7 Players the Texas Rangers gave up on too soon

The Texas Rangers have a long history that goes back over 50 years now. In seven days the Rangers will get to add to that history as the 2023 season will officially get underway. There have been thousands of players that have suited up for the Rangers over the last 52 years. Some that are beloved like Adrian Beltre, Nolan Ryan, and Charlie Hough. Some that are reviled like Alex Rodriguez, Chan Ho Park, and Lance Berkman. In this article we will look at seven players that are neither loved or reviled. It is list of players that the Rangers misevaluated and ended up giving up on too soon.

Number 7: Robb Nen

Robb Nen was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 32rd round of the 1987 draft out of Los Alamitos, California. He was a starter and went through the minor leagues as a starter. He suffered multiple arm injuries throughout his time in the minor leagues. Six years after being drafted he finally made his debut for the Rangers on April 10th, 1993. He made three starts and came out of the bullpen six times.

Then in July of 1993, three months after his debut, he was traded with Kurt Miller to the Florida Marlins for Cris Carpenter. Not the Chris Carpenter that was the Cardinals ace pitcher through the early 2000s. This Cris Carpenter was a bullpen arm that finished the 1993 season and pitched for the Rangers in 1994 as well. He was a good, not great bullpen arm that was nearing the end of his career by that point.

Robb Nen would go on to be one of the great closers in baseball. He pitched for the Marlins and Giants throughout the rest of the decade. He was the closer for the Giants team that nearly won the 2002 World Series. He ended up with 314 saves in his career, three all-star teams, and finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2000.

Number 6: Chris Young

The team that has perpetually needed pitching made a blunder in 2006 trading pitcher and now GM Chris Young to the Padres in 2006. It was a trade that sent Chris Young to play for Bruce Bochy in his last year in San Diego. The Rangers had come up short on trading for Josh Beckett earlier that offseason and overpaid to get Adam Eaton after signing Kevin Millwood. Eaton would leave in free agency after the 2006 season and Otsuka stayed through the 2007 season before departing.

Chris Young would go on to have a long career pitching for the Padres, Mets, Mariners, and Royals. He won a World Series in Kansas City in 2015. He was never a great pitcher, but he would have fit in nicely on those World Series teams as a 3rd or 4th starter. The one good thing about that trade was that Young spent one season pitching for Bruce Bochy and developed a relationship that led him to hire Bochy as Rangers manager 17 years later.

Number 5: Pete Fairbanks

Jon Daniels had a trend in his tenure as GM. If the Rangers were not competitive he traded bullpen arms for prospects. He traded such arms as Eric Gagne, Keone Kela, Ian Kennedy, and the number 5 player on this list Pete Fairbanks. Trading Fairbanks has turned out to be a massive mistake.

Fairbanks was a 2015 9th-round draft pick. He perservered through two Tommy John surgeries. In 2019 he went all the way from High-A to the majors. He has averaged around 97-98mph on his four-seam fastball. He can top out at 100mph. He has closer stuff. He ended up making eight appearances for the Rangers and struck out three batters in four of those appearances. He struggled after his first few appearances and that led the Rangers to consider trading him.

Tampa saw the potential in Fairbanks. He made an appearance against them in June 2019 allowing two runs in his one inning, but striking out three batters as well. The Rangers needed a hitter for a team that was unexpectedly competitive. When the trade was made the Ranger were 50-43 and only 2.5 games back of the wild card. They were looking for an inexpensive option to improve their offense and Solak ended up making his debut on August 20th.

The Rangers offense needed help because the team missed on an entire generation of hitters at the end of the 2010s. Nomar Mazara, Ronald Guzman, Roughned Odor, Jurickson Profar, Jairo Beras, and others did not pan out as expected. By 2019 the Rangers needed a reliable offensive weapon who didn't strike out a ton. Solak was supposed to be that player. He was thought to have a professional approach to hitting and excelled at every minor-league level. The Rangers in July chose to trade Fairbanks for Solak straight up.

Since that trade Fairbanks has become of the best relievers in the American League when healthy. He recently signed an extension that allows him to stay in Tampa through at least 2025 with an option for 2026. He made 24 appearances in 2022 and had a 1.13 ERA. Solak this past offseason was traded for cash to the Reds in a move to clear a 40-man roster spot.

