Texas Rangers: Options to Fill 1B Void

Sign Edwin Encarnacion, Mark Trumbo, or Chris Carter

Despite Chris Carter being the only full-time first baseman of the trio, all three options can be considered traditional first basemen. Trumbo has played more career games (371) at first than any other position, and that’s less than usual DH Edwin Encarnacion has (388). All three men provide tremendous power to the Rangers line-up, as they ranked first, fourth, and sixth out of home run leaders.

Encarnacion and Trumbo are the expensive options out of the three and will likey rank second and third in highest contracts for batters this off-season behind Yoenis Cespedes. Their value to the Rangers would be immense. Trumbo has particularlly good numbers in Arlington, batting .276 with 11 home runs. Despite Encarnacion only owning a .188 average in Arlington, putting him in a much weaker AL West will only bolster his offensive production.

The cheaper option of the three is Chris Carter. Carter is a tremendous power hitter that often gets unnoticed. It may have been because he played for the small market Milwaukee Brewers last season, started with the small market A’s, and was a part of a largely rebuilding Astros club. Regardless, Carter has often been overlooked. Sure, his average is very low and his strike outs are very high, but Moreland’s average was never very high either. Carter would be a downgrade for contact and fielding, absolutely, but would also blow Moreland’s power numbers out of the water.