The Rangers are looking for bullpen help and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Phil Maton of the Cardinals and Hunter Harvey of the Royals are two of their targets. Rosenthal also mentions Jake Bird of the Rockies and David Bednar of the Pirates but notes that the Rangers expect the asking price on Bednar to be too steep. The Rangers’ interest in Bednar and Bird has been previously reported. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that Texas would like to clear some payroll space today in order to accommodate bullpen upgrades.
Financial constraints have been an ongoing theme for the Rangers this year, as they clearly want to avoid the competitive balance tax. Owner Ray Davis admitted as much back in January. To stay under that line, their bullpen signings were modest. They inked Chris Martin, Hoby Milner, Luke Jackson, Jacob Webb and Shawn Armstrong to one-year deals, none of them worth more than $5.5MM.
The returns on those deals have been mixed. Jackson was recently released and is now with the Tigers. Armstrong and Milner have been good. Martin has also been good but is currently on the injured list. Webb is on the IL as well.
Texas relievers have a collective 3.37 earned run average, fourth-best in baseball. However, that might belie the true talent of the group. Their .277 batting average on balls in play, 72.6% strand rate and 8.4% homer to fly ball rate are all a bit to the unfortunate side. Their 13.3 K-BB% is 15th in the majors and their 3.82 SIERA 16th.
Regardless, most contending clubs look for bullpen upgrades ahead of the deadline. The Rangers are currently tied with the Mariners for the last American League Wild Card spot and figure to be adding.
Maton, 32, is often underrated. Dating back to the start of 2020, he has thrown 322 1/3 innings with a 3.69 ERA. He has struck out 27.1% of opponents, given out walks at a 9.2% rate and induced grounders on 42.8% of balls in play. He also does very well in terms of limiting damage. His average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate are often near the top of the league leaderboards. He also has a 2.57 ERA in 28 playoff innings.
Despite that solid track record, his market hasn’t always been strong, perhaps because his velocity maxes out around 91 miles per hour. He first reached free agency ahead of 2024 and signed a modest one-year, $6.5MM deal with the Rays. He didn’t do especially well in Tampa, posting a 4.58 ERA. However, he righted the ship after being flipped to the Mets, posting a 2.51 ERA with that club.
He returned to free agency ahead of the current season and lingered on the open market into March. The Cardinals grabbed him with a $2MM guarantee on a one-year deal. That has worked out nicely, as Maton has a 2.35 ERA in 38 1/3 innings. He has a 30.4% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 50.6% ground ball rate. He’s also still inducing weak contact, like usual. The Cards are clearly selling, having already traded Ryan Helsley to the Mets and Steven Matz to the Red Sox. An impending free agent like Maton is sure to go. He’s also been connected the Blue Jays this week.
Harvey, 30, is a bit more of a wild card. He hasn’t pitched much in the past year due to injury. He was traded from the Nationals to the Royals at last year’s deadline. Back tightness put him on the shelf after that deal. This year, a right teres major strain put him on the shelf for a few months and he only recently returned. He has only thrown 13 1/3 big league innings for the Royals since they acquired him.
But the results have been good when healthy. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has a 3.13 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 42.7% ground ball rate. It’s unclear if the Royals would make him available, however, as they’ve been acting as buyers. They extended Seth Lugo instead of trading him and have brought in role players like Randal Grichuk and Adam Frazier.
Neither Maton nor Harvey would deal a massive blow to the Rangers’ budget. Maton is making only $2MM this year, leaving roughly $640K to be paid out. Harvey is making $3.7MM, with about $1.2MM left.
RosterResource has the Rangers’ CBT number at $235MM, roughly $6MM away from the $241MM base threshold. Cot’s Baseball Contracts gives them a bit more wiggle room, putting them at $233MM. Those are just estimates and might be off by a few million, but it seems like there’s room for someone like Maton or Harvey to be added without pushing the Rangers too high, though the club also has a few players with notable bonuses who could complicate matters.
If the Rangers need to move some money around, it’s been speculated that they could look to make players like Adolis García, Jonah Heim or Kyle Higashioka available. Garcia is making $9.25MM this year and isn’t having a great season. Perhaps he would appeal to the Royals, who need more offense from their outfield. Heim and Higashioka are also having underwhelming seasons. Heim is making $4.575MM while Higashioka is in the first season of a two-year, $13.5MM deal.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images