Number 4: Ian Kinsler

Ian Kinsler was a long-time second baseman for the Rangers. He was a 17th-round draft pick in 2003. He went right through the minor leagues in two and a half seasons and made his debut on the Opening Day of 2006. He quickly became a fan favorite and one of the best second basemen in team history. He was one of the leaders of that group that went through the rebuilding phase that started in 2007 that saw the Rangers win consecutive AL Pennants in 2010 and 2011.

In the 2013 season the Rangers lost a one-game playoff to the Tampa Bay Rays, behind a dominant performance from David Price. After the season the Rangers made two fateful decisions that limited how good the team would be for the rest of the decade. They let right-fielder Nelson Cruz walk in free agency after his steroid suspension. Then they decided they needed more power in the lineup and so they traded Ian Kinsler to the Detroit Tigers for Prince Fielder. It was a terrible trade the moment it happened and it became even worse over time.

The Rangers had planned for Jurickson Profar to take over second base. Unfortunately, Profar would suffer a shoulder injury in spring training that kept him out for two full seasons, 2014-2015. He came back in 2016 as a part-time utility player.

Kinsler would go on to play nearly every day for five more seasons and then was a part-time player for the Padres in 2019 before retiring. He made one more all-star team and won two Gold Gloves after being traded.

Prince Fielder would miss most of 2014 with a neck injury. He would help the Rangers to a division title in 2015 and then be forced to retire in 2016 with a reoccurrence of his neck injury.

Number 2: Sammy Sosa

This is another player who made his name somewhere else but started his career in Texas. The Rangers in the 80s hit the lottery when it came to scouting Latin-American countries and it led to success in the 1990s. Ruben Sierra, Sammy Sosa, Juan Gonzalez, and Ivan Rodriguez all were Texas Rangers products signed out of the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico.

Sammy Sosa and Juan Gonzalez both were on the same developmental track.Sosa was signed in 1985 and Gonzalez in 1986. They both made their debuts in 1989. Sosa came up in June and Gonzalez came up in September. They didn't play in the same Texas Rangers outfield though. That is because Sosa was traded at the deadline in 1989 to the Chicago White Sox with Wilson Alvarez and Scott Fletcher for future Hall of Famer Harold Baines and Fred Manrique. Tom Grieve, the Rangers GM at the time of the trade, said this to the Dallas Morning News about the trade back in 2018 after Harold Baines was elected to the Hall of Fame.

When we made that trade, we needed a bat in the lineup and preferably a left-handed bat. We always had taken the philosophy that we wouldn't take a short-term gain for a long-term loss. But we changed that because we thought we had a chance to win.

Sosa would go on to become the 1998 MVP and an all star seven times. He also hit over 600-home-runs and would lead the Cubs to the playoffs multiple times. Sosa being traded opened up right field for Gonzalez. Gonzalez would go on to become the best right fielder in team history. Sosa would come back and end his career in a Rangers uniform and hit his 600th home run in a Rangers uniform in 2007.

Number 1: Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez

The case for Pudge to be on this list is much like the case for Kinsler. The Rangers after the 2002 season thought Pudge was washed. He had missed significant time in 2000, 2001, and 2002 seasons. They made the choice after 2002 to not offer salary arbitration that would have paid him 12 million for the 2003 season. The Rangers who had signed Alex Rodriguez in December 2000 were now trying to cut the team payroll. They traded for Einar Diaz to replace him

Pudge ended up signing with young Marlins team in 2003 on a one year contract. He was a leader for that Marlins team that shocked everyone and won the World Series behind one of the youngest rotations in all of baseball. He then signed a lucrative contract with the Detroit Tigers and led them from a 100-loss season to the World Series in three years. He was a great catcher for a Tigers staff that included rookie Justin Verlander.

The Rangers struggled at the catcher position for the rest of the decade trying out guys like Diaz, Rod Barajas, Gerald Laird, Jarrod Saltalamachia, Bengie Molina, and then finally hit on Mike Napoli in 2011. It was a struggle though at that position and led to a decade of sadness because the front office underestimated how good Pudge was and how much he had left in his career. Pudge did briefly come back to Texas in 2009 before finishing out his career playing for the Washington Nationals in 2011.

The Rangers had their reasons for giving up on each of these players, but in these seven cases it did not work out for the team. It led to more disappointment for the team and success for many of these players.