This Giants non-tender candidate could become a prime Rangers bullpen reclamation project

The Texas Rangers have their work cut out for them when it comes to building up a bullpen for the 2027 season. Key arms like Jakob Junis, Tyler Alexander, and Cal Quantrill are hitting free agency, and the way the payroll is looking, the Rangers will have even less to work with this year than they had during last offseason's purge.

If it wasn't bad enough that Texas could lose quality arms like Junis and Alexander, the club is also coming off a season where the relief corps was an Achilles' heel. Rangers relievers finished the year with a 23rd-ranked 4.47 ERA. Even with these solid vets who are about to depart, depth was an issue at times in 2026

Finding cheap alternatives and additions will be crucial, and the non-tender market could provide an answer, though not a clean one. The San Francisco Giants have a roster saddled with bad contracts. Willy Adames is a bust. Matt Chapman is aging and coming off season-ending core surgery. Rafael Devers finally looked like the slugger he was in Boston, but he too will be recovering from Core surgery. Those three players alone will account for $89 million on their books in 2027.

To that end, can they really afford to keep flame-throwing reliever Camilo Doval, who is projected to make $6.6 million in what will be his final year of arbitration? The Giants traded the right-hander to the New York Yankees at the 2025 trade deadline, saw the Yankees deal him to the Pittsburgh Pirates at the 2026 deadline, and then plucked him off waivers from the Pirates during the season's final days.

Considering they gave up on him once, it doesn't seem far-fetched that they'd cut him loose again. If they do, the Rangers could snap him up.

Camilo Doval would bring much-needed skills to the Rangers' bullpen, but they'd have to straighten him out

Part of the reason for the struggles Texas's 'pen endured in 2026 was a lack of strikeout stuff. Collectively, the group posted a 20% strikeout rate that ranked 26th in MLB. Pitch-to-contact can work, but when bloopers and bleeders find holes, the margin for error shrinks, and the potential for a big inning rises.

Going hand-in-hand with the Ks was a lack of velocity. The Rangers' bullpen arms combined for an average fastball velocity of 93.9 in 2026, ranking 23rd in the league. Not every reliever needs to be a fireballer, but it's helpful to have some variety in the 'pen, which is something Texas lacked with a unit full of soft tossers.

Doval could come in and rectify both issues. He recorded a 98.8 miles-per-hour average velocity on his four-seamer in 2026, and regularly uncorks cutters that hit triple digits. If nothing else, he'd provide the group with a different look.

Strikeouts are a bit more of a mixed bag. Doval struck out 24.2% of the batters he faced in 2026, which is an above-average mark, but not an exceptional one. However, he holds a 28% K-rate for his career, and when he was at his best in his early days, he was topping the 30% threshold.

That's where the payoff lies for the Rangers. Doval put up back-to-back sub-3.00 ERA seasons in 2022 and 2023, and was an All-Star closer who led the National League with 39 saves in 2023. If Texas can help him rediscover that form, they'd get a guy who could go toe-to-toe with any of the top free-agent relievers on the market this offseason.

That will be the real test, though. The penny-pinching Pirates traded real prospect capital to get him, yet decided he wasn't worth keeping around for another cost-controlled season after just a couple of months. The Yankees gave up even more to get him from the Giants, and were done with the experiment a year in.

Still, if Doval gets non-tendered, he'll come cheap, and in that scenario he's worth the risk. Worst case, he can be a change-of-pace middle relief arm. Best case, he returns to form as a late-inning demon. Without much in the way of resources, these are the kinds of gambles that the Rangers must take.

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