Grading Chris Young and the Texas Rangers front office at the season’s midway point
By Bill Felber
Free agency
The attention-getting offseason move, of course, was Young’s successful courting of free agent pitcher Jacob deGrom. He signed for $222 million through 2028 and then did what deGrom always does … he went on the IL six appearances into his tenure.
Perhaps deGrom’s fragility was why Young also signed Nathan Eovaldi, a free agent pitcher who has been reliable. Eovaldi is 9-3 in 16 starts with a 2.82 ERA, good for a +1.6 WAA. Travis Jankowski was a low-budget afterthought pickup who is batting .306 as the regular left fielder. That’s good for +1.4 WAA.
If Eovaldi and Jankowski were all there is to the picture, Young’s score in this area would be looking good. But it’s not. He also signed Robbie Grossman (.219, seven homers), Martin Perez (4.28 ERA in 16 starts), Andrew Heaney (4.38 ERA in 15 starts) and Ian Kennedy (7.20 ERA in 11 games), every one of them a statistical liability.
Sandy Leon came in as the backup catcher to Heim, hit .146, and was released last week.
Put the whole thing together, pluses and minuses, and it works out to an inconsequential -0.1 impact on the Rangers’ fortunes. This, then, is an area where Young actually applied himself to improving the team, but didn’t do it, and it hasn’t mattered.
When things are going that way for you, life is good.