Hi and welcome to another edition of Right

on Rangers Live, coming at you on a

Wednesday, off-season talk about to begin.

Of course, we got the NLCS game three

coming up here in just about 45 minutes.

We'll talk a little playoffs along the way,

but of course, the big news coming out

of RangerLand today, you have four Gold Glove

candidates, some a little bit less surprising than

others, we'll say that.

Look, anytime you're a Gold Glove finalist, it's

an honor.

And there's clearly an element of pride that

goes along with that.

And if you missed the news today, we

have Jacob deGrom pitching Gold Glove.

We've got Ezequiel Duran, Utility Gold Glove.

And then you have Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter,

respectively, nominated for a Gold Glove as well.

I think if we're just being real, you

probably see Evan Carter and Ezequiel Duran as

more of the favorites than the other two

to win it all.

I think Evan Carter has a shot.

I'm not sure that it's as good of

a shot as Ezequiel Duran at this point,

but there's no doubt Evan Carter is very,

very talented out there in the field.

I think that those are the two that

I look at with the best opportunity to

take home the hardware and what an honor

for them.

Good stuff.

There's definitely plenty for us to talk about

tonight beyond that.

Look, especially when you consider some of the

things that the Rangers need to accomplish this

offseason, have yet to get moving on this

offseason, and it's still early.

I think we all know most of the

big decisions, most of the big moves typically

happen after the World Series is finished in

November.

Not that clubs can't start moving forward.

Not that they can't start getting going with

their offseason plans a little bit sooner.

But nevertheless, I think we'll see things start

to really heat up once the calendar turns

to November.

We'll see what happens.

Look, on our show today, clearly I've got

a number of different things to say, but

would love to hear from you guys.

Drop a comment.

Please drop a question.

Would love to hear what you guys want

to talk about today.

I will be checking the chat periodically, but

it's going to be talking baseball.

Right now we got hockey going.

I have been getting into the Stars content,

which has been fun.

It's always good for me to do a

new challenge, mix it up a little bit.

I've had some fun making Stars content, something

new that I'm doing this year.

Obviously, we got football, Longhorns.

My goodness, that was an ugly game on

Saturday.

Congrats to all y'all, OU, to all

y'all Sooner fans out there.

Enjoy it, man.

What an ugly ball game from Texas.

Sooners, that defense, 100% legit.

Cowboys are a mess, but what's new?

They will be going to Lambeau this Sunday

night for some Sunday night football.

We for sure will be having a couple

more Cowboys videos coming out this week, but

let's talk baseball, man.

It is about time.

Let's talk some baseball right now.

We went over the Gold Glove candidates that

are out there.

Look, Wyatt Langford, I think, is going to

be the biggest surprise to some Rangers fans

and maybe some people that got their eye

on the Rangers a little more than others.

I think Wyatt clearly is, in terms of

the advanced stats, one of the top outfielders

in the game when it comes to range,

when it comes to jumps.

In fact, you guys might remember earlier on

in the 2026 season, I hiked up Wyatt

Langford as a potential replacement for Evan Carter

in center field.

Evan Carter was not hitting well.

That trend continued pretty much all 162.

And I was hyping up, can we get

Wyatt Langford playing every day in center?

Now, this was at the beginning of the

summer, kind of immediately after he returned from

injury and Evan was still continuing to scuffle.

And I've always maintained with Evan Carter, the

glove only takes you so far.

You need to get more production out of

the center field position offensively.

And I went back and forth with people.

And I think the consensus now in among

all Rangers media, and I think even most

fans have come to see this too.

You finally have everybody kind of resigned to

the fact that it's not enough for Evan

Carter just to be really, really good defensively

out in center field.

Evan Grant came out and talked about that

in recent article.

And you've just heard the narrative on that

really start to shift more to the side

that you and I, a lot of us

were on early on in the season.

I know I went back and forth with

some people even on the show on Evan

Carter.

And I know many people believe I'm an

Evan Carter hater by no means, uh, actually

really, really want to see Evan Carter succeed.

And I feel like the Rangers didn't necessarily

put him in the best position to do

that.

I'd be happy to get more into that

later on in the show.

If you want to hear more about my

perspective on the development of Evan Carter, maybe

we'll get into it naturally, but going back

to Wyatt Langford, I mentioned, Hey, move him

to center field, get him into that eight

spot.

And let's see what he does.

Let's see if he is able to maintain

it.

We can't keep treating Wyatt Langford, like he's

made a glass.

He's either going to be able to hold

up play in center field or he's not.

And the Rangers by and large, kept him

away from center field as the injuries and

the ailments started to continue to plague him,

especially late in the year.

That being said, you might remember the stat

that I pulled about Wyatt Langford.

Wyatt Langford was second in the major leagues

only to PCA Pete Crow Armstrong from the

cubs in terms of jumps, in terms of

feet covered from the time the ball is

contacted within the first three or four seconds.

It's incredible what Wyatt Langford was able to

accomplish in terms of advanced stats or concern,

reading the baseball, getting a good jump and

covering ground in a very short amount of

time.

He was second in the major leagues.

It's definitely not totally out of left field

for me that Wyatt Langford would be in

this discussion.

Now we definitely saw Wyatt Langford have mental

mistakes out there in the outfield.

We saw Wyatt Langford's lack of a power

arm.

