2020 -  Between '09 and '16, the Rangers topped 87 wins seven of the eight

years, topped 90 in five of those, made it to the post season five times and

to the World Series twice. Those days are long gone. Since then four under

.500 years with '20 being by far the worst at 22-38. Unclear if '20 was rock

bottom, it may not be. The Rangers had had only one season in this

century where they scored below the league average in runs. In '20,

the offense was putrid scoring one run less a game than the league

average. The pitching, meanwhile, was actually not quite as bad as it

had been in recent years, altho' it was still bad - giving up half a run

a game more than the league average.

□  A consortium led by Ray Davis and Bob Simpson have owned the club

since '10. Previous owner Tom Hicks had built a solid nucleus of a ballclub

before selling in '10 and the new owners were able to ride the wave of that

talent thru '16. Now we'll get to see if they've got what it takes to build a

winner.

□  Jon Daniels was hired by Tom Hicks as GM in '06. He's proven that he

has the chops to build a powerhouse club in Texas as he did it with the

09 thru '16 clubs. Daniels was fired after the 2020 season.

Six foot 10 inch former major league pitcher Chris Young was hired in Daniels'

place in 2021. He should know his pitching as he had an eighteen year big

league career.

□  Chris Woodward was hired on as manager in '19. Woodward lasted in the

position into the '22 season when he was replaced by interim Tony Beasley.

Texas got serious in '23, naming Bruce Bochy as the new manager.

Bochy is one of those managers who can make a difference.

2021 - The Rangers move into Globe Life Field. The new stadium will draw

fans in for just so long without a decent team on the field.

2021 - 2022 - The Rangers continue to flounder going 60-102 and 68-94.

2022 - Texas tries something unique and starts spending in an attempt to have

a product worthy of the new environment. RHP Jon Gray, 30, LHP Martin

Perez, 31, 2B Marcus Semien, 31, SS Corey Seager, 28, are free agent signings.

2023 - GM Chris Young likes him some pitching and makes three big

signings in the off season in order to try righting the ship.

RHP Jacob deGrom, 35, is signed from the Mets to a huge deal despite an injury

history. He's the big fish. When healthy, deGrom is elite and the ace of any staff.

LHP Andrew Heaney, 32, is signed away from the Dodgers and RHP Nathan

Eovaldi, 33, is signed from Boston. Closer Will Smith, 33, is signed from

Houston. He's not elite, but he'll do. The starters are all in their thirties and

have injury histories, but, when right, they can pitch.

2023 - Massive improvement by the Rangers gaining twenty two games in the

standings to go 90-72 and make the playoffs. Texas doesn't stop there as in

the postseason they beat Tampa in the Wild Card, Baltimore in the ALDS,

Houston in the ALCS and Arizona in the World Series. Despite the low win

total in the regular season, they were a deserving World Series Champion.

It was Texas' hitting that made the difference. They scored 133 runs over the

league average, nearly a run a game, and improved 174 runs over their '22

run production. Impressive. Josh Jung was the only big stick added to the

lineup in '23, but he was only a part of the reason for the offensive uptick.

The rest of the upsurge was incrementally better seasons from several players.

There were ten players in double figures in home runs. A genuine circular

lineup. Adolis Garcia and Corey Seager topped thirty. Josh Jung and Marcus

Semien topped twenty.

The Rangers also improved 96 runs given up over what they gave up in '22.

The improvement in the pitching was due to Dave Dunning and the new guys

Andrew Heaney, Nathan Eovaldi and Will Smith in the offseason and Max

Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery at the trade deadline.

2024 - The Rangers lost a slew of free agents who were on short contracts to

help with the '23 pennant push. It shouldn't hurt.

Offense:

On offense, OF Robbie Grossman and DH Mitch Garver were allowed to walk

in free agency to make room for young stud outfielders Evan Carter and

Wyatt Langford. The rest of the offense is good enough to carry the two

youngsters while they adjust to major league pitching.

