Wyatt Langford's impending return is highlighting Rangers' difficult roster juggling act

The Texas Rangers are getting Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford back, which is huge news and should help out an offense that has been carried by Joc Pederson, Josh Jung, and few others. The announcement has brought about a flurry of opinions as fans don't quite agree with the team's choices as to who is getting sent down to clear roster spots for the returning stars.

That brings about an even bigger question, however, and it's one that revolves around center field. The decision to send down Alejandro Osuna and Cody Freeman spared the struggling Evan Carter, and we're not quite sure if that was the right choice.

Carter has hit just .171/.291/.331 over 59 games, which is good for a wRC+ of 80. Hitting 20% below league average typically is a death sentence to a player's value, yet Carter has produced 0.9 fWAR thus far. The reason is his defense.

The 23-year-old former phenom has been one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball this year. He ranks fourth among all MLB center fielders in both defensive runs saved and outs above average, with five and six, respectively.

Defensive excellence in center is important, so while that would usually end the debate, the situation in Texas has some nuance.

Langford is also capable of playing center field as well, and when he's gotten some extended run there, he's been very good as well. Over 319 1/3 innings that he manned center last season, the University of Florida product posted five outs above average and four defensive runs saved. A full season's worth of work would equate to roughly 1,200 innings, meaning his performance extrapolates out to 18.8 OAA and 15 DRS. That's some rough back-of-the-napkin math, but that would be Gold Glove worthy performance.

The Rangers should've optioned Evan Carter and begun to rely on Wyatt Langford in center field

It's too early to write off Carter for good, but the way he's struggled this year has been problematic, to say the least. It would be one thing if Texas had no other option to man center, but Langford is clearly up to the task.

The biggest issue facing the club has been the offense, and to that end, what the Rangers should be doing is finding any way to increase the firepower. Carter isn't a part of that equation right now.

Alejandro Osuna, though, could be. The 23-year-old hasn't been a perfect player by any means. He's not as good a defensive outfielder as either Carter or Langford, but he's capable of playing a passable, if below-average, left field.

Osuna also has shown very little power in the time he's been up in Arlington, but while he's mostly been a gap hitter throughout his minor league career, he's shown he can run into a few.

What he does provide is some decent contact skills and excellent swing decisions that help him draw walks and get on base at a very good clip. It's hard to turn your nose up at a .376 on-base percentage.

Rangers beat writer Evan Grant has made the case for Texas embracing a more small-ball-oriented approach, and leaning on contact and on-base skills does just that, even if it's just to have a guy at the bottom of the lineup to create traffic for when the batting order turns over.

Sending down Carter now wouldn't have meant that he couldn't be recalled later after working through some issues. It's simply a fair assessment of where things stand today. Unfortunately, the Rangers saw things differently, and as a result, the heat should turn up on Carter to produce in the batter's box.

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