He is just a tick or two below

Adolis Garcia, Wyatt Langford among Brandon Nimmo and

Evan Carter, not really doing the Rangers outfield

a lot of justice when it comes to

the arm strength.

That to me is, I think what makes

a lot of Rangers fans kind of scratch

their head and say, because you have a

really subpar arm strength, outfield assists, all that,

but then you have the good range.

You have the ability to track down fly

balls that really isn't quite an elite category.

And so I do think that Wyatt Langford

isn't totally out of place in the gold

glove candidate discussion.

I don't think he's going to win it.

100% do not think he is going

to win it, but I do think that

he is based on a lot of different

factors, specifically the jumps that he gets out

there, the outs above average, the range that

he has in general.

It makes sense to me.

Now we're going to go ahead and we're

going to roll through a number of different

topics, but I'm going to check, check, uh,

check the chat.

Sorry.

Can't talk today.

Holly, you were actually, you're actually bringing up

something that I wanted to talk about at

some point in the show, but we'll get

into it right now.

So coaching was actually just rereading an article

from Kennedi Landry and she has Rangers five

biggest off season questions.

And one of the questions was, you know,

will there be any changes to the coaching

staff?

And the comment here is skip saying, I

think we're going to be talking about that

the next couple of days, proud of the

work that they all put in grateful for

them.

But I think that's the discussion we're going

to have the next couple of days.

I do not think there have been any

new announcements with the coaching staff since this

article was published on October 8th.

So roughly six days ago, I personally don't

understand how the Rangers could run it back

with Justin Viele.

There was a very marginal improvement.

I think to the offense and some of

the stats like, you know, OPS, and even

some of the like WRC plus and the

real, real nerdy stats, there were some improvements

there.

I think it would be disingenuous to say

that, you know, they got totally worse this

year than last year.

That being said, they were supposedly upgrading offensively.

And so it's to be expected that you

have a little bit of a better offense.

You got rid of Marcus Semien, you got

rid of Jonah Heim, you got rid of

Adolis Garcia, three players that struggled both in

2024 and in 2025.

I think it was to be expected that

numbers would tick up slightly.

That being said, you scored less runs in

2026 than you did in 2025.

And if that is what you want to

go off of, then yeah, I guess the

offense was a little bit worse.

For me, it's a little more complicated.

It's a little more complex.

I don't necessarily put into a box.

Hey, you scored less runs.

Therefore, you're a worse offense.

I think that there's a little more to

it than that.

That being said, I think if you're going

to argue that the offense improved, it's very

minimal, extremely minimal.

And for that reason, I say Justin Viele

should move on to a different team, to

a different opportunity.

I'd like to see the Rangers start fresh

when it comes to the hitting coach.

You allow Justin Viele a holdover from Donnie

Ecker, right?

Donnie Ecker and Justin Viele were kind of

a package deal.

Ecker was here first, Viele kind of came

along second, and it was almost the same

identical thing in San Francisco.

He had Ecker as the main guy, you

had Viele as a secondary, then Ecker leaves,

Viele takes over, doesn't go great, and Viele

finds himself back in a similar situation in

Texas with Donnie Ecker, largely the number one

guy, and Viele kind of the assistant secondary

figure.

For me, Justin Viele should have been gone

after 2025.

Justin Viele should not have been the hitting

coach in 2026.

I feel like the team really built in

a scapegoat for themselves.

You had this fan base that was very

frustrated with the offense, myself included, and you

allowed a holdover from a really, really bad

2025 offense to stick around.

And there was this instant figure to blame,

which I mean, look, to all of you

guys and the comments you're saying, it makes

the point.

The fact that we have Rangers fans interested

in Justin Viele really locked in on the

hitting coach totally proves what I'm talking about.

You built in a scapegoat for yourselves, and

I think the Rangers would be wise to

start fresh.

You want a new voice, you want a

new perspective in there.

Did you have some improvements with Josh Jung?

Did you have some improvements with Ezequiel Duran?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And as I said in my article that

I put on X, my full evaluation of

Skip Schumaker, check it out.

I know not all of you guys use

X, formerly Twitter, but that is where I'm

doing a lot of my long form writing.

So if you're interested in article, written form

stuff, I'm trying to do something at least

every couple of weeks.

You guys know I've got a lot of

plates spinning.

I definitely am going to always emphasize the

video over everything else.

But if you're interested in more long form

content, clearly we have the podcast, but I'm

also doing some writing this winter.

And so look, full eval on Skip Schumaker.

And I really did try and be as

unbiased as I possibly could.

And I think you'll find that as you

read.

But one of the things that I mentioned

is it's so hard to really be able

to tell who takes the credit, who takes

the blame when a player either overperforms or

underperforms.

So who gets the real credit for Josh

Jung, for Ezequiel Duran?

Does Skip Schumaker get a little bit of

credit?

Does Justin Viele get a little bit of

credit for that?

Do you just credit the player and really

de-emphasize the coach's role in those improvements

entirely?

It's a really, really tough call.

I don't think that you can totally not

give Skip or Justin Viele any credit for

Jung or Duran, but I don't think you

can give them the majority.

It's always going to go back to the

player.

And let's be honest, a lot of these

guys have their own swing doctors separate from

Justin Viele, separate from Skip Schumaker.

But let's go to the flip side.

