Rangers players to keep an eye on for contract extensions this winter

ARLINGTON, Texas — One of the unique things about the current iteration of the Texas Rangers is that they simultaneously have a relatively young core intact that is also experienced and locked up for several years. 

Most teams will either have a young squad under team control for several years, but one that doesn’t have the playoff experience that the Rangers players have enjoyed or a team loaded with veterans without the young legs to get them over the finish line. 

The Rangers, who won the World Series in 2023, reentered 2024 with practically all of their position players returning. Things didn’t work out as well as they did in 2023, but Texas still has a wealth of players who know what it takes to win. Now they have a few more decisions to make, however.

Entering 2025, there are some from the core who have a year of service remaining, or will be free agents after the season is over. In an effort to continue to keep the cohesiveness of their lineup together, Texas could look to potentially dole out extensions or buy out arbitration years for more cost certainty.

There is some irony here as the players who are most likely to get extended are also the ones equally as likely to be moved. For example, of all the Rangers’ position players, the player that makes the most sense to extend is their Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winning first baseman. However, after a couple of down years with the bats, it’s as likely that Texas could look to trade Lowe and get a big bopper at first base for an offense that took a downturn in 2024.

While Lowe did have a season marred by injuries to start, by the end of the campaign he had just about the same season as when he won the Gold Glove during the World Series-winning campaign. 

In 2023, Lowe played in 161 games and slashed .262/.360/.414 with 17 homers, 82 RBI, 93 walks and 165 strikeouts, good for a K/BB ratio of 1.77. In 2024, Lowe played in 140 games, slashing .265/.361/.401 with 16 homers and 69 RBI and a K/BB ratio of 1.76. 

On a team in 2024 that, as a whole, was not great at hitting fastballs, Nathaniel Lowe ranked in the top 15% of hitters against them. And yet, Lowe still hasn’t reached his lofty 2022 season again when he sported a .851 OPS and hit for a career-high 27 home runs.

Salary-wise, Lowe made $7.5 million last year. By comparison, newly minted World Series MVP Freddie Freeman of the champion Los Angeles Dodgers was the highest-paid first baseman in baseball at $27 million. 

American League champion Anthony Rizzo made $20 million. Former Ranger Joey Gallo made $5 million. Lowe is also eligible for arbitration for the first time this season and is projected to make $10.5 million – that is still well below the upper echelon of players at the position. 

Lowe will be a free agent in 2027, which means there is still another year of arbitration before that. If they decide to continue with Lowe as their first baseman, it would do the Rangers well to not only buy out the next couple of years, giving Lowe a decent pay raise, but also to secure his services through some free agency years. 

Going into 2025, Lowe is only going to be 29 years old, under team control through his age 31 season. Texas could bet on a return of his power stroke, especially with nobody in the minor leagues anywhere close to taking over the position, through his mid-30s at a far lower rate than a first baseman of his caliber might merit on the open market.

The charismatic pulse of the Rangers, ‘El Bombi’ has played his way into the hearts of Rangers fans since coming over as an unknown pickup from the St. Louis Cardinals to ALCS MVP. A key figure in the Rangers’ rise since 2021, Garcia has garnered two All-Star appearances, a Gold Glove, and placed in the top 15 in MVP voting in the World Series Championship year of 2023 while being the key player who vanquished the Houston Astros in the first ever playoff series between the two Texas teams. 

Garcia, though, fell off in 2024, having played in more games but having a much decreased level of production. While Garcia racked up roughly the same number of strikeouts over the course of the season, the Cuban outfielder saw the number of walks he took drop significantly, which dropped his OBP from the previous year by 50 points. 

Garcia did have just six fewer hits than he did in 2023 but also 14 fewer homers, resulting in a 100 point drop in slugging percentage. A drop of 20 points in batting average, along with the previous stats, suggest that Garcia was putting the ball in play, but not hard enough to suggest unluckiness.

That’s not to suggest that Garcia isn’t still an electric and dynamic presence in the lineup. On a team that, overall, was terrible at hitting fastballs, Garcia was among the worst. Could that be something that could be generally improved on the team with a new hitting coach? 2024 hitting coach Tim Hyers is joining the Atlanta Braves for 2025, leaving opportunity for new ideas and methods to be introduced for next year’s Rangers. 

Along with his slump at the plate, Garcia saw a decline in almost every metric, offensively and defensively. Garcia was playing banged up with nagging injuries in 2024, so he could bounce back in 2025, but the outfielder is going into his age-32 season, meaning he’s exiting his prime years. 

Texas can’t, in good faith, justify adding a few more years onto a contract that expires in 2027 if Garcia is going to perform like he did in 2024. Right now, Garcia’s contract is secure through this season before he hits arbitration. Texas could issue an extension, and that would make sense under normal conditions, but it would be prudent for the Rangers to see how next season plays out before approaching the idea of paying for premium free agency years.

Heim could very well be first in line for a contract extension, or the Rangers could seek a different long term answer behind the dish. Heim should be in the conversation of premier catchers in the game, much like he was at the end of the World Series Championship year in 2023. 

Heim had it all going then – he was a threat offensively, a huge asset behind the plate, and an exquisite game caller. In 2024, however, all of that went south leaving questions about where Texas might go at the position. 

One of the problems for Heim is the Rangers went from having serviceable backup catching options during his tenure with Texas, to allow for playing time to be piggybacked. Heim was counted on much more heavily to be the fulltime backstop in 2024 when backup signee Andrew Knizner flopped at the plate. 

Eventually the Rangers ended up trading for a more-than-capable all-around catcher in Carson Kelly who helped shoulder more of the workload from the trading deadline through the remainder of the season.

Overall Heim suffered a near 40 point drop in average, 50 point drop in on-base percentage, and 100 point drop in slugging. Even though he registered fewer strikeouts in 2024, he also had 15 fewer walks and was not the threat he was with runners in scoring position that he was in 2023. 

In 2023, Heim had a .375 average with runners in scoring position, a number that dropped to .246 in 2024. Defensively, Heim’s metrics fell as well, going from a near top of the league 30% of runners caught stealing in 2023 to just 13% in 2024. 

Going into 2025, the Rangers are now forced to potentially bring back Kelly or another backup option that can help take some of the load off of Heim as they attempt to see if the All-Star 2023 and Gold Glove winner was a flash in the pan or not.

Besides the three veterans with arbitration considerations, the Rangers also have Josh Jung and Evan Carter as potential early extension candidates. However, neither young former top prospect played a full season in 2024, and while they both have all the potential in the world, the Rangers need to see if both can stay healthy and produce during a full season before they think about putting a long term contract in front of them. 

They’re also under control for several more years, as are Wyatt Langford and Leody Taveras, two more outfielders that Texas could conceivably look to lock up long term. Langford could be an attractive option for an extension if the Rangers can put together a salary that works for both parties. 

After a slow start to his rookie season, Langford came on in the season’s second half and ended up the American League Player of the Month of September to look every bit like the kind of player that Texas was banking on to begin the year.

Ultimately, of the three main possible extension candidates, Lowe is the only one that seems worthy of a decision being made this winter. Whether the Rangers, who are determined to fall beneath the luxury cap, decide to extend any of their players remains to be seen.

Which players do you think the Rangers should sign long-term? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.