Texas Rangers: 4 Reasons to Be Patient

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The offseason has been moving at a glacial pace as we are less than two weeks away from Christmas and just two months away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. The pace is picking up since Shohei Ohtani signed his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Texas Rangers have since lost Will Smith and Chris Stratton to the Kansas City Royals and Austin Hedges to the Cleveland Guardians. It was announced on Tuesday night that Jung Ho Lee agreed to $100+ million contract with the San Francisco Giants. Yet, Texas continues to wait. Fans are clamoring for Chris Young to be active. They want him to add to the team. They want to see movement. Chris Young though continues to be patient. The general manager who just led his team to the World Series has several reasons he can afford to be patient and not be compulsive. Lets go over those reasons.

4 Reasons why Texas is being patient this offseason

#1- Texas is World Series Champions

I would like to say this first. The entire organization is doing everything they can to repeat as champions. The fact that they did win a World Series removes the pressure that has hung over this franchise since 2011. The teams that are making drastic moves this offseason have that pressure to win now. The Yankees have not won a World Series since 2009 and have not even been to a World Series in that period. The Dodgers have not won a World Series in a 162-game season since 1988. The Giants have not advanced beyond the divisional round since 2014.

Texas still has that glow that envelopes an entire organization in the aftermath of winning a World Series. Tony Beasley was recognized in Virginia for being the third base coach of the Texas Rangers. Cody Bradford was surprised back home in Aledo, Texas when his high school retired his number. The postseason victory tour continues for this organization.

Chris Young is going to add players at a price that the organization can afford. He is going to add players that will help this team win. He will do it on his timetable. That could be in these 12 days before Christmas or sometime in January.

#2 The quality depth Texas has built

Chris Young now and Jon Daniels before him has built a formidable organization with depth all over the field. The outfield is set with Evan Carter in left, Leody Taveras in center, and Adolis Garcia in right. The infield is set with Josh Jung at third, Corey Seager at short, Marcus Semien at second, Nathaniel Lowe at first, and Jonah Heim at catcher. That lineup is set for 2024 and multiple seasons after.

The rotation is potentially set as well. If no moves are made the rotation will line up with Nathan Eovaldi, Max Scherzer, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, and Andrew Heaney. Texas I am sure would love to add more depth to the rotation. They absolutely can win plenty of games with those five in the rotation. That could keep them from bidding outrageously to retain Jordan Montgomery or going after Blake Snell. They are more likely to wait on the second tier of starting pitchers. Just remember Jacob deGrom could be ready by August for the final 50 games.

The area that probably needs the most help is the bullpen, but even that has enough depth if they just want to add to the back of the bullpen. Jose Leclerc and Josh Sborz will return for 2024 and Texas just added Kirby Yates to the late innings. The rest of the bullpen could be filled with internal options. Pitchers such as Jonathan Hernandez, Brett Martin, Brock Burke, Grant Anderson, Cody Bradford, and maybe Marc Church.

Chris Young can look at this roster and know he is negotiating from a position of strength. He can go to camp with the team he has and feel confident. He knows he has a good product to sell to these free agents. He can sell them on being able to join a winning team. If Texas being patient is causing you to worry just remember the team that has already been assembled and will return in 2024.

#3 Prospects that need opportunities

The one area of the organization that got plenty of headlines before 2023 was the prospect depth Texas had accumulated since 2018. The depth started to make an impact on the major league roster in 2023. Josh Jung was having a rookie-of-the-year type season before breaking his thumb in August. Evan Carter was nicknamed the "little savior" for his performance in September and October. Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran filled the utility role admirably. Cody Bradford became a reliable bullpen arm and made a few spot starts in 2023.

In 2024 there will be more prospects who are likely to earn opportunities to play. Those include Jack Leiter, Owen White, Wyatt Langford, Dustin Harris, and Marc Church. There could be others who burst onto the scene and show they deserve an opportunity. Texas does not want to weigh down their roster with over priced veterans who take away opportunities from their prospects. That is why I think Texas will not sign a high-priced DH. They want to keep a spot open for Wyatt Langford either early or late in the season. They might not add a significant starting pitcher hoping that maybe Leiter or White will take a spot midway through the season.

The front office is trying to build a roster that can win, but also one that can give opportunities to younger players. If Texas can find a way to do both they could build a team that can carry high-priced players while also lowering the payroll with young players on minimum contracts. That would drastically lower the payroll and take them away from the luxury tax line. It would help Texas be able to keep this competitive window open for a longer period.

#4 There is still plenty of time to improve the roster

One year ago Texas had already made most of their moves. The only significant players acquired later than December 13th last year was Nathan Eovaldi right around Christmas Day and then Will Smith and Robbie Grossman right after spring training started. This offseason is different. There are still several good players out there on the market. It does not seem as if there will be a rush any time soon. Texas can afford to wait it out.

On the Baseball Tonight podcast on Monday afternoon Jeff Passan mentioned how it might not be till the middle of January that all the major moves are done being made. If that is the case then Texas still has about a month to add pieces to a roster that is mostly assembled. We would all like to see the frenzy that Texas had in 2021 or the amount of moves Texas made in 2022. That is not where this team is at heading into 2024.

Texas will be the hunted and not the hunter in 2024. That will require a different mindset for this team. Everywhere this team goes and every team they take on will be trying to take down the World Series champion. Teams will not be overlooking them any longer. They will carry around the burden of defending a championship from game 1 to game 162.

If it takes another month to build this roster then so be it. The time is still there to build a good roster. It was demonstrated in 2023 that even if every hole is not filled there will be opportunities in the 2024 season to improve the roster. I am sure that Chris Young will take that same approach as he did in 2023. He will wait to see what the team can do over the first 100 games and then see what holes need to be filled. Opening Day is not the deadline to assemble a roster. It is just a starting point and the real deadline is the trade deadline in August. It is just December, the World Series in 2024 is still 10 months away. Texas still has plenty of time to put together a roster that can compete for another championship.

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