One of the big things that Chris Young

said that Skip Schumaker was hired to do

is develop players at the major league level.

I would submit to you that in that

area, there was a failure.

You have two players in Wyatt Langford and

Evan Carter, former top prospects in the organization

that each took what I would say is

a step back.

I think Wyatt Langford less of a step

back than Evan Carter.

I still think Wyatt took a step back

in 2026.

The reality might be closer to he just

didn't live up to the 30-30 expectations

that a lot of us threw out there,

which was probably too lofty if we're just

reflecting and being honest.

But I still say there was a drop

and maybe not as drastic of a drop

as Evan Carter, but there was a drop.

And so those are the two guys I

think that trump everything else.

Josh Jung, clearly a first rounder.

He's not a nobody when it comes to

prospects.

I mean, I know Jung's not really considered

a prospect anymore, but I think you can

follow my train of thinking here.

But Evan Carter, a second round pick.

Wyatt Langford, a top five pick back a

couple of years ago, a few years ago

in 2023.

It really is, I think, an indictment on

the coaching staff that your two former top

prospects took a step back last year.

When Skip, a part of the hiring process,

Chris Young said, is developing major league talent.

I think a lot of people forget what

Chris Young actually came with in that opening

press conference.

Some of the things that he wanted to

see accomplished under Skip, that was one of

them.

And that did not work out well.

To say the least, that did not work

out well in 2026.

It is something that Skip and the staff

have got to get right.

I don't personally think that Justin Viele is

the man for the job, and I don't

think you have to look a whole lot

further than where the offense has finished the

last two years.

This isn't me attacking Justin Viele personally.

Dude, you've had a bottom five offense the

last two years.

That's not going to work.

That's not going to play.

And I don't think that anybody back-to

-back years finishing with a bottom five offense

would be expecting to have a long-term

stay in the spot or on the team

where they're coaching.

I just don't.

So for me, I would be moving on.

No doubt I'd be moving on.

But I don't know if Rangers are going

to do that.

It's not going to surprise me if they

run it back with Justin Viele, just like

it's not going to surprise me if they

stick with a number of the same players,

too.

I just don't think it is going to

be a shocker.

And look, I know that some people might

be pissed off about it, myself included.

I am not going to be happy if

they run this same team back with one

or two minimal changes.

Chris Young did say they need to reshuffle

the deck, whatever that means.

And we can use figurative language and figures

of speech all day long.

But again, talk is cheap.

Let's see what they actually decide to do

in the offseason, which hopefully will heat up

here in a couple of weeks after the

World Series is over.

Brian, what's good, man?

Do the Rangers value Jung or Duran more?

I would say there right now is a...

Maybe it's just the circles that I'm in

that my algorithm is pumping towards me.

But I think Jung among the casual fan

is a little overvalued right now because of

what he did hitting.

I think the offense was so bad last

year.

It was so bad at times that you

were really just happy with any kind of

good performance.

And I don't want to devalue Jung's season.

He was one of the top averages in

the American League.

But you guys know, I've been very clear

on where I'm at with JJ.

I'm a big fan.

But I think if you're considering what CY

said after the season was over, we want

to get more athletic.

We want to get younger, more versatile, more

dynamic.

Does that scream Josh Jung?

Or does it scream Ezequiel Duran?

That to me would be the answer to

that question.

I think Zeke Duran is the more valuable

player right now because he's fast.

He's one of the faster players in Major

League Baseball.

He's got an outstanding glove.

He can hit.

He can hit for a little bit of

power.

I mean, look, he had almost 20 bombs.

I think he had, what, 17?

I think Ezequiel Duran is very clearly the

more valuable player at this point in time.

Regardless, Josh Jung, we know, is a very

good bat right now.

Is he going to continue with what he

did in 2026?

I got to be honest with you guys.

That's one of the big things I'm watching

for.

Is Josh Jung able to repeat the success

of 2026?

We know these things are fleeting.

We know that a player can have a

really good year one year, and then the

next year can come out and not look

like the same guy.

That has happened to players that we have

on the roster right now.

They were really good one year, and suddenly

they're not so good anymore.

I hope, obviously, that does not happen for

JJ, but I would just not be surprised

if the Rangers shop JJ a little bit.

You'd be stupid not to.

See what a team might be willing to

give you in a trade.

Maybe you can package JJ as that Major

League player that really gives you the headliner.

I think there's a little bit of a

conundrum with Josh Jung.

You're either going to run it back with

him at third base.

You're going to DH him a little bit

more, but then that takes away from other

guys like Foscue.

Then it also takes away from maybe DH

and Corey Seager and Brandon Nimmo more.

I think we talked about a couple weeks

ago.

Nimmo and Jung are probably the two guys

you want to get off the field, if

at all possible.

Maybe it can only happen with one player,

but I do think those are the two

guys you're circling right now, among potential starters.

If we could not have their glove out

there, that would probably be the ideal situation.

I think that if JJ runs it back

with Josh Jung, you're not going to see

me unhappy.

Now, I would be a little bit disappointed

if they try to make him an everyday

third baseman.

I just think they should try and preserve

him a little bit better.

Bad luck or not, he is a player

that gets injured a lot.

You can point to the wrist.

You can point to getting hit by pitches.

That's happened twice in the last three years.

He's broken a wrist from a hit by

pitch.