□  C Jonah Heim, 29, '21 trade with A's, 18 95 .258

□  1B Nate Lowe, 25, '21 trade from TB, 17 82 ,262

□  2B Marcus Semien, 33, '22 FA from Toronto, 29 100 .276

□  SS Ezequiel Duran, 26, '21 trade from Yankees, 14 46 .276

□  SS Corey Seager, 30, '22 FA from the Dodgers, 33 96 .327

□  3B Josh Jung, 23, 1st Round Pick '19 draft (8th overall), 23 70 .266

□  CF Leody Taveras, 25, '15 IFA, 14 67 .266

□ OF Adolis Garcia, 31, '19 purchased from St. Louis, 39 107 .245

□  OF Travis Jankowski, 33, '23 FA from Atlanta, 1 30 .263

□  CF Bubba Thompson, 26, '17 draft 1st round pick, 0 4 .170

□  OF Evan Carter, 21, '20 draft 2nd round pick, 5 12 .306

□  OF Wyatt Langford, 22, '23 draft 4th overall pick, Big Time Prospect

Pitchers:

On the mound, Martin Perez, Jordan Montgomery, Will Smith and Aroldis

Chapman were allowed to walk to make room for the injured Max Scherzer

and Jacob DeGrom and newcomer David Robertson. Also, the Rangers

want to allow room for twenty six year old lefty Cody Bradford's role to expand.

□  RHP Nathan Eovaldi, 34, '23 FA from Boston, 12-5 3.63

□  RHP Dane Dunning, 29, '21 trade from White Sox, 12-7 3.70

□  RHP Jacob deGrom, 36, '23 FA from Mets, 2-0 2.67

□  LHP Andrew Heaney, 33, '23 FA from the Dodgers, 10-6 4.15

□  RHP Jon Gray, 32, '22 FA from Colorado, 9-8 4.12

□  RHP Max Scherzer, 40,  '23 Trade from Mets, 4-2 3.20

□  Closer David Robertson, 38,  '24 FA from Miami, 6-6 3.03 18 saves

□  RHPJose LeClerc, 30,  '10 IFA, 0-2 2.68

□  LHP Brock Burke, 27, '19 trade from Tampa, 5-3 4.37

□  LHP Cody Bradford, 26, '19 draft 6th round pick, 4-3 5.30

□  RHP Jack Leiter, 24, '21 draft 2nd overall pick, minors 2-6 5.19

2024 Hitting:

There were a lot of teams that fell off a cliff offensively in '24.

This was one of the worst offensive years in baseball since the Dead Ball era

and the worst since 1969 when a bunch of rule changes had to be made

to right the ship. Haven't seen any of that this off season. There were

several teams that really got hammered offensively last year for whatever

reason and the Rangers were certainly one of them. Texas dropped 198

runs which is one of the worst in history. It was the seventh biggest drop in history.

The second biggest drop was Tampa in '24 dropping 256 runs and the

fourth was the Braves in '24 dropping 233 runs scored. So the Rangers

were not alone, but it was still really, really bad.

Everyone in the lineup regressed to some degree. Some of them a lot, some of

them not so much.

Texas picked up a couple of good sticks during the off season:

OF Joc Pederson, 33, from Arizona and 1B Jake Burger from Miami.

They are also looking to young stud outfielders Wayne Langford, 23, and

Evan Carter, 22, for breakout seasons. Plus, they are looking for bounce back

seasons from 2B Marcus Semien, 34, SS Corey Seager, 31, and Adolis

Garcia, 32. If all these guys come thru as hoped, Texas will be approaching

a powerful circular lineup.

2025 Pitching:

RHP Dane Dunning, 30; RHP Jon Gray, 33; LHP Andrew Heaney, 34; and

RHP Nathan Eovaldi, 35, went a combined 43-26 with an ERA of 3.85 in '23,

Those numbers nosedived to 27-35 4.35 in '24. The big question is will these

guys in their thirties bounce back in '25 or regress even further in '25?

One thing that can boost the rotation to being even better than in '23 is if

Jason deGrom, 37, returns to his pre injury self of '22. deGrom is that good

when right. A huge loss was closer Wayne Yates, 38, to the Dodgers in FA

during the off season. Yates was 7-2 1.17 with 33 saves and there is no

replacement for him. The rest of the bullpen was mediocre, at best, last year

so fingers crossed on that group for '25.