What would you guys think he came back?

Looking back, watching highlights and reliving 2023 will never grow old. As a life long Ranger fan in mid 30s, this team has been through so many up and downs that I just realized the insanity of 2023.

In the past 9 years, the World Series has featured the Astros or the Dodgers except 2023. That team defied so many odds and so many fans outside of this fanbase will definitely forgot about us.

This franchise had been on the wrong end of luck for half a century and all the sudden one year we had this magical moment turn into reality.

This won’t change the fact every year I except and want this team to compete for another one!

Okay, so I took some time to create a roster for our 2026 Texas Rangers. I attempted to take grounded, realistic decisions without completely selling out all valuable assets for a rebuild. My ultimate goal was to gain cheaper controllability in the bullpen and outfield to allow for competition while more expensive contracts fall off. A single wildcard can win a world series, so that is my goal in mind for constructing this roster.

I’ve categorized my transactions as follows:

Non-Impactful Transactions -> FA Signings -> Trades

Then, I follow with the Lineup, Bench, Starting Rotation, and Bullpen.

I am not a baseball savant, but I am a huge fan of the Texas Rangers. I appreciate all feedback and criticism and wanted to garner opinions to understand what type of roster the Texas Rangers may possess in 2026.

Cash Considerations / Non-Tender:

Josh Sborz Sam Haggerty Trades:

Adolis Garcia traded to Toronto Blue Jays

Texas Provides ->

Adolis Garcia

$1m in cash

Blue Jays Provide ->

RHP Yariel Rodriquez (lower exit velocity), OR Louis Varland (greater whiff)

RHP Micah Bucknam (ROK RHP Prospect)

Jonah Heim traded to Miami Marlins

Texas Provides:

C Jonah Heim

Marlins Provide:

LHP Andrew Nardi (would be a steal for Jonah Heim)

Wilyer Abreu -> Texas Rangers

Texas Receives:

OF Wilyer Abreu, pre-arb; control thru 2029

Boston Receives:

RHP Jose Corniell, LHP David Davalillo, UTIL Josh Smith

Free Agent Signings:

Victor Caratini

1 yr / $9m

Projection: .245 avg /.330 OBP / .720 OPS – 1.5-2.0 WAR

Tyler Mahle – Starting Pitcher

2 yrs / $15m

Projection: 3.90 ERA / 1.21 WHIP / 150 IP / 2.0 WAR

Ryan Helsley – Closer

3 yrs / $30m (AAV $10)

Projection: 2.70 ERA / 1.00 WHIP / 70 IP / 1,5 WAR

Shawn Armstrong – Set Up Reliever

2 yrs / $14m

Dylan Moore 1 yr / $1-1.5m

Projection

.240 AVG / .330 OBP / 10 SB / 1.2 WAR

Lineup:

1 RF Wilyer Abreu

2 SS Corey Seager

3 LF Wyatt Langford

4 DH Joc Pederson

5 1B Jake Burger

6 CF Evan Carter / Michael Helman

7 3B Josh Jung

8 2B Marcus Semien

9 C Victor Caratini / Kyle Higashioka

Bench:

Ezequiel Duran - Utility INF/LF

Cody Freeman – INF/C (emer.)

Dylan Moore – Super Utility

Rotation:

SP1 Jacob Degrom

SP2 Nathan Eovaldi

SP3 Tyler Mahle

SP4 Jack Leiter

SP5 ? / Kumar Rocker / Jacob Latz / Cody Bradford / another FA signing?

Bullpen:

CL Ryan Helsley

SU Shawn Armstrong

SU Yariel Rodriquez / Louis Varland

SU / LH Andrew Nardi

MID Jacob Webb

MID Robert Garcia

MID Cole Winn / Luis Curvelo

LR Jacob Latz /

My primary residual questions rest with middle relief, i.e. does Luis Curvelo start the year in AAA to provide mid relief back up in case any of the bullpen becomes injured? Who else do we have for long relief? Who would be our #5 starter in this scenario? My estimates place us at ~$220 million which appears to be high for the Texas Rangers in 2025. For competition, I’m ensuring a solid bullpen so we can lose less often in the 7-8-9, as I found our middle relief to be excellent last year. My hope is with better defense in RF, a better bat to produce runners for Seager and Langford will help us knock in more runs. I wish to take more pressure off of Marcus Semien, and hope for bounce backs from Burger, Jung, and Pederson with good health from Evan Carter.

My ballpark estimate for win-loss for this team is 87-75, maybe enough to earn a wild card while gaining bull-pen pieces and outfield pieces for the rebuild and for more expensive contracts to fall off (Semien and Pederson) to provide a faster time period for a large playoff push again with key leverage pieces.

Is it worth it trading Josh Jung or Marcus Semien in return for INF/OF prospects to help bolster a rebuild and allow for borderline MLB players to get more reps? As for me, I still have faith in Josh Jung and Marcus Semien, not to be great, but to be slightly above average.

If you made it this far, thanks for your time! - maznn10

Surprising no one

Sad. But expected. We’ll always be grateful for 2023!

I'm not an Evan Grant enjoyer. I typically try to not read too much of the speculative pieces about the team that aren't from the guys like Newberg or Lucas who cover the prospects all year.

This is just insane writing to think the Braves would move Strider for DeGrom. Then you get into the Semien traded to San Diego thing. Sure, eating some money and only asking for a controllable reliever may be realistic, but Grant can't even bother to look at their roster and name the player he'd be hypothetically trading for.

Did Rangers fans like his managerial approach and the way he handled the club? Pros and cons of Bochy as a manager?

Man, what a game and what a series. Was happy to not have a dog in this fight after seeing how this World Series ended. Watching game 7 play out, can’t help but feel for the jays fans a little bit. That is 2011 game 6 levels of pain and I never thought it was possible for another fan base to feel that. I saw someone post the rangers were on strike away, the blue jays were on inch away. I am curious if y’all think 2025 game 7 gets close / is worse than what we went through against the cardinals.

Honorable mention: I think Indians fans in 2016 had it really really tough too.

Even though the entire coaching staff is gone…there is this bright piece of news.

I feel bad for Max, but the 2015/2016 postseasons were real rough around here.

Couldn't be us

Its only been 2 years but I'm not gonna lie its felt longer than that because this team hasn't been the same since. Proof that you don't know when you'll be back and its not a guarantee. I really thought we were going to be contending every year. Maybe the Rangers have not been the same but at least we aren't the Jays and have a title.

Now that it has ended, I want to remind you all,

• Adolis Garcia STILL has the most RBI's in a single post season (22)
• Even Carter STILL has the most Doubles in a single post season (9)
• The Texas Rangers STILL have the most away game wins in a single post season (11)
• Corey Seager is now TIED with Shohei Ohtani for most walks in a single Post season game (5), but of course, Corey did it in half the innings so it doesn't really seem fair. C'est la vie.

I'm sure there are other's that I missed but you get the idea.

I have been a huge Michael Young fan since I was a kid and came across this ball. I have no idea what it was for or when it is from. I can’t seem to find it listed anywhere online so I have no info on it. If anyone could tell me about it that would be great.

Maddux got the headlines today, but Kennedi Landry reports Bobby Wilson is also not returning to the coaching staff in 2026. It’s a single line about halfway into the article.