Rangers reunite with playoff-tested ace on expensive deal in signal of 2025 plans

After falling well short of expectations during the 2024 regular season, the Texas Rangers entered the offseason with, well, even higher expectations. It'd be completely unacceptable to have a quiet and uneventful winter after the dreadful season that just came and went.

The Rangers had thrown their hat into the ring with left-hander Max Fried, but he signed with the New York Yankees Tuesday evening. However, Texas' top target all along has been Nathan Eovaldi, who was the club's ace over the past two years. FanSided's Robert Murray broke the news on Tuesday that the Rangers got their man after all.

ESPN's Jeff Passan followed up with the details, sharing that the Rangers inked Eovaldi on a three-year, $75 million contract. This is a pretty significant contract for a pitcher Passan himself labels as a "mid-tier" free agent.

Rangers re-sign Nathan Eovaldi to three-year deal

After losing a boatload of pitchers from the 2024 staff to free agency, the Rangers have had a clear need all over the staff. At least one starting pitcher and three or four relievers are amongst the handful of needs on the club's to-do list. Re-upping with Eovaldi on a new deal is an excellent start to what should continue to be a busy couple of weeks. Bringing him back makes the Rangers' 2025 intentions clear: they're going to try and bounce back into contention.

Eovaldi, 34, made the first All-Star Game of his career in 2023 as a member of the Rangers. He finished that year with a 12-5 record and 3.63 ERA through 25 starts. He followed that up with a slightly less productive year, but 29 starts of 3.80-ERA ball is a great showing for a pitcher who at times has struggled with inconsistent results and a plethora of injuries.

Now that Eovaldi is back atop the Rangers' rotation, he'll pair up with Jacob deGrom, Jon Gray and Tyler Mahle to form an extremely experienced and well-respected rotation. As of right at this moment, Cody Bradford is the leading candidate to round out the starting five, with Dane Dunning and Kumar Rocker available as backup options if needed.