Two-time All-Star to join fifth team since 2021

The Rangers and slugger Joc Pederson are in agreement on a contract, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Per ESPN’s Buster Olney, the deal guaranteed Pederson two years and $37M with an opt-out following the 2025 campaign. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported last night that the Rangers and Pederson were in contact regarding a potential deal.

Pederson, 32, has now signed his fifth consecutive contract that allows him to re-enter free agency after just one year. The slugger first reached free agency during the 2020-21 offseason and signed a one-year deal with the Cubs. He followed that up with a one-year deal with the Giants before accepting the Qualifying Offer from the club the following offseason. He most recently signed yet another one-year pact with the Diamondbacks last winter. However, his newest deal offers a bit more security, given that it comes with a player option for a second season.

The constant trips through free agency haven’t stopped Pederson from being one of the most productive lefty bats in the majors in recent years. Since making his second career All-Star appearance in 2022 as a member of the Giants, Pederson has slashed a fantastic .262/.365/.485 with a 135 wRC+. That figure leaves him with the 16th-highest wRC+ in baseball among qualified hitters over the past three seasons, and he’s sandwiched comfortably between Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jose Ramirez on that leaderboard.

Given that he’s provided superstar-caliber offense on the cheap to multiple teams in recent years, it may seem somewhat surprising for Pederson to wind up with another relatively short-term deal that guarantees him less than $20M per year. That discrepancy is primarily due to Pederson’s minimal profile. While he’s a phenomenal hitter who rakes against right-handed pitching, his profile features a massive platoon split, and he’s typically been at his best throughout his career when he sits against same-handed pitching as much as possible. He’s a career .210/.300/.330 (78 wRC+) hitter against left-handed pitching and, even in the past three seasons, has floated a pedestrian 104 wRC+ against southpaws.

Perhaps that alone wouldn’t be enough to stop Pederson from getting a hefty contract in free agency. Still, he’s also a poor defender in the outfield who didn’t put on a glove a single time during his year in Arizona after starting just 23 games in the outfield in San Francisco the prior year. His last season as a regular on defense in 2022 saw Pederson struggle to a -11 Outs Above Average figure that landed him near the bottom of the league’s leaderboards. Even with prodigious hitting talent, Pederson’s earning power has been consistently limited in the open market due to the relatively minimal upside of signing a platoon bat, which is increasingly restricted to DH-only duties. With that context, Pederson did quite well in landing the deal he got from the Rangers; his $37M guarantee significantly outpaces the two-year, $24M pact MLBTR predicted he would land when placing him as the No. 24 free agent on our Top 50 MLB Free Agents list at the outset of the winter.

For the Rangers, the addition of Pederson offers some much-needed thump to a lineup that finished just 22nd in the majors with a 95 wRC+ last year. That includes utterly abysmal production at DH, where Texas managed just a 65 wRC+ that was second-worst in baseball, ahead of only the Reds. Pederson not only adds another big lefty bat to the Rangers lineup to complement his former Dodgers teammate Corey Seager but also makes up for the loss of Nathaniel Lowe, who the club traded to the Nationals just last night. The additions of Pederson, Kyle Higashioka and Jake Burger to the club’s lineup in conjunction with better health from youngsters Josh Jung and Evan Carter, should give the Rangers a much stronger offense up and down the batting order while allowing the club to lean less heavily on utility man Josh Smith, who was one of the team’s top offensive contributors in the first half but faded to hit just .215/.265/.300 after the All-Star break.

With Pederson now in the fold, RosterResource projects the Rangers for a payroll of just under $217M for 2025, which jumps to just over $229M for luxury tax purposes. That leaves around $11M left for the club to work with before the first luxury tax threshold, which it was reported earlier this winter that the club hopes to duck under next year. While the rotation was addressed by bringing back Nathan Eovaldi, and the lineup appears to be in good shape, the club still appears to be a piece or two short in the bullpen, even after adding Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb and Robert Garcia. It’s possible the Rangers could look to follow the example they laid out in the deal that sent Lowe to D.C. in exchange for Garcia and deal a potential trade candidate like Leody Taveras, Dane Dunning or Jon Gray in a deal that bolsters their relief corps while also freeing up payroll space that could help them land a proven closer such as Kirby Yates or David Robertson, both of whom pitched well for the Rangers in 2024 but elected free agency last month.

Several other suitors must look elsewhere now that Pederson is headed to Texas. The incumbent Diamondbacks reportedly had an interest in a reunion with Pederson earlier this month, though it’s possible that the club’s recent trade for Josh Naylor eliminated that need and left them in a position instead to look for some right-handed thump to replace outgoing first baseman, Christian Walker. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays were connected to both Pederson and Naylor in the rumor mill and, at this point, could be further motivated to land a notable bat such as Anthony Santander or Teoscar Hernandez now that many of the club’s lower-level targets have come off the board.