Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young joined the K&C Masterpiece on Tuesday afternoon to put a bow on what was a disappointing 2024 season and discuss some of the team's plans for the offseason, including a potential return for the club's biggest free agent, starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.
Eovaldi, one of the heroes of the 2023 World Series championship roster, holds a player option worth $18 million for the 2025 season, which he's expected to decline and hit the open market this offseason.
“I’ve been in this situation before,” said Eovaldi following his final start of the season on Sunday, via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. “If everything works out, I’d love to be back here. We won a World Series together. [General manager] Chris Young’s vision brought me here. I was on board from the first moment with it.”
And Young is on board with getting him back.
"We will have conversations with Evo and we will do everything we can to retain him," Young said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan. "There may be limits as to where we can go and I think he deserves every dollar that he gets in the free agent market. I hope that's with us but I can't predict how it's going to play out at this point. We'll have discussions very soon."
Eovaldi finished the season by pitching seven scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday to lower his ERA to 3.80 for the year. His 170 innings pitched this season were the second-most innings he's thrown in a season in his career.
Eovaldi isn't the only Rangers' free agent that the club would like to return next season, as Young pointed to relievers Kirby Yates and David Robertson, as well as starter Andrew Heaney, as players he'd like to bring back.
Young also discussed expectations for Wyatt Langford, Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter next season, the club's financial situation, and much more.