Taking a page from the playbook of their AL West brethren in Los Angeles, the Texas Rangers went with a strict stars-and-scrubs approach last season, and as their final record indicated, it was much more of the latter than the former. Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Nathaniel Lowe, and Adolis Garcia did their parts, combining for a cool 16.7 rWAR. Unfortunately, that was close to equal to the contributions of the other 20+ members of the roster, and that’s including an even 5.0 rWAR from a resurgent Martín Pérez. Not a pretty scene in Arlington!
Texas Rangers
2022 record: 68-94 (4th, AL West)
2023 FanGraphs projection: 83-79 (4th, AL West)
Now having landed perhaps three of the ten biggest fish in free agency over the past two offseasons, the Rangers will look to see their spending spree pay off in 2023: After flopping to 68 wins last season, their 83-win projection is the single biggest year-over-year improvement foreseen by this season’s edition of the FanGraphs forecasted standings.