Rangers miss chance to bolster bullpen as 2025 top reliever signs with Guardians

Even when a reliever is openly campaigning for his return to the Texas Rangers, it seems as they couldn't close the deal as right-hander Shawn Armstrong is reportedly headed to the Cleveland Guardians.

Armstrong, 35, is coming off one of the best seasons of his career in 2025 with Texas pitching a career 74 innings, posting a 2.31 ERA, 74 strikeouts, 20 walks and nine saves. In that time he managed a 26.1 percent strikeout rate, 7 percent walk rate and held opposing hitters to a .157 average.

The Rangers experienced some rocky production with players attempting to close out games last season. It first began with Luke Jackson, then went to Robert Garcia, Danny Coulombe and Phil Maton before ending the year in the hands of Armstrong.

His nine saves were a career high and came in 12 save chances down the stretch of the year. He closed out a handful of important games in September as Texas attempted to climb back into the playoff race.

Rangers missing out on Armstrong puts them back to bargain bin shopping

Earlier this month, DLLS Sports' Jeff Wilson had reported that Armstrong was strongly pushing to return to Texas and was likely searching for a two-year deal. His reported deal with the Guardians is one-year, $5.5 million with a mutual option for 2027.

It was massively important for Texas to get Armstrong to return and help fortify the backend of the bullpen after a handful of free agents left, with Phil Maton and Hoby Milner jetting off to the North Side of Chicago.

Rangers were able to get 39-year-old Chris Martin back on a one-year deal on Dec. 16 but besides that they've gone after lower-level work in progress types that keep the budget slim but have a chance of being hit-or-miss.

Options for reunions still remain with Coulombe and Sborz still on the free agent market. Outside of that the best reliever option within Texas's price point would be former Rangers David Robertson, Jose Leclerc and Kirby Yates or Shelby Miller, Tayler Rogers and Justin Wilson.