Rangers News: two veterans decline options, Texas names new general manager

The MLB Offseason is underway and teams are trying to figure out what to do with players who have options. The Texas Rangers just lost two names who have each declined their options for 2025, making them free agents.

Nathan Eovaldi declined his player option for 2025 after having two solid years in Texas. He was arguably the team's ace while Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom have battled injuries during their time in Arlington.

In 2024, Eovaldi posted a 3.80 earned run average across 170.2 innings and struck out 166 hitters. Opposing batters had a batting average of .227 against him, along with a WHIP of 1.11 and a FIP of 3.83. These are very impressive numbers that make him open to potentially get more money from another club. Even still, it is not out of the picture for the Rangers to make an effort to get him again.

The other veteran to decline their option was David Robertson, one of the oldest active players in baseball. He put together another productive season in 2024 and will now test out free agency once again.

In his age 39 season, Robertson delivered a 3.00 earned run average in 72 innings pitched and held opponents to a batting average of just .201. His WHIP sat at 1.11 while his FIP was 2.65. Despite being an older arm, Robertson is still a very solid reliever. The Rangers could definitely attempt to re-sign him, but it will likely need to be for a higher price than the $7 million on his player option.

Rangers News: two veterans decline options, Texas names new general manager

Whether or not Texas would decide to pay for Robertson's services may come down to where their priorities lie. Young has said they will attempt to retain Andrew Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi, but it is not known if they would spend big on their bullpen given how many holes they will have to fill.

Texas needed to find a new general manager after promoting Chris Young from that role. They decided to promote Ross Fenstermaker, who was previously the Vice President and General Manager of Player Development.

His assistant will be Cole Figueroa who was the Director of Baseball Operations within the Rays' organization. This marks the third hire of the week for the Rangers' franchise.