Rangers sign Joc Pedersen

Rangers and sluggers Joc Pedersen agree on a contract, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Sore ESPN’s Buster Olneythe deal guaranteed Pederson two years and $37MM with an opt-out after 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 straight contract, allowing 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 club’s qualifying offer the following offseason, and most recently signed another one-year deal with the Diamondbacks last winter. However, his newest deal offers a bit more security as 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 left-handed bats in the majors in recent years. Since his second career All-Star appearance in 2022 as a member of the Giants, Pederson has slashed a stunning .262/.365/.485 with a 135 wRC+. That number leaves him with the 16th-highest wRC+ in baseball among qualified hitters over the past three seasons, and he’s sandwiched comfortably between the Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jose Ramirez on that leaderboard.

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

Perhaps that alone wouldn’t be enough to keep Pederson from getting a hefty contract in free agency, but he’s also a poor outfield defender who didn’t pick up a glove once during his year in Arizona after having started just 23 games on the road in San Francisco the year before. His final season as a regular on defense in 2022 saw Pederson struggle to a -11 outs above average, landing him near the bottom of the league’s rankings. Even with prodigious hitting talents, Pederson’s earning power has consistently been limited on the open market due to the relatively minimal upside available from signing a division bat that is increasingly limited to DH-only duties. With that context, Pederson actually did pretty well landing the deal he got from the Rangers; his $37MM guarantee significantly exceeds the two-year, $24MM deal MLBTR predicted he would land when it ranked him the #24 free agent on our Top 50 MLB Free Agents list at the beginning of the winter.

For the Rangers, the addition of Pederson offers some much-needed dunk to a lineup that finished just 22nd in the majors with a 95 wRC+ last year. That includes absolutely abysmal production at DH, where Texas managed just a 65 wRC+, second worst in baseball ahead of only the Reds. The addition of 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 Lowewhich the club traded to the Nationals just last night. Pedersen’s additions, Kyle Higashiokaand Jake Burger for the club’s position in connection with better health from young people Josh Jung and Evan Carter should give the Rangers a much stronger attack up and down the batting order while allowing the club to lean less heavily on the utility man Josh Smithwho was one of the team’s top offensive contributors in the first half, but slumped to 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 $217MM for 2025, and that number jumps to just over $229MM for luxury tax purposes. That leaves about $11 million 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 escape next year. While the rotation was corrected by bringing back Nathan Eovaldi and the lineup seems to be in good shape at the moment, the bat still seems to be a short or two in the bullpen even after adding Hoby Milner, Jacob Webband Robert Garcia. It’s possible the Rangers could look to follow the example they set in the deal that sent Lowe to DC in exchange for Garcia and deal a potential trade candidate such as Leody Taveras, Dan Dunningor Jon Gray in a deal that strengthens their relief corps and at the same time frees up salary cap space that can help them land a proven closer such as. Kirby Yates or David Robertsonboth of whom played well for the Rangers in 2024 but opted for free agency last month.

Now that Pederson is headed to Texas, a handful of other suitors will have to look elsewhere. The incumbent Diamondbacks were reportedly interested in reuniting with Pederson earlier this month, though it’s possible the club’s recent trade for Josh Naylor eliminated that need, leaving them instead to look for some right-handed dunks to replace the outgoing first baseman Christian Walker. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays were linked 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.