Some people just call that unlucky, dumb luck.

I don't know.

There are some players that can take a

hit on the wrist, can take a hit

on the arm, and not have something break.

I don't know why JJ's not a little

bit more well-protected, honestly, considering his history.

We talked about that as well.

There's a million different types of guards that

you can wear for your wrist, your elbow,

your shin, your foot.

I just don't understand why up there he's

not a little bit more guarded, not a

little bit more geared up.

That'd be a good question to ask him.

That is the hard-hitting stuff.

Hey, man, what is the thought process on

not wearing a little bit more gear up

there?

You've seen your season end twice, basically.

I guess he came back in 2024 after

the hit by pitch from Natan, right?

Phil Maton, baby.

Look, I know he came back from that.

He wasn't really the same player.

I'd ask him straight up in the exit

interviews.

That would 100 percent be a question.

Is there a rationale as to why there's

not a little bit more equipment on up

there?

Is it something that you're just not comfortable

with?

Is it something that impacts your swing, and

so you've decided to go against it?

I would kind of wonder, what is the

rationale there, dude?

You have terrible luck with getting hit by

a pitch.

Might you consider wearing a little bit more

gear back there?

We keep going.

Zach, what's good, man?

Good to see you.

Did they confirm if Jung had surgery yet?

I do not believe Jung is having surgery.

Seeger had surgery, but I do not believe

that they are going to have Josh Jung

have surgery.

I think they're just hoping that it heals

naturally.

No, love the Rangers, but don't pay attention

to baseball.

What's a quick rundown of the offseason hope?

I think the offseason hope is that you

get a legitimate bat that you can add

to the lineup.

I mean, two would be nice.

I'm not going to get greedy.

I think you need two bats, but I

think they will at least try and get

one solid bat to add in.

I do think the bullpen, which we're going

to talk about in a little bit, is

a big question mark.

You have a mutual option on Jakob Junis.

You have Jacob Latz.

Those two guys, that's a firm back end.

I think Junis did fade a little bit

down the stretch in 2026, but I think

that's a pretty firm back end of the

bullpen right there for the eighth and ninth

inning.

But there's a lot of rebuilding that you're

going to have to do otherwise, man.

There are a lot of guys that were

only on one-year deals.

There are young guys that maybe you're hoping

take the next big step.

You've got Ahlstrom.

You've got the Grays.

You've got the Colliers.

You've got all those types that have potential,

but do you want to count on those

guys to be your firm foundations and middle

relief?

That is kind of a yet-to-be

determined.

I'm really curious to see what they end

up doing with the pen.

I think you could make an argument to

run it back with Gray, Ahlstrom, Collyer, all

those types.

You've still got Cole Winn as well.

I know that's starting to become a little

bit of a bad word in Ranger Nation,

Cole Winn.

Look, I'm a big fan, but Cole had

a rough 2026.

I wonder what the long-term plan is

for him or even the short-term.

Is he just really, really tight leash?

You mess up a couple times early.

We're going to have to cut ties.

There are going to be some curious decisions

out there in the pen.

That is for sure.

Zach says, Crazy Jung isn't having surgery.

Fractures are not fun to heal naturally.

Yeah.

What I told you guys, I'll be fine.

Don't have the surgery, but you will hear

from me a little bit if we get

the notification, we get that pop-up.

Josh Jung, going to have delayed start to

spring training.

Needs more time after recovery from broken wrist

at the end of 2026.

That's just not a out of left field

tweet or notification to get, is it?

When we're talking about the Texas Rangers.

That kind of tweet, that kind of note

would piss me off.

Like, dude, you've got so much time right

now.

The last thing that you want is it

didn't heal just like you want it to.

And now you've got to miss spring training

time.

And I know some people are probably cynically

saying like, dude, the lockout, they're going to

miss time anyways.

You're probably right.

You're probably right.

I don't see any reason why, you know,

that they're going to start on time.

I really don't.

I do think that maybe there's a small

outside shot, but I don't know.

I think it's probably unlikely at this point.

All right.

Let's keep rolling.

First of all, Nate, what's good, man.

Thanks for hanging out.

I appreciate you.

We're having a good time right now.

Just talking all things Rangers baseball, by the

way.

So feel free, as I always say, drop

a comment, drop a question.

Appreciate you guys.

We have a lot of good stuff planned

for the rest of the show.

I will 100% though, be stopping and

checking the chat.

I want to make sure your guys' voice

are heard.

Sorry, by the way, YouTube and Instagram and

all you guys, I know I had like

the stars game day up from a while

back.

Don't know what happened there, man.

Technology, I guess, but we should be good

now.

We should be good now.

Appreciate all y'all.

Let's get into the division rival a little

bit here.

Let's talk Houston.

I have been a big proponent of teams

around the league and you know what?

Don't like the Strohs, but I do respect

them and I want to explain why.

Let's go back though to the beginning of

the year.

You had the Phillies, you had the Red

Sox, both fire their managers.

I don't want to say unceremoniously, but not

necessarily the most popular decision to fire a

manager as early as the Phillies and the

Red Sox did this year.

But where were the Phillies and where were

the Red Sox when the calendar turned to

October?

They were playing.

They were on the field.

They were not on the couch.

And there's a common theme here.

You have teams like the Red Sox, teams

like the Phillies, teams like the Astros who

have had success.

