“It’s a middle infield, Michael. How much could it cost? Half a billion dollars?”
Check out Will Pharo’s 2022 Season Preview Article for the Texas Rangers here.
Image: Jerome Miron / USA TODAY Sports
2022 Record: 68-94 (.420 win%, 4th in Division)
2022 Payroll: $161,335,446 (15th in MLB)
2022 Lineup:
1. 2B Marcus Semien, .248 AVG/.304 OBP/.429 SLG, 5.7 fWAR
2. SS Corey Seager, .245 AVG/.317 OBP/.455 SLG, 4.1 fWAR
3. 1B Nate Lowe, .302 AVG/.358 OBP/.492 SLG, 3.3 fWAR
4. DH Adolis Garcia, .250 AVG/.300 OBP/.456 SLG, 3.6 fWAR
5. C Jonah Heim, .227 AVG/.298 OBP/.399 SLG, 2.5 fWAR
6. CF Leody Tavares, .261 AVG/.309 OBP/.366 SLG, 0.8 fWAR
7. RF Kole Calhoun, .196 AVG/.257 OBP/.330 SLG, -1.5 fWAR
8. LF Brad Miller, .212 AVG/.270 OBP/.320 SLG, -1.6 fWAR
9. 3B Ezequiel Duran, .236 AVG/.277 OBP/.365 SLG, 0.2 fWAR
10. UTL Josh Jung, .204 AVG/ .235 OBP/ .418 SLG, -0.1 fWAR
2022 Rotation:
1. Martin Perez, 196.1 IP/2.89 ERA/1.26 WHIP, 5.0 fWAR
2. Dane Dunning, 153.1 IP/4.46 ERA/1.43 WHIP, 1.1 fWAR
3. Glenn Otto, 135.2 IP/4.64 ERA/1.33 WHIP, 0.6 fWAR
4. Jon Gray, 127.1 IP/3.96 ERA/1.13 WHIP, 1.4 fWAR
5. Taylor Hearn, 100.0 IP/5.13 ERA/1.50 WHIP, -0.5 fWAR
2022 Top 4 Relievers:
1. CP Joe Barlow, 35.0 IP/3.86 ERA/1.14 WHIP, 0.2 fWAR
2. RP Matt Moore, 74.0 IP/1.95 ERA/1.18 WHIP, 2.4 fWAR
3. RP Dennis Santana, 58.2 IP/5.22 ERA/1.33 WHIP, -0.8 fWAR
4. RP Brett Martin, 50.0 IP/4.14 ERA/1.36 WHIP, -0.1 fWAR
Regular Season Recap:
The Texas Rangers spent half a billion dollars on two franchise players to man their middle infield that will take them into 2032, and shortstop Corey Seager and second baseman Marcus Semien lived up to the hype. Seager hit a new career-high of 33 home runs this season and accounted for 83 RBIs, and Semien had his first 20 home runs/20 stolen bases season of his career, tallying 83 RBI too. The Rangers’ thorn in their side was the lack of pieces around Seager and Semien, and the bundle of runs scored against them.
Defensively, The Rangers couldn’t keep it together. While Seager and Semien were lighting up the scoreboard on offense, they struggled to turn double plays on a consistent basis, allowing runners to be on base, and, ultimately, allowing the opposition to score on more opportunities.
The season started off rocky for the Rangers, with Semien taking 44 games to hit his first home run as a Ranger. Hitting .200 up to this point, The Rangers had to rely on other pieces to get their offense going. The Rangers saw nice offensive play from RF Kole Calhoun, who batted .326 with a 1.013 OPS mostly stemming from his seven homers and 19 RBIs in the Month of May.
June was the turning point for The Rangers and ultimately led to their downward spiral.
Sitting at 36-38 up to this point, The Rangers could not seem to generate enough momentum to consistently win series’. June showed the same woes. The Rangers went just 12-14 in the month, and only won three games in a row once in that span. The Rangers had to rely on Triple-A call-up Leody Taveras after their starting outfielder Eli White went out with a fractured wrist. While Tavares made the most of his opportunity, slashing a .289 average in that span and cemented himself as the new starter, offense wasn’t turning into wins for Texas and it found itself in a big hole heading towards the All Star Break.
July continued a downward trend for Texas, blowing four leads in 10 games. Part of this trend was due to the constant pop ups, strikeouts, and failure to score runners in scoring position. At this rate, The Rangers found themselves in 4th place in their division and could not seem to find a way to win consistently. On a positive note, The Rangers had a very successful draft in July, selecting RHP Kumar Rocker with the third overall pick. While Rocker was selected by the New York Mets during the 2021 Draft, he did not sign with them, and Texas swooped in to grab the flame thrower.
