Winter Meetings: 3 reasons behind the Texas Rangers slow news offseason

The Texas Rangers the last two offseasons have been more like the Fast and Furious movies. They struck fast, got out, and left the rest of the baseball world to clean up the mess they caused. It all culminated in a World Series championship a little over one month ago. This offseason has yet to get started. Texas has yet to sign a player who was not already on the roster in 2023. They have not pulled off a trade for anyone. Their offseason has been less Fast and Furious and more Lost in Translation. The Texas front office arrives in Nashville this week for Winter Meetings and to hopefully start telling a different story this offseason.

The Winter Meetings is the annual gathering of front-office executives, coaches, and baseball media. There is a job fair component as well as several meetings that take place concerning the health and well-being of the sport. Over these four days, the Hall of Fame Contemporary Era committee will be announcing the result of their vote. The MLB Draft Lottery will be talking place and the Rule 5 Draft will be done on Wednesday before everyone starts leaving Nashville. In between these official meetings there will be free agent deals signed and trades will be made.

Texas Rangers fans have to be wondering if this is where we see Texas start to make moves? They do have areas of need that West Jones wrote about this last weekend. They are World Series champions, but are they content with that or do they want to improve upon that with another title? I would figure the goal for 2024 is to win the AL West division and dethrone the Astros once and for all. So what is holding them back? I think there are three reasons why Texas is being so slow to move this offseason. Texas is uncertain about the status of their Bally Sports contract, not wanting to be a two-time luxury tax payer, and they do not see a need to sign a high-dollar free agent.

Bally Sports bankruptcy is causing issues for the Texas Rangers

We have written about this before, but I want to emphasize it again. The fact that Bally Sports may drop the Texas Rangers is no doubt reshaping how the Texas Rangers are attacking this offseason. Texas gets $111 million annually from Bally Sports. If Bally Sports drops Texas because they cannot afford to pay that then it drops to $0 from Bally Sports. They would have to negotiate a media rights deal over the next three months or be broadcast by MLB and paid by MLB a lower amount than what Bally would have paid them.

Chris Young had a call with the media last week to preview the upcoming Winter Meetings and he acknowledged the difficulties that not knowing about their media rights was having. He said,

There’s an impact on the organization; there’s uncertainty about what the rights fees are and will be going forward . We obviously have a responsibility to be financially prudent

This could end up being a win in the long-run, but right now it is impacting what Texas can do this offseason. They already have been reported as being out on Shohei Ohtani(ESPN Plus subscription required) by Jeff Passan. They want to bring back Jordan Montgomery, but the cost might be too much for Texas. If they cannot afford Montgomery then it stands to reason they would likely be out on Josh Hader as well.

Texas will be on TV in some fashion in 2024. Fans do not need to worry about that. The uncertainty about who will be broadcasting them will likely stop them from being able to properly fill the holes on this roster. Texas will likely be playing with those guys who have something to prove and will be willing to sign for less. It will be guys like Frankie Montas and Michael Wacha in the rotation. It will be players like Hector Neris or Andrew Chaffin in the bullpen.

Luxury Tax payers for a second season

Texas is luxury tax payers for the 2023 season. Ray Davis will happily write that check to Major League Baseball. It resulted in a World Series championship. The penalties increase to 30% tax for a team over the luxury tax for a second season. Everything is back at 0-0 heading into 2024. I am sure the message has come down from ownership to try and get under the tax heading into the season.

Texas cannot go past $237 million in team payroll if they are to stay away from becoming two time luxury tax payers. Fangraphs has Texas already at around $220 million in payroll for 2024. They likely have around $15 million to sign free agents this offseason. It will take some creativity by Chris Young to be able to spread that money around and still fill the holes on the roster.

Texas will likely still pursue free agents, but also be active in the trade market. I expect Chris Young to explore every avenue this week in Nashville to improve this roster. Texas is trying to do something that no team has done since 2000 and that is repeat as World Series champion. He is doing that while also trying to stay under the luxury tax.