When you ask Chris Young about a pitching move – something that has been seemingly a weekly occurrence this offseason – he will tilt his head slightly, offer up a half-smile and offer up what used to be a cliché: “You can never have enough pitching.”
It’s no longer a cliché around here. It’s an operating instruction.
The Rangers on Tuesday added to a rotation that 10 days ago seemed full. But as is the spirit of the season, they made some room. The newest addition is Nathan Eovaldi, one of two major leaguers to ever come out of Alvin High School outside Houston. The other: Nolan Ryan.
The Rangers and Eovaldi, 32, agreed to a two-year deal, the club announced. It is worth $34 million in guaranteed money, two people with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The Dallas Morning News. The deal also includes performance bonuses and a vesting option for 2025 that could carry the maximum value to $63 million. The Rangers will have to surrender their third-round draft pick for Eovaldi since he turned down Boston’s $19.65 million qualifying offer. The Rangers will go without second- and third-round picks for a second consecutive year. They will lose their second-rounder for Jacob deGrom. To make room on the 40-man roster Texas designated RHP Nick Mears for assignment a week after claiming him on waivers from Pittsburgh.
That’s the cost these days, though, for trying to go from 102 losses to a playoff contender in two years. Well, that, and about $845 million, which is what the Rangers have laid out in free agent contracts since the end of the 2021 season. With Eovaldi on hand, their payroll for luxury tax purposes will increase to $216 million, $45 million more than ever before. It’s still $17 million under the tax threshold, but, hey, there is still at least an outfielder to add.
A day ago, that sentence would have read: An outfielder and bullpen help to add. But this is where the Eovaldi signing may serve dual purposes. It allows the Rangers to continue to improve the quality of the rotation, add insurance for it’s biggest potential flaw (durability) and beef up the middle of the bullpen, too. That’s a lot of layers.
“I’m elated that we have added another standout pitcher to our rotation in Nathan Eovaldi,” Young said in a statement Tuesday night. “Nathan has quality stuff and an unmatched work ethic, and he’ll provide a veteran presence to the staff. The depth of our starting pitching will be a real asset for the 2023 Texas Rangers.”
Eovaldi, who spent the last four-plus years with Boston, offers the rotation more of what has been the offseason theme: Hard fastballs, piles of strikeouts and potential injury risk. Though his fastball has dipped in velocity the last two years from 97 mph, it still averaged 95.7 mph in 2022. And he’s using an array of secondary stuff more often, which potentially makes the fastball play up a bit.
He also has pitched more than 150 innings twice in the last eight seasons. There is heightened injury risk, just as there is with deGrom, Andrew Heaney and, based on 2022, Jon Gray. One other thing Young will tell you: There is some degree of risk involved with all pitching. And usually: The higher the potential reward, the higher the risk.
The addition of Eovaldi to deGrom, Heaney, Gray and Martín Pérez once again puts the Rangers on par with the best projected rotations in the AL. When New York signed Carlos Rodón, the Yankees projection rose to 15.7, according to Fangraphs. With Eovaldi, the Rangers are at 14.7. For reference: The Rangers rotation compiled 5.8 WAR in 2022; Houston led the majors at 19.0. Of course, that was before the Astros lost Justin Verlander.
WAR projections are fun but mean nothing. Here it is in more tangible terms: Even with some dip in velocity over the last two years, he still throws harder than Jake Odorizzi, whom the Rangers acquired as a gift from Atlanta to start the offseason and whom presumably would be the odd man out. Eovaldi strikes out more hitters and allows fewer walks than Odorizzi, as well. These are good trends.
It also means Odorizzi could potentially slide to the bullpen as a multi-inning option to create a bridge to Jonathan Hernández and José Leclerc. Add Matt Moore, still on the market, back to the mix and you’ve got a left-handed option for that role, too. Moore, a former starter, transitioned well. Perhaps Odorizzi, who has just one relief appearance since 2013, can, also. If Moore opts to go elsewhere in this robust market, the Rangers, at least, have coverage now in the form of Odorizzi. Also: If one of the starters were to suffer an injury, the Rangers have an experienced depth option on hand.
It also puts this group on the outside looking in: Dane Dunning (who is recovering from hip surgery), Glenn Otto, Cole Ragans and Cole Winn. More depth. Or, potentially, inventory to use to address the other remaining need: A left fielder, perhaps via trade. Arizona still has some depth at the position. Maybe it even makes a run at Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds more feasible. Or, hey, as long as Ray Davis is throwing around money, David Peralta might make a nice free agent fit since Michael Conforto opted for San Francisco over the Rangers.
The point is: The Eovaldi addition gives the Rangers more depth and more options. Flexibility is nice. And it exists because Chris Young and his staff turned an old baseball cliché into their operating manual.
