The Texas Rangers are just four wins away from their first-ever World Series title, and according to one baseball insider they might be the leading contenders to land another big win after the season in free agency.
On Thursday Jon Heyman of the New York Post listed the Rangers as one of the top contenders to land prized free agent Shohei Ohtani this winter, citing the team’s willingness to spend and how they had previously attempted to make a play for him at the trade deadline this season.
Even though Ohtani is not expected to pitch during the 2024 season as he recovers from elbow surgery, he still figures to be one of the top free agents to ever hit the open market and could still command close to $500 million on his next contract. That certainly limits the number of teams that would be willing to make a play for him, but the Rangers are one of the handful of teams in the league that are not afraid to spend big on their roster or make a big offseason splash.
That is exactly how the Rangers went from a 100-loss team just two years ago to a World Series team this season.
They spent, and they spent a lot.
The Rangers had the fourth-highest payroll in baseball during the 2023 season, exceeding the $250 million mark thanks in large part to the additions of players like Corey Seager and Marcus Semien in recent years.
Even if Ohtani is unable to pitch until 2025, he is still going to be one of the best power hitters in baseball in 2024 and could still help put a contending team over the top.
During the 2023 season, Ohtani led the league in home runs (44), on-base percentage (.412), slugging percentage (.654) and OPS (1.066) despite missing most of the final month of the season.
He also had another dominant year on the mount, posting a 3.14 ERA while striking out 11.4 batters per nine innings over his 23 starts.
It is all part of a three-year run that has made him one of the most dominant baseball players the league has ever seen. He has done things during that stretch that no other player in baseball history — not even Babe Ruth when he was a two-way player — has done.
Whatever team that ends up signing him will have to wait at least a year to see that two-way dominance, but will still get the bat next season.
