Tuesday Newsletter time: Texas Rangers can plug many holes this offseason. Center field shouldn’t be one of them.
Leody Taveras is only 23, and his defense and speed are too good to not let his bat try to catch up.
Leody Taveras is doing something so far in the Dominican Winter League that he didn’t do much of in the major leagues this year with the Texas Rangers.
He’s hitting well, like .318 well with a .904 OPS (entering Monday).
Granted, it’s been only 15 games and the level of competition is the equivalent to Triple A at best. Taveras did well in some areas at Triple A Round Rock in 2021.
He could have done better, yes, but it was progress after a dreadful April (.087 average) with the Rangers.
That and his overall performance (.161 average) have some convinced that Taveras isn’t going to be a quality major-leaguer and that the Rangers need to make a change.
Starling Marte, 33, is available. The Rangers could sign, say, Nick Castellanos or Seiya Suzuki and move Adolis Garcia from right field to center. D.J. Peters and Eli White are also on the roster.
Maybe anti-Taveras group is ultimately proven right. But it will be after the 2022 season at the soonest.
Taveras is 23 and too young to kick to the curb. With the Rangers publicly proclaiming they don’t expect to contend this season, they have the luxury of giving him a chance to figure it out. Or to not figure it out.
And if he’s somewhere in between entering 2023, when the Rangers expect to contend again, his defense and speed make it possible for the Rangers to give him a little more leash.
But if they think he’s the weak link, they might have answers on Peters or White or they can go sign Byron Buxton or bring Joey Gallo home.
For now, center field belongs to Taveras.
Top AL rookie named
Tampa Bay outfielder Randy Arozarena ran away with the American League Rookie of the Year Award, comfortably outdistancing Houston right-hander Luis Garcia and Rays teammate Wander Franco.
Franco was a distant third with 30 points, only three more than fourth-place Adolis Garcia. He actually had more first-place votes than Franco, albeit 3-2, and appeared on more ballots, 13-12, but Franco, the wunderkind shortstop, had five second-place votes to Garcia’s one. Garcia had nine third-place votes while Franco had only five.
Garcia was second among AL rookies in home runs (31) but led in RBIs (90) and WAR (the Stats, Inc. formula). A rough second half after being on the AL All-Star team dropped Garcia’s average to .243 and his on-base percentage to .286.
He was the eighth rookie in history to collect at least 30 homers, 80 RBIs and 10 steals, but the first to not be named top rookie. Garcia also finished tied for the MLB lead in outfield assists with 16.
The dam breaker?
Not too long after the publish button had been pushed on Monday’s Newsletter, which was wondering what all the big free agents were awaiting for, a big free agent became the first of the offseason to sign with a new club.
Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez reportedly is in agreement with the Detroit Tigers on a five-year, $77 million contract. Rodriguez had rejected the qualifying offer extended to him by the Boston Red Sox only hours earlier.
Rodriguez is an interesting case because of the qualifying offer, a down 2021 from his 2019 season, and a bout of myocarditis in 2020 after coming down with COVID-19.
His deal might set the bar for some free-agent starting pitchers, but not necessarily those thought to be at the head of the class (Max Scherzer, Robbie Ray, Kevin Gausman, Marcus Stroman).
However, it could motivate other free agents to not try to wait out a potential work stoppage should the owners and players fail to reach agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement by 11:59 p.m. Dec. 1.
That deadline is in 15 days. Here’s betting A) Rodriguez is the first of several signings the next two weeks and B) the Rangers are one of the teams that strikes.
Doggy video!
Yeah, it’s cute and all. But my takeaway is this mama dog is either huge or the pup is tiny. Enjoy. See you Tuesday.
Tough break for Garcia. His ROY credentials had to be overshadowed somewhat by playing on a bad team. Still, he played hard and won me over for sure. And he was an All-Star! Can’t take that away from the guy.
Leody? Man, I just don’t think so. A light-hitting, defensive catcher is one thing, but an outfielder that hits so poorly is quite different. He’d have to make huge gains at the plate...and pretty quickly.
Great stuff as always.
Unless the Rangers grossly overpay, what free agent would come to a team that has said they are not going to compete this year.