Texas Rangers Bought World Series Title in Free Agency

Only the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox added more production to a World Series championship team by signing free agents than the Texas Rangers.

Did the Texas Rangers buy a World Series championship?

According to one metric, yeah, it looks that way.

The Rangers do have their share of homegrown talent, from Josh Jung to José Leclerc to Evan Carter to Leody Taveras. They all came up through the Rangers system and played key roles in the run to the franchise’s first title.

Also, a number of key moves and trades added the likes of Adolis García, Jonah Heim, Nathaniel Lowe, Dane Dunning and Josh Sborz. None were considered blockbuster acquisitions, but the Rangers don’t win it all without their contributions.

Nathan Eovaldi was one of the key free-agent signing by the Texas Rangers over the last two years :: © Rob Schumacher / USA TODAY NETWORK

But the idea that Texas “bought” a title is easy to understand. Corey Seager. Marcus Semien. Jacob deGrom. Nathan Eovaldi. Jon Gray. Andrew Heaney. And there’s high-profile trades for Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery.

Cha-ching.

MLB.com put together a list of the World Series champs that were put together by free agency, using WAR (per Baseball Reference) as the criteria. Nine of the 27 players that appeared in a game for the Rangers in 2023 were free-agent signings.

Those nine had a combined WAR of 23.3. Here’s what MLB.com wrote about Texas’ spending spree:

The Rangers’ march toward the 2023 World Series title began in earnest on Dec. 1, 2021, when the club officially signed free-agent shortstop Corey Seager (10 years, $325 million) and second baseman Marcus Semien (7 years, $175 million) to contracts worth $500 million in guaranteed money. (The Rangers also signed pitcher Jon Gray to a four-year, $56 million deal.) After losing 94 games in 2022, Texas continued to assemble talent in free agency, bolstering its rotation with the additions of Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney.

While they lost deGrom to Tommy John surgery after six starts, Eovaldi filled in admirably as the Rangers’ ace in the regular season and finished 5-0 with a 2.95 ERA over six postseason starts. Seager combined with Semien to produce 14.3 WAR during the regular season and recorded 12 extra-base hits (six homers), 12 RBIs, 15 walks and a 1.133 OPS in the playoffs, culminating with an MVP-winning performance in the Fall Classic.

The only World Series title teams on the MLB.com list with higher WARs than the Rangers were the 2009 New York Yankees (38) and 2013 Boston Red Sox (26). Checking in right behind Texas were the Red Sox in 2007 (23.1) and 2004 (22.5).

The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks (21.8), 1997 Florida Marlins (20.2), 2019 Washington Nationals (19.5), 2016 Chicago Cubs (18) and 1991 Minnesota Twins (17.8) round out the top 10.

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