They made the playoffs, but they're not satisfied.

In Houston, as much as I don't like

them, I'm not satisfied with what the Rangers

did this year.

And I know a lot of you guys

aren't Houston's not satisfied with the division title

fired their manager.

Imagine if skip would have won the division

title, there would have been so much praise,

so much compliments heaped on the manager.

Oh my goodness.

First year when the AL West for the

first time since the mid 2010s.

Oh my goodness.

And then you've got the Astros days after

Joe Espada is popping champagne with the boys

in the clubhouse canning him after a two

oh sweep.

I'll say this.

It's not always the best thing to be

overreactive.

It's not always best to make these quick,

aggressive decisions.

It's not.

That does not always work out, but I

appreciate the aggressiveness and the refusal to be

okay with mediocrity.

And that clearly is what Houston and their

ownership is really all about right now.

They're not good with just a division title.

They just got swept in the wild card

round.

Who cares?

We need to make a move.

That's going to elevate us to the next

level.

And that is what I wish Texas and

the front office and the ownership of the

Rangers would try and adopt a little bit

more in their philosophies and mentalities.

It feels like right now, a lot of

okay with mediocre and a lot of over

celebration of things that should be the standard.

Again, if the Rangers would have made the

playoffs, oh my goodness, you would have heard

so much praise and admiration for what they

were able to do.

Ray Davis, he closed the purse and he

put away the checkbook and see why and

skip still found a way.

They weathered the storm, they weathered the lack

of funds and they made it work.

I'm telling you there would have been a

lot of praise going around just for the

Rangers making the playoffs and winning the division.

And then you've got the Astros firing their

manager after celebrating the division title, probably what

five, however much six days there was already

rumblings.

Joe Espada was going to be fired.

They were going to part ways.

It's a mentality.

And I respect the mentality that a lot

of these franchises that have had sustained success

over the last several decades, the Astros are

one of them.

Sadly, the Red Sox are one of them.

The Phillies are one of them.

What do they have in common?

Never satisfied.

That is what I want to see out

of Texas.

And that's why I keep telling you guys,

I will beat the drum all day long.

I know some people don't want to hear

the negativity.

They don't want to hear the criticism.

They want you to be okay, dude.

It's early.

Just be okay with where they're at.

They've got a shot.

Just be okay with it.

I can appreciate some of that.

You know what I can also appreciate teams

that don't just want to be average.

And you've got a club in the division

that clearly isn't okay with just being average.

And it happens to be one of the

teams I dislike the most, the Houston Astros

look three years in a row.

The Rangers have missed the playoffs and see

why it takes a large brunt of the

responsibility for that.

Skip Schumaker, first year.

No, second year.

He was in the front office last year.

The people that brainlessly dismissed Skip Schumaker as

having nothing to do with the roster, nothing

to do with the product that was on

the field.

It wasn't his team.

He didn't put it together except for the

part where Skip and CY talked every day

about baseball moves in 2025.

Do you think, do we really buy that

that connection just shut off in 2026?

Do we really buy that Skip and CY

had no interactions about the roster in the

entire 25, 26 off season leading up to

this season when Skip was in a senior

advisory role in all of 2025?

I call BS.

Skip was involved with the roster construction.

He gave advice.

He gave input to Chris Young, who ultimately

has the final say.

I don't think anybody's disputing that, but the

people that are just pretending that Skip had

nothing to do with the players that are

on the team in 2026.

Again, are we, are we forgetting?

Are we magically forgetting that Skip was in

the front office all year in 2025?

So I don't buy that this is just

all CY and this is just a bad

roster he put together.

As far as I'm concerned, Skip's a part

of that too.

He is.

Just like I would always tell you guys

that Skip and the lineups, I believe that

CY and that some of the front office

guys, Fenstermaker, are involved with lineups and decisions.

Everybody takes some blame with the way that

those guys have decided to operate, which is

what seems to be collaboratively.

CY has his input with the rotation and

the lineups, and I'm sure that Skip has

his input when it comes to the roster.

Definitely not going to pretend like the two

things are totally compartmentalized.

And I think it's a little odd, even

like media members pretending that that relationship didn't

exist prior to the 2026 season.

All right.

We keep on rolling.

We are about 35 minutes into the show.

Oh, this is good stuff already.

Appreciate Wyatt.

What's good.

Thank you for the comment.

If there's one free agent you'd want the

Rangers to pick up, who would it be?

You know, what I wanted to do is

I actually wanted to go to Spotrak and

look at the free agents right now.

So one guy that the Rangers had a

chance at, but did not go get, that

I really think was a mistake, ultimately, was

Luis Arráez.

Luis Arráez will be a free agent again.

I'd like to see the Rangers go and

get Luis Arráez.

You probably wouldn't have to sign him to

a massive deal.

You could probably put up with potentially, you

know, having him be a guy that could

maybe play second, could maybe be a guy

who plays a little DH somewhere on the

right side of the infield.

That would be a guy that I would

like to see, no doubt.

But he is a unrestricted free agent.

He made a pretty penny, I would say,

for what we thought he was going to

get when he signed with San Francisco.

I'd like to see the Rangers go get

Arráez.

Offensively, I think that would be a big

help, just more in line with what Skip

and what CY supposedly want to see philosophically

out of the offense.

