Rangers met Carlos Rodon after signing Jacob DeGrom

One year after he shocked baseball by signing both Marcus Semin And the Corey Seeger For half a billion dollars combined, the Rangers seem to be at least contemplating a similar double-dip in the deep end of the free agent pool. Reporting by Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic that the Rangers met Carlos Rodon Just one day after signing Jacob DeGrum For a whopping five-year contract worth $185 million.

With deGrom in texas and Justin Verlander Having agreed to terms with the Mets, Rodon is the only free agent left on the board. It is said that he was Looking for a six year deal Worth over $30 million a year – a lot of money for a pitcher who has a long injury history that includes shoulder surgery and Tommy John surgery.

However, Rodon has left no doubt in recent years that he is among the most talented shooters in the sport. After signing a $3 million cushion contract with the White Sox in the 2020-21 season, he has finally lived up to the expectations associated with his name dating back to his #3 overall pick in the draft. For the first four months of the 2021 season, Rodon was the MVP in baseball and looked like a front-runner for the American League Cy Young Award.

Shoulder strain limited Rodon to just 28 runs in the last two months of the season, however, when he began stretching in 2021, it was more often at his reduced speed. The White Sox appeared to be wary enough that they declined a qualifying offer, and Rodon signed a two-year, $44 million deal with the Giants that allowed him to return to the open market if he hit 110 innings pitched on the season.

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Not only did Rodon reach 110 rounds, he did so while once again putting himself on the perimeter of Cy Young racing. The lefty threw a career-high 178 innings with a 2.88 ERA, keeping his pace late in the season and averaging better than 5 2/3 innings pitched as a member of the Giants. He led the National League in strikeouts, and since Opening Day 2021, leads all major league pitchers (with a minimum of 200 innings pitched) with a 33.9% strikeout rate. Rodon did it all while projecting a combined ERA of 2.67 with similarly excellent scores in FIP (2.42) and SIERA (2.88).

Onlookers might just wonder how the Rangers can think of continuing to spend so aggressively in such a short period of time – especially when so many teams have been luxury tax averse in recent seasons. The increased luxury tax thresholds in the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement certainly play a role, with the Tier 1 threshold rising from $210 million in 2021 to $233 million next season.

However, the luxury tax isn’t a major issue for Rangers – at least not yet. Existing resource projects That they currently have approximately $192.4 million in luxury commitments, which means that even signing Rodon at $30 million AAV would still leave them with over $10 million in breathing room in Class A penalties. It’s also worth noting that the punishment for first-time offenders is relatively tepid. The Rangers will owe 20% tax on the first $20 million by which they exceed the $233 million threshold and a 30% tax on the next $20 million. Even smashing the luxury barrier with a $40 million kick would give the Rangers $10 million in fines — about the price of signing a starting rotation in the current market.

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Of course, signing Rodon would put Rangers squarely in a potential long-term position as a luxury drive. A combination of deGrom, Seager, and Semien John Gray Valued at $107.5 million on its own, a deal of more than $30 million on Rodon would get Texas nearly 60% of the way to luxury territory even away from the 2024 campaign — and that doesn’t even include arbitration-eligible players and pre-ARB players. to round up the list.

However, Texas is enjoying the fruits of a newly constructed stadium that drew more than 2 million fans in 2022 and can certainly expect that number to rise in 2023, with DeGrum (at least) now on board. Ownership from all 30 clubs will probably be more willing to spend after the league She sold her remaining 15% stake in BAMTech to Disney for $900 million, the spoils of which were divided between the teams. while, Lucrative streaming deals with Apple and NBC/Peacock It only boosted the revenues of the league’s 30 teams. Heading into the 2022 season, national television and live broadcast rights have given all 30 teams nearly $65 million in revenue before accounting for local television deals, attendance, franchises and other revenue sources.

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