{"id":952622,"date":"2026-10-31T02:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T02:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/952622\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T02:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T02:36:18","slug":"kyle-higashioka-jakob-junis-to-become-free-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/952622\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Higashioka, Jakob Junis To Become Free Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"

All three of the Rangers\u2019 mutual options will be bought out, reports Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News<\/a>. ESPN\u2019s Jesse Rogers first reported this afternoon<\/a> that designated hitter\u00a0Joc Pederson<\/a> passed on his end of an $18.5MM option. Catcher\u00a0Kyle Higashioka<\/a> will receive a $1MM buyout in lieu of a $7MM salary; reliever\u00a0Jakob Junis<\/a> is paid a $1.25MM buyout on a $5MM option.<\/p>\n

McFarland\u2019s report doesn\u2019t specify which side formally declined the Higashioka\/Junis options, yet it\u2019s safe to assume the team passed on both. Neither player was much of a factor down the stretch, and Texas is clearly working against payroll limitations.<\/p>\n

Higashioka wraps up a two-year, $13.5MM free agent deal. He combined for a .233\/.296\/.391 slash line with 18 homers across 513 plate appearances. That\u2019s perfectly serviceable for a part-time catcher. Higashioka has a solid reputation as a receiver but has been below average at throwing out baserunners. He didn\u2019t play after July 20 due to a flexor strain in his forearm.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll almost certainly be a one-year deal this time around, as Higashioka hits the market in advance of his age-37 season. The Phillies, Yankees, Diamondbacks, Cubs, Brewers, Marlins, Reds, Red Sox, Twins and Tigers could all be in the market for a backup catcher. Texas will also need to address the position. Elias D\u00edaz<\/a> is a free agent, leaving Danny Jansen<\/a> and\u00a0Logan O\u2019Hoppe<\/a> as an underwhelming catching tandem.<\/p>\n

Junis could look for a sixth different team in the past five seasons. The 34-year-old righty has bounced around the league on a series of one-year contracts. Junis typically puts up solid results behind plus control and a heavy diet of sweepers. He sits in the low-90s with below-average strikeout stuff but has managed four consecutive seasons with a sub-4.00 earned run average.<\/p>\n

That includes 54 1\/3 innings of 3.64 ERA ball for Texas this year. Junis led the club with 18 holds and even recorded six saves, briefly holding the ninth inning before Jacob Latz<\/a> seized the job with an All-Star season. It was a nice overall return on investment for a $4MM free agent pickup. The production was heavily frontloaded, however. Junis took a 2.80 ERA across 35 1\/3 frames into the All-Star Break. He battled left hip and adductor issues in July and August and wasn\u2019t effective upon returning, giving up 11 runs with more walks than strikeouts in 19 second-half innings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All three of the Rangers\u2019 mutual options will be bought out, reports Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,175599,85279,462,82],"class_list":["post-952622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jakob-junis","tag-kyle-higashioka","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}