I think he would be a very, very

key figure there.

I think beyond that, if I'm just going

to batters only, let's do batters first and

then let's do pitchers.

And by the way, I haven't done a

ton of research on free agency.

I will do a lot more free agent

takes in November once things become a little

bit more clear.

You have another interesting player here, Ian Happ.

I think Ian Happ is a guy that

maybe the numbers aren't exactly what you want

them to be as you look at what

Ian Happ did in the year 2026 for

the Cubs.

Left fielder, by the way, outfielder.

A switch hitter, by the way.

I like that about him.

Switch hitter.

He went 218 with a 738 OPS in

2026.

But what I like about Happ is some

of the other tools that he has.

You've got some good outfield speed.

You've got a number of tangibles and intangibles.

And there are some things I think that

Happ did really well last year as well.

And we're going to roll through some of

those too.

By the way, this would be an affordable

player.

I don't think the Rangers are going to

have a lot of money to spend big,

but a reason I like Happ, he plays

really good defense.

I mean, he is 96 in arm strength,

by the way, 96 percentile, according to baseball

savant, 73rd percentile in outs above average, great

range.

And he walks and he doesn't swing and

miss.

He was 85th percentile in chase percentage.

He was 89th percentile in walk percentage.

Ian Happ is a guy I'd like to

see the Rangers at least pursue, try and

go get.

The numbers aren't gaudy.

They're not anything special, but I think it

actually works in the Rangers' favor because he's

not going to be necessarily overpriced.

Now he might want to go back to

Chicago, but if I'm the Rangers, I'm bringing

in Ian Happ to compete with Evan Carter.

I think having Happ out there in the

outfield, maybe he can play a little center

field for you.

I know he played a lot of left

field this year.

Happ is the name that really stuck out

to me as a guy that could compete

with EC, a guy that could maybe give

EC a run for his money.

And that is something that a lot of

Rangers media, Evan Grant, especially has talked about.

You've got to get somebody in there that

can compete with Evan Carter.

So Evan Carter just isn't this de facto

outfielder.

We can't put anybody else in there because

he's so good with the glove and we

really don't have anybody that's that much better

with the bat.

So Evan Carter.

You've got Ian Happ, 81st percentile in fielding

run value.

This, again, is a guy that I think

you're interested in.

64th percentile in sprint speed.

He's not the fastest dude, but he's got

some wheels.

Not bad.

A couple of ticks behind Wyatt Langford, if

you're looking at the sprint speed.

This is a name I've definitely locked in

on.

Even going back to September, I know some

people are going to poo-poo the stats

and some of the numbers, but I do

think this is the type of player the

Rangers could afford.

And this is the type of player that

could actually compete with Evan Carter for a

starting role.

Keep rolling.

Like them to bring back Hedgie.

Wouldn't mind that you've got some catchers that

are going to be available.

We'll go to the catcher spot right now.

I personally really don't want to see them

run it back with some of the battery

options that they had.

Kyle Higashioka, I think they need to part

ways.

Seven million dollars for Higgy.

Not really a big fan of giving a

$7 million contract.

He's 36 years old, 36 and a half.

You've got O'Hoppe.

You've got some other names that are out

here.

By the way, Jeffers available from the twins.

You've got Carson Kelly, a mutual option for

Chicago.

Austin Hedges, unrestricted free agent.

It would be fun to bring back Hedgie.

Jonah Heim's available.

Jonah Heim, anybody?

Heim time reunion?

I think realistically you probably would like to

see O'Hoppe pop and then you have

Elias Diaz, who's a free agent.

I don't know why Elias Diaz isn't on

here.

He is a free agent.

I'd like to see them stick with him.

That to me would be best case scenario

and then maybe see if you can get

a Danny Jansen trade and maybe you can

get one of these catchers on the cheap.

I know that the Danny Jansen September or

September of the month player of the month

in September, maybe that bought him another season.

I personally am not here for it, but

it's possible that Danny Jansen September player of

the month bought him a full 2027.

We'll see.

Let's see.

Who do I got tonight?

Brewers or Dodgers?

Look, I don't have a great feel, but

I just don't think the Dodgers are going

to go down that easy.

I would imagine Dodgers win the next two

and it goes back to Milwaukee after that.

Or is it a 2-3-2?

What are they doing this year?

Let me go to this.

Oh, it's a 2-3-2?

Interesting.

So tomorrow they play Friday.

Yeah, it's a 2-3-2.

I would imagine that the Dodgers at least

win two of the three and maybe it

goes back to Milwaukee.

In fact, it's going to have to go

back to Milwaukee if the Dodgers extended out.

I don't think the Dodgers win three straight.

If I am betting on it, I'm saying

you have the Dodgers going back to Milwaukee

down three games to two.

That to me is probably the most likely

scenario here, but we'll see what happens.

The Brewers very, very good and in a

good position right now, but you get on

the road, you get away from the home

crowd, you've got the crowd not totally for

you, a little against you.

Nerves.

We'll see.

It'll be, I think, a great series the

rest of the way.

I think the Dodgers make it interesting though.

We'll keep rolling.

Appreciate all you guys hanging out.

We are going to wrap up our show

here within the next 10 minutes.

We've been going for about 40, 45 minutes

already.

It's been a great show.

Appreciate having you guys hanging out.

