2020 record - 22-38, 5th place in AL West
Key Addition - Nate Lowe
Lowe came across to Texas in a December trade with Tampa Bay which saw a bunch of minor leaguers switching teams too. The Rays drafted Lowe in the 13th round back in 2016 and he put up some impressive numbers while he worked his way up their minor league teams. Over 4 minor league seasons, from low A ball up to AAA, Lowe hit .300 with 155 extra base hits.
But since being called up to the Major Leagues, Lowe hasn't been given much of an opportunity in terms of playing time in order to develop further. In fact, he's only played in just over 30% of Rays games over the last two years.
With this lack of playing time and being blocked at 1st base by Ji-Man Choi, it didn't come as much of a surprise that Tampa Bay decided to trade Lowe and Texas seem to be the perfect fit for him.
The Rangers are in something of a re-tooling process under new GM Chris Young and Lowe seems set to get a real opportunity to be a mainstay in the starting line-up. This will be his chance to show what he can really do with some extended playing time at the Major League level.
We think that Lowe will flourish in Arlington and that he can hit .265 with 25 home runs in 2021. We predict that by the end of the season, Lowe will be one of the best hitters on the Rangers team.
Just missed out - Dane Dunning, Kohei Arihara, Khris Davis
Key Departure - Lance Lynn
Lynn was traded to the White Sox in December which saw the Rangers receive starting pitchers Dane Dunning and Avery Weems in return.
Lance Lynn had been the subject of numerous trade rumours for a while now, but Texas finally pulled the trigger this offseason.
Whilst Lynn has been excellent in Texas - he came 5th and 6th in MVP voting in 2019 & 2020 - they acquired two very good young pitchers in return.
26 year old Dunning made 7 starts for the White Sox in his debut season last year and he really impressed. Over 34 innings he had a 9.3 K/9, he held batters to a .197 batting average and had a hard hit percentage well below the league average.
He'll fit right into the Texas rotation for Opening Day and we think that he'll pitch around 140 innings and have an ERA in the low to mid 4's.
Avery Weems is very much one for the future as he hasn't played professionally above rookie ball yet. But the signs are very promising. In his only minor league season in 2019, Weems had a 2.09 ERA and 11 K/9 in 60.1 innings in the Pioneer and Arizona Leagues which is a fantastic foundation for him to build upon.
We think that he starts the year at AA Frisco but it'll be a couple of years before he's likely to make his debut in the Major Leagues.
But despite the very good return that the White Sox received for Lynn, we can't help but wonder whether they could have got even more had they decided to make the move at the trade deadline last season.
That said, Texas fans can be happy with this trade both for Dunning to have an instant impact and Weems in the future.
Just missed out - Corey Kluber, Elvis Andrus, Rafael Montero
Notable rookie cards - Anderson Tejeda, Leody Teveras
Tejeda and Teveras are the two Texas representatives in the rookie class of 2021 Topps Series 1.
Anderson Tejeda signed with the Rangers as an international free agent in 2014 and played for 5 years in their minor league system until being called up to make his debut in 2020. He played in 23 games last year and made a decent first impression. He his .253, which is roughly in line with his numbers in the minors, with 8 extra base hits including 3 home runs.
He was perhaps a little too aggressive at the plate though because his strikeout numbers were through the roof; 39% of all his plate appearances ended with a K.
We think that its most likely that he starts the season at AAA Round Rock but gets called up again before the All-Star break.
Leody Teveras is a speedy centerfielder who is known more for his excellent defensive skills than he is with his bat. His speed helps him cover centerfield efficiently and he has an excellent arm too; all of which help make him an excellent fielder at a premium position. But he hasn't been able to demonstrate much power at the plate since signing professionally in 2015.
Through 470 minor league games, Teveras hit just 19 home runs although he did also hit 69 doubles and 28 triples.
He made his debut with the Rangers last season and appeared in 33 games where he made a solid start to his big league career. Texas fans would no doubt like to see him be a little more patient at the plate as he struck out over 32% of the time, but he did show flashes of his potential - particularly in regards to his stolen base numbers and he could be said to have been unlucky when you look at his BAbip numbers.