August was the breaking point and the ultimate end for the Rangers. When the front office recognized the season was lost, despite spending half a billion dollars in free agency, they decided to cut ties with manager Chris Woodward on Aug. 15 and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels two days later. After clearing house, the season was deemed over and sights were set on the offseason.
M-SABR Predicted Record (72-90) vs. Actual (68-94):
Will predicted The Rangers would score a lot of runs this season but give up even more – and that prediction was spot on. While The Rangers were 5th in the AL scoring 707 runs this season, they were 12th in the AL giving up 743 runs to contrast the explosive offense. Between injuries, lack of pitching, and not enough pieces around their big One-Two Punch in Seager and Semien, The Rangers could not find a way to win series’ consistently and will have to rebuild once again in the offseason.
Surprise of the Season: SP Martin Perez
Martin Perez was the obvious bright spot for The Rangers this season. After being moved to the bullpen last season with the Boston Red Sox due to his struggles, the veteran lefty came to Texas on a one year contract, where he had spent his first seven seasons in the majors. With Texas, Perez lit it up, posting a 2.89 ERA in 196.1 IP contrasting his disappointing 4.74 ERA a season ago. It is imperative that The Rangers prioritize Perez in the offseason and cement him as their top starting pitcher for next season.
Players We Watched: C Mitch Garver
Since the start of 2019, Garver proved he could be a power hitting catcher in the MLB. In a bit under 700 plate appearances coming into the season, he slashed .254/.349/.546 with 46 home runs. Unfortunately for Garver and Texas, he did not have much of an opportunity to build on his offensive prowess due to a season ending torn flexor tendon in his throwing arm.
He wasn’t able to throw after his arm started giving him issues in May, and by July, his frustrations with being solely DH came to fruition and he elected to have the season-ending surgery to get ready for the 2023 season. Not having Garver obviously limited The Rangers’ offense, but replacement Jonah Heim still had a very strong season hitting .227 and notching 16 home runs.
Players We Watched: CF Adolis Garcia
Adolis Garcia was a bright spot for The Rangers in 2021, and continued to produce for them in 2022. Garcia finished the season with a .250 average, ranked 31st in the league in home runs with 27 and 11th in the MLB with 101 RBIs. Strikeouts posed an issue for Garcia in 2021 and that problem continued again this season. Garcia finished with 183 strikeouts, a stark contrast to his home runs and RBI totals making him a make or break player every time he stepped up to the plate. Nonetheless, Garcia signed a new contract before the season started, avoiding arbitration, but will be a free agent unless The Rangers decide to extend him once again.
Players We Watched: OF Bubba Thompson
Will was onto something with Thompson before the season, a lower level prospect with high upside. Given the injuries mounted by Texas’ starters this season, Thompson got his shot early, getting called up from Triple-A in August after hitting .303 with 13 homers, 48 RBIs and 49 stolen bases in 80 games at Round Rock. Thompson ended up playing 55 games for Texas, hitting .265 and stole 18 bases – third on the team despite a small sample size. Thompson should have a good shot at making the 40 man roster in the spring and compete to start for Texas in 2023.
Offseason Outlook
Texas proved last offseason it isn’t afraid to spend money to win. With the signings of Seager and Semien, the offense looks pretty good going into this offseason. The thorn in The Rangers’ side all season was starting pitching, and they will be looking to upgrade this offseason. There is some speculation that Red Sox Ace Nathan Eovaldi could be a target after the signing of backup catching Kevin Plawecki. Eovaldi, 32, had a 4.15 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 18 starts this season for Boston, but has recently been sidelined from an injury. The Rangers will need to target starting pitchers like Eovaldi if they want to compete next season.
Before they can look elsewhere, though, Texas needs to worry about their in-house guys. RP Garrett Richards, LF Kole Calhoun, SP Martin Perez, 3B Charlie Culberson, and SP Matt Moore are all free agents this offseason. With pitching already an issue, the front office will need to decide who they want to keep and who they will let walk before they look to replace the holes in their staff. According to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, the Rangers are set to meet with Perez and his representatives next week in an attempt to hammer out an agreement. If the Rangers could cement Perez, they will feel a lot better about their offseason plan going forward.
Crazy prediction: Rangers trade for a top-10 pitcher and give him the bag.
Categories: 2022 Season Review, Articles, Post-COVID
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