Introduction to the Rangers’ Offseason
LAS VEGAS – The last time baseball’s general managers rolled into town, Chris Young went on a heater. By the time the two-day symposium and winter warmup known as the General Managers meetings were done, Young, in his first offseason heading the Rangers, dove right into building a pitching rotation that delivered a World Series title and the best starting rotation performance anybody in Texas can remember. This time around, he might just have to dismantle it.
The GM meetings begin for real on Tuesday at the Cosmopolitan, part of the sprawling MGM complex of hotels and casinos, which isn’t exactly a great look for a league dealing with one of the serious gambling-related scandals rocking sports. But, hey, the rooms were booked long before Emmanuel Clase started spiking sliders.
The Rangers’ Current Situation
The only gamble Young and the Rangers may be undertaking, though, is the possibility of rolling the dice on remaking the rotation that led MLB in ERA in 2025 as part of a potential trimming of the payroll. What remains uncertain is the motivation for a payroll cut or the degree by which it will be cut. Rangers owner Ray Davis, as is usually his policy, declined to discuss offseason finances on Monday.
President of Baseball Operations Chris Young has not commented beyond saying that payroll will come down from 2025.
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Payroll and Financial Considerations
The Rangers are expected to get word this week of their final CBT payroll figure for 2025. It’s estimated the club will go over the $241 million tax threshold by a little less than $500,000. They will pay a 50% tax on that amount, which is a relative pittance in baseball. But it will be the third straight year the Rangers go over and tax percentages have increased with each year. There is some strategic value to re-calibrating, thus re-setting, penalties to whatever they may be when baseball reaches a collective bargaining agreement for 2027.
To re-set, the Rangers need only stay flat because the CBT threshold increases to $243 million in 2026. If that were the case, the Rangers would have between $50-70 million to spend this winter, based on expiring deals and the potential to pass on tendering contracts to some arbitration-eligible players.
But if the mandate is to more significantly cut payroll, the Rangers are going to face some tough choices. They currently have $174 million tied up in six long-term contracts and other required obligations (benefits, pre-arbitration salaries and pre-arb bonus pool contributions). If they tender contracts to all their arbitration eligible players other than Adolis García and Jonah Heim, the payroll pushes $190 million. And that still leaves them at least a half-dozen players shy of a contract.
Either the Rangers are going to have to spend significantly into the $200s or they are going to have to shed some contracts before they can even think about adding by reappropriating dollars spent on one big deal to help fill multiple other needs.
DeGrom and Eovaldi’s Impact on the Rotation
It is a far different landscape than when Young took over. At the GM meetings following the 2022 season, he left Las Vegas with a pitcher already in hand (albeit that pitcher, Jake Odorizzi, never actually ended up pitching for the Rangers). But it was the start to a spree. Before the winter was over the Rangers had committed roughly $265 million in long-term deals to five free agent pitchers. Then, with in-season trades that brought them Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery, the price kept climbing.
Now, it appears the bill is due. The Rangers got ace-level performances from Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi (who re-signed for three years last winter after his original deal expired) in 2025. Together they combined to go 23-11 with a 2.43 ERA and 314 strikeouts in 302 innings this past season. They are also due a combined $62 million for 2026. Can a team with a payroll of about $200 million afford to use up almost a third of its allotted money for two starters?
With a rather lackluster class of free agent starting pitchers, the Rangers could find a strong sellers market for deGrom, who would be the No. 1 starter on about 25 of 30 MLB teams and No. 2 anywhere else. It only makes sense for the club to conduct due diligence on what teams might be willing to offer.
The problems, though, are two-fold. First, there is the encumbrance of his $37 million dollar salary for both 2026, which dilutes the pool to deep-pocketed teams. Second, there is the matter of his full no-trade clause in his contract, which further dilutes the market. It likely takes the deep-pocketed New York teams out of the mix, because pitchers who choose to leave that market rarely seem to want to go back.
Eovaldi also has full no-trade protection. The other problem in dealing him would be the uncertainty that lingers after he spent the final two months of the season on the injured list. It probably drags his value down some. And, if the Rangers were forced to make a choice between keeping one of the two, they might favor Eovaldi because of a lesser financial commitment and because of his impact on other pitchers on the staff.
Conclusion
It leaves the Rangers in a tough situation as they begin this offseason. Young has only known one method for roster construction since he took over in 2022. It was always about adding.
Now they have a new reality that leaves them in the same class as most of the tourists on the strip. They are likely to have less than they started with.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the current situation with the Rangers’ payroll?
A: The Rangers are expected to have a payroll of around $200 million, with $174 million already tied up in long-term contracts and other required obligations.
Q: Who are the key players that the Rangers need to make decisions on?
A: The Rangers need to make decisions on Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, who are both due significant amounts of money in 2026.
Q: What are the implications of the Rangers’ payroll situation?
A: The Rangers may need to shed some contracts or make significant cuts to their payroll in order to stay under the luxury tax threshold and avoid penalties.
