It's time for the Rangers to part ways with their once Gold Glove catcher

From the starting catcher on a World Series team to a complete liability two years later, Jonah Heim should be on the way out of Arlington this offseason or earlier if the opportunity presents itself.

Heim, 30, has been a mainstay at the catcher's position since his Rangers' debut in 2021. Since then he's had quite the journey. He was the starting All-Star catcher for the American League in 2023 and finished that season with a World Series ring and an AL Gold Glove.

But things haven't gotten better for Heim these last two seasons. From Opening Day 2024, Heim is slashing .218/.265/.339 with a .605 OPS, 22 home runs and 94 RBIs in 222 games played. It's reared an even uglier head as of late with a .188 average in his last 30 games.

As the Rangers prepare to welcome the Phillies to Globe Life Field this weekend, they are currently 60-56 and 1.5 games back of an AL Wild Card spot. The road doesn't get easier from here, having the fourth-toughest schedule in the league down the home strech of the regular season.

Rangers won't replace Heim during the season

It's getting to the point where fans are just going to have to deal with Heim being in the lineup 2-3 games per week.

He may not be the Gold Glove caliber catcher he was two years ago but the downsides of replacing him far outweigh the risks at this point. First off, you aren't going to find a catcher outside of the organization at this point in the season that brings more value than Heim does, which is saying something.

In addition, the Rangers' pitching rotation is having one of the best seasons in franchise history. While not all of the pitchers rely on Heim as their personal catcher, he does catch a lot of Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi's starts.

Not to say that Evo and deGrom would be upset having to deal with Higashioka the rest of the season, pitchers are extremely routine and when they are going well, why mess with that?

I will look at both sides of this argument so we have the bigger picture. Heim will be arbitration eligible for the final year heading into the 2026 season. He's only making $4.5 million this season and another poor season means he might be even cheaper next year.

Who are the Rangers candidates to replace Heim this offseason?

Well the first name on that list is Higashioka, who signed a two-year contract prior to this season. If the organization decides to part ways with Heim at the end of the year, there's no way they get rid of Higgy and leave the pitching staff unfamiliar with every catcher.

Beyond Higashioka, the list of catching free agents is bland. The biggest free agent for next year is J.T. Realmuto, who is in the final year of his five-year, $115 million deal he signed back in 2021 with the Phillies. Only issue with that is he's already 34-years-old and he's really just performing "averagely."

The other unrestricted free agents that would be best options are Victor Caritini, James McCann and Jacob Stallings. It is worth noting that Elias Diaz, Danny Jansen and Mitch Garver all have mutual options in their contract and could be free agents as well.

In the farm system, 27-year-old Cooper Johnson is Triple-A Round Rock's catcher put he's struggling this year. In 52 games with the Express, he's only hitting .209 with 4 home runs and 21 RBIs, which isn't great. The three catchers at Double-A Frisco as well are underperforming.

Texas does have Malcolm Moore, the team's first-round pick in 2024 and second ranked prospect, but he is still at least two years away from being big league ready.