They had also signed right-handed starter Jon Gray and outfielder Kole Calhoun as part of second-year general manager Chris Young’s attempt to improve a roster that has finished last in the American League West in three of the past five years.
There’s no doubt the Rangers will be better come next season, and they should be commended for not taking the nihilistic route frequented by fellow cellar-dwellers like the Baltimore Orioles.
They ranked near the bottom of the majors this year in both runs scored and wRC+, a catch-all metric housed at FanGraphs that adjusts for ballpark and other variables.
Even with those new faces in tow, the Rangers have a lot of work to do between now and Opening Day if they’re going to make a real run in 2022.
Teams coming out of lengthy rebuilds, the way the Rangers are trying to do, tend to have the benefit of being able to fill out their rosters with emerging young stars who can serve as long-term core pieces.
What’s more is that the next-best player among their first-round selections who have reached the majors is whomever is deemed the winner of a competition between Lewis Brinson, Travis Demeritte, Chi Chi Gonzalez, and Dillon Tate.
Of course, it’s worth pointing out that Leiter and Winn have combined for just over 150 professional innings; that Jung is most often compared to former San Diego Padres third baseman Chase Headley ; and that Foscue would no longer appear to have a home on an infield that now features Seager and Semien, and that could include Jung as soon as this upcoming spring — ditto for Ezequiel Duran, who was acquired in the Gallo trade, and some of the organization’s other infield prospects nearing The Show.
With the exception of Leiter, they don’t have a clear standout star in hand; they nevertheless have have assembled what prospect expert Eric Longenhagen called the “deepest” farm system in baseball earlier this year.
In doing so, they’ve also flipped the aforementioned hour glass that will remind them they need to take advantage of those gains as soon as possible; it’s no longer enough to wait until their top youngsters reach the majors over the next two seasons before shifting into all-out compete mode.
The cost of acquiring good players through trade is lower than it used to be, suggesting Young should be able to add talent by consolidating his farm system’s depth, the way former Rangers executive A.J.
The key is that Young and the Rangers shouldn’t view their jobs as being done; in some ways, they’re just getting started.