To open the show, by the way, we

talked about Duran, Carter, Langford and deGrom being

Gold Glove finalists earlier.

I made my case for why Wyatt Langford

as a Gold Glove finalist isn't as crazy

as some of the reaction that I saw

this morning when that was announced.

Wyatt's got some pretty solid redeeming qualities out

there in the field.

The arm is not great and I think

that's what a lot of people gravitate towards,

but this is a guy that runs great

routes, gets outstanding elite level jumps out there

in the outfield.

There's definitely some refining that needs to take

place, but it's not a shocker to me

that Wyatt Langford makes a Gold Glove finalist

appearance here.

Keep on going.

Let's attack this one.

deGrom, another guy that I know Rangers fans

are a bit down on right now, but

Jacob deGrom, possible for him to win another

Gold Glove.

deGrom did not have the finish that we

all wanted to see.

I think deGrom is going to be a

name that gets thrown around a lot with

trades and with potentially moving on.

The Rangers do really want to get younger

and more dynamic and stay healthy, stay on

the field.

deGrom has definitely been able to stay on

the field, but not without a lot, a

lot of stipulations, pitch counts, only throwing five

innings, etc.

But deGrom, by the way, if he were

to win, I believe it's his first Gold

Glove.

I don't think deGrom has won a Gold

Glove otherwise.

I'm looking right now.

Oh, doesn't look like it, which is kind

of wild.

deGrom is quite the athlete.

You hear a lot of stories about deGrom.

You would think that maybe one of those

years he would have won it, but no

Gold Gloves for deGrom, so it would be

Jacob deGrom's first Gold Glove.

That would be cool.

That'd be an accomplishment for him.

All right, the bullpen.

We've talked about Latz.

Clearly, he's going to be back.

Some people have talked about converting Latz back

to a starting pitcher.

You could do that, but I just think

the second you do that, the ninth inning

becomes a mess.

I think keep Latz where he is, probably

the wisest move.

Fill out the starting rotation elsewhere.

You definitely have Jakob Junis' mutual option.

I think it's $4 million or $5 million

for Jakob Junis.

I think you do that in a heartbeat.

I don't think you think twice about getting

Junis in the mix again in 2027.

The difficult part, you've got Tyler Alexander, Silseth,

Trevor Williams.

They're all facing free agency.

Texas has several relief roles that they need

to address.

I think it's fair to say we've watched

Chris Young assemble bullpens throughout the years and

figure out a way to find guys that

are able to turn things around, make a

tweak, do something in their mechanics to unlock

more success and better quality.

I don't think we need to doubt Chris

Young a ton.

I think he will find some guys with

potential, but I think you've got to do

a little less piecemealing in this offseason.

I think you have to go and try

and get some veteran guys that maybe had

a good year, not guys that are just

on the rebound.

I know this is a crazy concept.

I think you might have to go out

and get a veteran pitcher that actually had

a good 2026.

It doesn't mean you have to go get

the cream of the crop, but it's been

a lot of...

I don't say this to be disrespectful.

I think you guys know it's a speech,

but it feels like they've had to do

a bit of dumpster diving the past couple

of years, a bit of diving in the

trash.

When I say that, I mean it respectfully.

You had guys like Hoby Milner, who had

a down 2024, but in 2025 had a

great year.

You have other guys that didn't have a

great 2025, and you decided to bring them

in for 2026.

I think that CY more often than not

tries to find these bounce back candidates, and

he honestly does it with the offense too.

It's okay for us to go get a

guy that actually had a good year the

year before.

That I know is a bit of a

novel concept in ranger land in the front

office, but it is okay to go out

and get players that were successful in the

prior season.

Tecumseh says, rocker to the bullpen.

Oh, I think I just got a little

indigestion thinking about that, Tecumseh.

Look, I think rocker to the bullpen is

the trendy idea, but I've talked about why

I just think it has the potential to

be a disaster.

Rocker is a guy that just, for me,

doesn't throw enough strikes.

He doesn't exude command out there and control.

You're often wondering what version of rocker you're

going to get.

For me, I don't trust rocker in a

big leverage spot where he has one inning,

and he better be good for that one

inning.

I think that is the risk you run

moving Kumar rocker to the bullpen.

You just don't know if he's going to

be able to come out sharp immediately.

How many times have we seen rocker struggle

out the gate?

I don't think it was a first inning

thing.

It's like rocker is a guy that needs

to settle into the feel of the game.

That doesn't scream high leverage reliever to me.

This is a guy that has to come

out sharp immediately throwing strikes.

I don't trust rocker to do that at

this point.

It doesn't mean with a good spring training

and maybe easing him into that type of

role.

He couldn't figure it out, but I just

think the optics with rocker to the pen,

a lot of people like the idea because

he's got good off speed stuff and he's

got a good fastball.

It's more to it than that, man.

It's about poise.

It's about command.

It's about control.

It's about coming into the game and being

solid right away.

That's not really Kumar rocker's MO.

They should get Pagan or Fairbanks, both veterans

and had bad years could be cheap.

Yeah.

I think that would be a couple of

guys that you definitely should do your homework

on.

I think you've got to go out and

get established veterans and I mean established, like

not necessarily household names, but guys that had

a quality year in 2026 or have had

quality years in the past.

Maybe they're rebounding a little bit or it

was slightly down, but I don't just want

to go out and get guys that are

in the bargain bin.

