Mac Engel: Corey Seager is staying, but the Rangers have a 'money' perception issue

ARLINGTON, Texas — Manager Bruce Bochy, pitching coach Mike Maddux, outfielder Adolis Garcia and All-Star second baseman Marcus Semien all shared one thing in common beyond their time together with the Texas Rangers — they weren’t cheap.

Their departures from the team this offseason have led many a scarred Ranger fan to believe the franchise is taking a big step back, and to retire the hope that in this era of current MLB spending the team will compete for a World Series any time soon.

“If we felt like we weren’t going to be competitive, we would take multiple steps back,” Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said this week.

That would include unloading shortstop Corey Seager. Young said the team took calls about Seager’s availability.

“There was no engagement from our end aside from answering the phone, which we do from every team. I understand why teams would have interest in Corey, but if we are going to win we need Corey Seager,” Young said. “We are thrilled that Corey Seager is a Texas Ranger, and we expect to win our next championship with Corey Seager as our shortstop.”

There is this other lingering issue that is not Young’s fault, but he’s the one to handle it, much the way his predecessor, Jon Daniels, did for years. When the big bosses make a financial decision, Young must address, defend, and spin, it.

That’s the job.

Between the overall lack of home playoff dates, the loss in local media rights revenues due to the collapse of the regional sports network model, and home attendance, it was going to be difficult for the Rangers to maintain their spot as the sixth-highest payroll in MLB.

Rangers’ financial situation

Since the Rangers moved into Globe Life Mall to start the 2020 season, things have changed.

Starting in 2021, the Rangers have ranked in the top 10 in MLB attendance once, that season when parts of America were still under COVID-19 protocols. The attendance figures for sporting events that year weren’t 2020-level off, but affected.

Beginning in 2022, the Rangers have ranked in MLB home attendance 18th, 16th, 12th, 17th in successive years. This isn’t awful, but not quite as good as hoped.

There is no complaining when you win a World Series, but from a revenue standpoint, the Rangers have missed out despite MLB expanding the playoff field. Home playoff games are where MLB teams clean up. From 2017 to now, the Rangers have played six home playoff games, all in ‘23.

In Texas’ World Series win over Arizona, the Diamondbacks hosted more World Series games than the Rangers.

Then there is the issue of local broadcast rights. NBA and MLB teams, like the Rangers, once buoyed by the regional sports contracts worth hundreds of millions, have seen that revenue dry up with the collapse of that model caused by changing consumer habits.

These changes and realities do not mean the Rangers are broke, or are destined to become some version of the Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds or Sacramento A’s.

These changes and realities do mean the Rangers are out on trying to spend with the Dodgers, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.

The future of the Rangers

The ownership group led by Ray Davis and Bob Simpson bought the Rangers out of bankruptcy in August 2010, and it has spent money on players. Since 2011, the team has ranked in the top 10 in payrolls 10 times. Only once has the payroll ranked in the lower third, in 2021 when it was 22nd.

Immediately after the Rangers finished .500 in 2025, Young made it clear that improvement was going to have to come from within. He’s also made it clear that in a market like DFW, the Rangers should never be in a position for a complete rebuild.

The Semien trade to the Mets in exchange for outfielder Brandon Nimmo is not some salary dump swap; the Mets reportedly sent the Rangers $5 million, and the Rangers pick up the rest of Nimmo’s eight-year, $120 million deal that expires in 2030.

According to people familiar with the conversations between the Rangers and Bochy and Maddux, respectively, there was mutual interest for those men to keep their roles with the club in 2026; but the Rangers didn’t offer as much, and both declined.

Bochy returned to the San Francisco Giants as a special advisor to the GM, and Maddux accepted the pitching coach job with the Angels. Both Maddux and Bochy would have been at the higher end of their respective pay scales, and for a team modifying its costs, they were casualties.

The challenge for the Rangers is to compete against franchises that are proving that spending is your only chance to win a World Series. Since 2015, only one team outside the top 10 in payroll has won the World Series, the 2021 Atlanta Braves. Their payroll was 11th. Six times since 2015 the World Series champion’s payroll ranked in the top five.

The Rangers are not moving their best, and most expensive player, but they no longer are setting the free-agent market. Or really participating much in it. Or will rank among baseball’s biggest spenders.

They are cutting, not slashing, costs, but the concerns that these measures will affect the team’s ability to compete for a World Series are warranted.