We think that he starts 2021 as the starting centerfielder for Texas and - like Brandon Lowe - is given a relatively long leash from which he can show who he really is as a ballplayer.
From all accounts, Teveras has a really likeable personality and excellent baseball mind, so we'll be rooting for him along with Rangers fans.
Predicted 2021 Team MVP - Joey Gallo
The one and only. Gallo has become a star in Texas, where he has come to exemplify the high home run numbers with high strike out numbers that have become something of a trend in recent years.
Gallo became an everyday starter for the Rangers in 2017, when he hit 41 home runs which was third most in the AL. He followed that up by hitting another 40 the following year.
Over his 6 year career, Gallo has hit a home run in nearly 7% of his plate appearances. That's well over double the MLB average. But those outstanding power numbers come at a price. He struck out 37.7% of the time; nearly double the league average.
But this is the game of baseball right now and the Rangers can happily live with his strikeouts as long as the longball comes along in a package deal.
Even last year, when he hit just .181 with 79 K's in 57 games, he still finished the year with 10 homers and a 1.4 WAR.
We really enjoy watching Gallo play. He's an exciting player with a ton of power and when he makes contact it's a no-doubter, more often than not.
We think that he'll continue his trends into 2021 and predict that he'll hit over 40 home runs with an average around .210.
Player to watch for the future - Josh Jung
Jung was a first round pick in the 2019 draft and only has 44 professional games under his belt as a result of the cancelled minor league season last year. But he impressed in those 44 minor league games as well as the the Rangers' alternative training camp.
He has primarily played 3B in his career to date and the Rangers think highly enough of him to move Isiah Kiner-Falefa to SS to make room for Jung when he gets called up.
Jung has shown good, if not outstanding power - he hit 2 home runs in the 2019 minor league season and 33 in three college seasons at Texas Tech.
We think that he'll likely start the season at AA Frisco, where he'll continue to work on his power swing. We predict that he gets called up early in 2022.
Storyline to keep an eye on - How will Rougned Odor respond to recent poor seasons and competition at 2B?
Odor hasn't been good over the last couple of years, which his 0.0 and -0.6 WAR from 2019 and 2020 attest to. He led the AL in strikeouts in 2019 and was on pace to get even more in 2020.
This is the first time in a while in which Odor isn't guaranteed to be the starting second baseman for the Rangers on Opening Day - partly because of his declining numbers over the last 2 years and partly due to how well Nick Solak has done.
Solak made an excellent first impression with the Rangers in 2019 but his numbers came down last year, with being played at a number of different positions possibly having an effect. Rangers manager Chris Woodward has said that he believes 2B is Nick Solak's best position. If he shows that he can play 2nd base well in spring training, he likely gets the nod on Opening Day.
The interesting question will be how Rougned Odor responds to this challenge. He sees himself as a 2nd baseman and a starter for Texas. If Solak wins the positional battle for 2B, then both of those can't be true.
Will Odor accept a move to another position, possibly 3B? Will he react positively to the challenge of potentially being a back-up?
For a guy who punched Jose Bautista because he flipped a bat in the postseason, it'll be interesting to see how Odor responds to a challenge of a different kind in 2021.
Prediction for 2021 - 5th in the AL West
It's always going to be tough for the Rangers to compete as things stand in the AL West. They finished 2020 with the worst record, the lowest team batting average and the lowest total runs scores in the AL. That's not good.
Their pitching finished last season with team ERA over 5, which isn't good either.
Unfortunately, while they have made some nice improvements - particularly in pitching - in the offseason, we don't think that it will help them too much in 2021.
2022 might be a very different story though, as the team may look to spend some of their new ballpark revenue - assuming fans can attend this season - on some key free agents next year.
But aside from some a few key players bucking the trend, we think this will likely be another ugly season for the Rangers.
Do you agree with our predictions? Or have we got them horribly wrong?
Let us know in the comments or on twitter.
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