Free agency opens in less than two weeks, and the Texas Rangers still haven’t given a clear picture on what their payroll will be in 2025.
Ray Davis isn’t cheap, not with the money he has dished out to Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Jacob deGrom in offseasons past. The Texas Rangers owner provided his 2024 team with highest payroll in club history.
But Davis also doesn’t throw his money around like other MLB owners. He tries to run a tight ship, despite sitting on a fortune that is estimated at $3.6 billion. That’s billion with a B, and more billions are coming once he sells the Rangers.
All owners know that they won’t get rich year to year, but they will clean up on the back end. Throw in the land Davis owns around the ballpark and the developments in the Arlington Entertainment District that bear his fingerprints, and Davis could spend like Mets owner Steve Cohen or the Dodgers’ conglomerate.
Yet, with the Rangers’ TV revenue uncertain, Davis isn’t planning to dig any deeper into his pockets to fund the 2025 club. They will likely have a hefty payroll, but president of baseball operations Chris Young isn’t going to be writing blank checks to free agents.
To be honest, he really doesn’t need to do that. The Rangers’ core of returning players is strong, and Young is counting on those who struggled in 2024 to have rebound seasons.
With a hefty chunk coming off the 2024 payroll — $50 million or more — Young should have wiggle room to re-sign right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, closer Kirby Yates and some complementary pieces while staying under the $237 million luxury-tax threshold.
But how far under? Maybe Davis is going to keep some of the money coming off the books in reserve.
If the Rangers need more money this offseason, they can trade right-hander Jon Gray or first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. Gray is owed $14 million in 2025, and Lowe projects to make around $10 million in salary arbitration.
Life, of course, would be a lot easier if Davis spent like the owner of a major-market team should. Davis should spend more, if for nothing else than cementing his legacy as one of the Metroplex’s all-time top franchise owners.
And surely he was moved by the impact the Rangers’ World Series triumph in 2023 had on the Metroplex. Davis was in the Nov. 3 parade that brought an estimated 500,000 people to Globe Life Field and saw the jubilation first-hand.
Davis should feel an obligation to do what’s right by the fans. Making sure his checkbook is balanced doesn’t accomplish that.
But that appears to be the direction in which he is headed with the Rangers’ 2025 payroll. Young might be unable to land a free-agent piece the Rangers need, with Davis pulling an alligator-arm reach for the bill even if it could prove harmful to the Rangers’ chances.
And it’s always helpful to remember this: Young, even though he’s the head of baseball operations, has a boss to appease. Jon Daniels had a boss when he was in Young’s shoes.
In baseball, keeping the boss happy often translates to dollars and cents, the bottom line. Davis is Young’s boss, and his willingness to spend or save will go a long way in dictating how the Rangers do in 2025.
Hyers exits
Manager Bruce Bochy has an opening on his coaching staff.
Hitting coach Tim Hyers left the Rangers on Thursday to take the same position with the Atlanta Braves. The Georgia resident took the job to be closer to his family, and the Rangers weren’t going to stand in his way.
Seth Conner, who has served as an assistant hitting coach, would be the leading internal candidate to replace Hyers. Bench coach/offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker is no longer a candidate to be the White Sox’s manager and is expected to return.
Associate manager Will Venable remains in the mix for the White Sox’s job.
World Series time
Game 1 of the World Series begins tonight between the Yankees and the Dodgers, and baseball fans should be rejoicing at the opportunity to see the two powers go head to head for the 12th time.
Amid some potential groans about the money they have spent, it’s important to remember that these two have played each other in the World Series since 1981. They have been separately since then, most notable the Yankees in the late 1990s, but spending the most money doesn’t guarantee a thing.
Spending money, though, does help tremendously, as the Rangers learned last year. In fact, the last team from a small market to win a World Series was Kansas City in 2015 over the Mets (Young was a key cog in the series).
Anyhoo, enjoy seeing Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts and Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and Freddie Freeman, and Gerrit Cole and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Soak up the history, which dates to 1941 when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn. Among the all-time greats to play were Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Pee Wee Reese, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider, Reggie Jackson and, last but not least, Fernando Venezuela. Apologies to all who were didn’t make the list.
Don Larson pitched the only perfect game in World Series history in Game 5 in 1956, a series the Yankees won in seven games. Jackson had the first three-homer game in World Series history in 1977, including one off of Rangers Hall of Famer Charlie Hough.
Watch, learn and enjoy.
Doggy video
This is spot on. Enjoy
Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com
