Texas Rangers name Chris Young president of baseball operations in multi-year deal

Young joined the Texas Rangers late in 2020 and helped oversee the team on the way to its first World Series championship.

SEATTLE — One key offseason piece of the Texas Rangers puzzle has been resolved: The leader of their baseball operations isn’t going anywhere.

The team announced Friday afternoon that it signed Chris Young to a multi-year contract extension that includes a promotion to president of baseball operations. The deal came after a few months of handwringing that Young could potentially become a coveted free agent once his existing deal ended Oct. 31.

“Chris Young’s impact on the Texas Rangers organization has been immense over the last four years,” owner Ray Davis said in a news release. “His leadership and vision were instrumental in helping bring a World Series championship to Arlington for the first time, and he is passionate about producing a consistent winner on the field year in and year out for our fans.“

Young, 45, is a Dallas native who made his MLB debut with the Rangers in 2004 and continued to live in Dallas during his playing career. He grew up a Rangers fan and witnessed the struggles fans endured as the franchise never reached the baseball pinnacle.

He was hired as GM in December 2020 by Jon Daniels and became the GM and executive vice president after Daniels was fired as president of baseball operations in August 2022.

“The Texas Rangers organization holds a very special place for me, and I am excited to continue building on what we’ve started here,” Young said in the same release. While the opportunity to a be a part of a World Series championship in my hometown was a tremendous thrill, our goal is to field a club that can contend for playoff berths every season. … Our fans deserve nothing less.”

While the Rangers are almost certainly not going to successful defend their world championship, they are moving forward to 2025. The MLB debut Thursday of Kumar Rocker was a step toward next season, as was the decision for Corey Seager to undergo surgery Friday for a sports hernia.

Jacob deGrom is scheduled to pitch Friday in his 2024 debut after recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The Rangers are still uncertain of their future television rights partner and the revenue that will generation. The uncertainty is looming over the team as it heads into an offseason that could see left-hander Andrew Heaney and right-handers Nathan Eovaldi, Max Scherzer, David Robertson and Kirby Yates become free agents.

Eovaldi holds a player option for 2025 but is expected to declined it. Robertson and the Rangers have a mutual option, but free agency could prove more lucrative.

The Rangers took the first step toward solving those issues by keeping Young in place.

“Our baseball operations group, from scouting and player development to the major-league team, is in great hands with CY at the helm for many years to come,” Davis said. “I look forward to continuing our work together.”

Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com