Rangers Chasing Jacob deGrom, Carlos Rodon

The Texas Rangers are starting to contact some of the best starting pitchers on the free-agent market.

The Texas Rangers have already started contacting the agents of three free-agent pitchers as they continue to bolster their rotation for the 2023 season.

The MLB Network reported on Thursday that the Rangers have reached out to the agents for Jacob deGrom, Carlos Rodón and Kodai Senga, each widely considered among the top 50 overall free agents on the market.

While the Rangers reach out to agents, they also made a qualifying offer to free-agent starter Martín Pérez on Thursday.

Plus, the Rangers made a move on Wednesday to bolster the back end of their starting rotation by trading reliever Kolby Allard for Atlanta starter Jake Odorizzi.

Odorizzi gives the Rangers two veteran starters under contract, the other being Jon Gray, who went 7-7 in 2022, as general manager Chris Young and new manager Bruce Bochy begin building for next season.

deGrom is widely considered the top free-agent starter on the market and could command more than $40 million per year. During his career with the New York Mets, won the NL Rookie of the Year and two Cy Young awards. But he has made 15 or fewer starts in each of the last three seasons, the last two of which have been truncated by injuries. Plus, deGrom will be 35 next season.

Rodón, 29, just wrapped up his first season with San Francisco, where he signed a two-year $44 million contract, but opted out of the second season. He went 14-8 last season, as he set a career high for victories. Before landing in San Francisco, he spent his career with the Chicago White Sox. Rodón has a career record of 56-46 with a 3.60 ERA. He’s been an All-Star each of the past two seasons.

Senga is a 29-year-old right-hander from Japan who has pitched for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks for a decade. He’s been on the NPB’s most decorated pitchers during that time, lading three All-Star Game appearances, winning five Japan Series titles and leading the Pacific League in strikeouts twice. He was also on the 2017 World Baseball Classic All-Tournament Team.

The Rangers are also waiting for cues from Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander and Dallas native Clayton Kershaw as to whether he’s interested in entertaining free-agent offers from other teams.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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