It'd be nice to go out and get

a guy that's between cream of the crop

and bargain bin.

Now the team polls here.

We talked about Corey Seager.

He went underwent surgery to remove a bone

spur from his throwing elbow club, expects him

to begin normal off season work on schedule.

Josh Jung, right hand fracture won't require surgery.

Encouraging news, but recovery and readiness things that

we're going to have to monitor.

Uh, Danny Jansen also had a procedure to

remove a bone growth in his right hand.

We will follow that.

We will track that as Texas evaluates it's

catching situation.

Now MLB playoffs going on right now.

Milwaukee leads LA to nothing in that series.

And I believe that game is now underway.

I'm hoping for more baseball.

I know a lot of, a lot of

y'all hate the Dodgers.

I don't necessarily want the Dodgers to win

the series, but I don't want to see

like a sweep.

I want baseball like every day in October,

not less baseball.

And if you sweep, then you have less

baseball.

I want to see as much baseball as

possible.

So for me, I hope the Dodgers make

it a little bit of a series, but

would like to see Milwaukee come out on

top.

Eventually tomorrow you have the double, you've got

the raise and guardians.

How are they playing it at 11?

Uh, actually it's 10 AM that the raising

guardians play here out here in Vegas for

me, Pacific time, 12 PM start for you

guys in the central in Texas.

Yikes, man.

That's weird weather.

Okay.

Holly, thank you.

I appreciate that.

I'm like, why on earth would you play

a 10 AM for a league championship series?

Oh, okay.

That makes a lot more sense.

Holly.

Appreciate you on that one.

Uh, let's see in that series, by the

way, in this series, the Brewers Dodger series,

we're talking about William Contreras, three hits, three

RBI in that game, two victory Dodgers heading

home needed an answer.

And Blake Snell expected to start tonight.

And I believe he is, they will have

glass now on the Mount tomorrow.

So two really good pictures for the Dodgers

back to back, trying to get this series

back to even we'll see what happens Tampa

Bay and Cleveland.

Uh, good to see Nate low with some

game one heroics.

That series is tied up one, one former

Ranger, uh, former Rangers legend, Nate Lowe.

I always say Rangers legend for anybody on

that 2023 team.

I know some people think I give that

title out a little bit too generously, but

I do not care.

Former Rangers legend, Nathaniel Lowe winning, helping to

win game one for the guardians raise able

to tie it up.

Thanks to a Jose Ramirez error last night

that kind of opened things up.

You've got, uh, Freddy Peralta throw in six

scoreless last night.

Parker Messick was really pretty solid beyond that

one error that caused a big inning.

And again, you've got a Holly.

Thank you for coming through a weather forecast,

moving up the game tomorrow at 10 AM.

All right.

I'm going to check the chat just a

couple more times, but we're going to take

off here pretty shortly.

Uh, a Texas repo.

What's good.

I think, uh, Brewers very well may win

this series.

Look, I don't know if I have a

firm prediction.

I haven't watched either team enough.

You guys know, I'm so locked in on

the Rangers and the AL West and you

know, some of the American league teams as

well.

I feel like I have a lot better

grip on the raise guardian series than I

do on this Dodgers Brewer series.

But like I said, I just, I just

hope you've got more baseball than less.

That's where I'm at right now.

Brewers lead after one pitch.

Did they just take the lead?

That is crazy.

Good stuff.

Hey, Chris, appreciate that.

Love this hat.

Love this hat.

Milwaukee lead off Homer flakes.

Now what is happening?

My guy, what is happening?

Like I said, if the, if the Brewers

ended up going up three Oh, or sweeping,

like, I guess like the Dodgers being out.

I don't think anybody's going to mind that

except for Dodgers fans, but it would be

fun if this could actually become like a

tight series.

I don't really want to see one team

run away with it.

I'd like to see more baseball.

We'll see what happens the rest of the

way.

Hey, appreciate all you guys hanging out.

We are going to wrap things up for

the day off season show number three in

the books.

We will have some video content out to

you guys over the next couple of days,

maybe cutting some things from the live show.

We'll do some maybe organic reels as well.

I put one out yesterday, last night on

Paxton Kling, who had a big game last

week for the Rangers in the fall league

in Arizona.

Kling, one of the fastest guys in the

game, a seventh round pick from a few

years back.

He is going to be a guy that

I'm watching in the Rangers organization.

That is for sure.

We had a couple other videos out.

I did one on MacKenzie Gore, what he

needs to do to get back on track

in 2026.

Clearly did not have a good year for

the Rangers after paying five prospects to acquire

him.

I've got some other things on deck too.

I feel like this off season, hopefully it

doesn't drag on too long with the lockout,

but I'm excited for all the off season

content.

I hope you guys will follow along with

us.

That's for sure.

Have a great rest of your Wednesday night.

Have a good week ahead.

We will be back on Saturday for the

college football show.

Longhorns will be playing in Florida.

We'll be live for that.

We will be live for the Cowboys game

on Sunday after Sunday night football.

Next time you'll see me on the lives

will be football Saturday, football Sunday.

Then we will also have Stars content.

We'll have some Mavs content out to you

guys over the next week or so as

well.

All right.

Have a good Wednesday.

And as I always say to end every

show, God bless and go Rangers.