Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox Could Shift to Minors for Outfield Help

The free agent market for outfielders is developing at a crawling pace, and teams with talented outfield prospects are partially to blame.

Here is a staggering number: Major League Baseball teams have committed nearly $1 billion dollars this offseason to free agent pitchers. Seriously.

Meanwhile, only $205.55 million has been devoted to the outfielders, and $184 million of that is going to one player, Jason Heyward, whom the Chicago Cubs pilfered from their rivals in St. Louis.

The outfield was supposed to be one of the most hotly contested and deepest positions of the free agent class, but Yoenis Cespedes, Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, Dexter Fowler and Denard Span, among others, are still up for grabs. Injury concerns, inconsistency, budgets and loss of draft picks are a few of the reasons why they and other outfielders are still waiting to sign with their new employers. But an overlooked reason is that several possible suitors may have removed themselves from contention and could focus on in-house options to fulfill their needs.

Consider the Texas Rangers: The Rangers traded away Leonys Martin even though the outfield could be a rough spot for the team in 2016. They signed Justin Ruggiano to platoon against lefties, Shin-Soo Choo had a resurgent 2015 and Delino DeShields showed promise, but Josh Hamilton can’t be relied upon for a full season and DeShields had just a .304 weighted on base average and was below average defensively.

Trading away Martin would seem to undermine the depth of the position, but the Rangers are absolutely loaded in the minor leagues. Nomar Mazara is the heir-apparent in right field—which means a shift or altered role is likely for Choo—after posting his second impressive season in a row, combining to hit .296/.366/.443 with 14 home runs between Double- and Triple-A. Lewis Brinson, meanwhile, blossomed to produce a combined 164 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) over three levels of the minors and the Arizona Fall League. Joey Gallo, Ryan Cordell and the newly acquired Patrick Kivlehan, whom the Rangers netted in the Martin deal, also could be in play.

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It makes sense for the Rangers to alleviate their outfield concerns with home-grown talent not only because their players are supremely talented—Mazara, Brinson and Gallo are all ranked in the top 70 prospects according to MLB Pipeline—but also because it’s a much cheaper option. The Rangers are a budget-conscious team at the moment because they have hedge fund-like cash devoted to Choo, Prince Fielder, Cole Hamels and Elvis Andrus.

The Rangers aren’t the only team out of the mix due to a shift in focus to minor-league solutions. The Twins are eschewing the free agent market in hopes that (1) Byron Buxton develops into the All-Star caliber player everyone believes he’ll be, (2) Rookie of the Year candidate Miguel Sano can handle a shift to the outfield after the Byung Ho Park signing and (3) Max Kepler, Adam Brett Walker and Daniel Palka arrive sometime during the 2016 season. Kepler is a steady hitter who made his big-league debut in 2015 after hitting .322/.416/.531 with nine home runs and a 13.1 percent strikeout rate in Double-A, while Walker adds a power threat after hitting 31 home runs, also in Double-A.

The Twins’ American League Central adversaries on the South Side of Chicago may also turn to young players in the outfield even though they are clearly in win-now mode—some might even call it win yesterday mode—after they traded for third baseman Todd Frazier, formerly of the Reds. The White Sox’s best prospect is shortstop Tim Anderson, but defensive concerns have led to rumblings he’ll be moved to the outfield, where his speed will serve him well: Anderson stole 49 bases in 62 attempts in 2015 and has a speed grade of 70 out of 80, according to MLB Pipeline. His all-around athleticism and the emergence of Trayce Thompson may mean the White Sox can move past the liabilities that were Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia.

This doesn’t mean they won’t spend big on one of the remaining free agents if they get the chance. They haven’t been shy about spending big this offseason or the last, so another big signing wouldn’t be out of character.

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Even with these teams potentially out of the mix, there is still plenty of interest from teams such as the Angels, Giants, Royals, Orioles and possibly the Nationals. The Angels need someone to play left field, the Royals need to replace Gordon, the Orioles don’t have good in-house options to replace Chris Davis‘ production–but did add an outfielder with his own them song–and the Nationals won’t admit they’ve put too much stock in Jayson Werth. But when teams such as the Cubs and Astros built great seasons on the strength of talented youngsters, maybe it doesn’t require a king’s treasury to build a quality outfield.

Stats from Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs.