Grading Chris Young and the Texas Rangers front office at the season’s midway point
By Bill Felber
Acquired or traded
There is a recurring theme to Young’s approach to making the Rangers a winner in this season’s first half, and it is his fascinatingly hands-off approach. Granted, there have been one or two headline moves, and we’ll touch on those below. But for the most part the Rangers would be doing what they’re doing this season if Young had spent the 2022-23 offseason in hibernation.
That’s nowhere more true than in his interactions with other teams, which have been few and far between. Young made one swap of note over the offseason; it brought Jake Odorizzi in from Atlanta to bolster the pitching staff. The Rangers placed Odorizzi on the 60-day IL at the end of spring training with a rotator cuff strain; he hasn’t pitched a regulation inning for them yet.
The cost to get Odorizzi was pitcher Kolby Allard, who had injury problems of his own before debuting just Thursday night.
How could Young get away with so little activity in such a key area as team-to-team swaps? The answer is that he had already built the team. The Rangers’ 2023 success to date is built on holdovers from previous years, several of whom Young brought in and others of whom he inherited.
That characterization applies to virtually all the Rangers’ high-performing stars: Adolis Garcia, Jonah Heim, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Nathaniel Lowe, Dane Dunning, Jon Gray, Leody Taveras and Ezequiel Duran.
The lesson is pretty straightforward: if the talent’s already on hand, you don’t have to go out and get it.