.23 FIP in 111.1 innings in 2023. At the end of the day, there aren't usually any truly terrible one year deals, but Perez lack of swing and miss and his struggles this season should hopefully keep Texas from bringing him back for 2024.

Andrew Heaney

This is a tough one because Andrew Heaney's contract makes moving on from him a bit trickier. Before the 2023 season, the Rangers signed Heaney to a two year deal that included a $13 million player option for 2024. The hope was that he would be able to parlay his limited success with the Dodgers in 2022 into sustained production for Texas.

Unfortunately, that is not how things have worked out as Heaney has posted a 4.17 ERA in 23 starts for the Rangers this season. His walk rate jumping up has been a big factor in that, but there is a lot to be concerned about with the batted ball profile against him this season, too. Heaney will almost certainly exercise his player option which could make it difficult to move him, but if any front office can find a way to get a deal done...it is probably the Rangers' front office.

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