{"id":115918,"date":"2026-01-08T20:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/115918\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T20:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:07:14","slug":"texas-rangers-reach-deals-with-four-players-keep-arbitration-streak-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/115918\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers reach deals with four players, keep arbitration streak alive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The streak lives on. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/\">Texas Rangers<\/a> finalized deals with their four arbitration eligible players before Thursday\u2019s deadline, a person with direct knowledge of the agreements told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/\">The Dallas Morning News<\/a>, and will avoid a hearing for a 26th consecutive year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The club agreed to deals with third baseman Josh Jung, first baseman Jake Burger, infielder Josh Smith and infielder Ezequiel Duran. Each were in their first of three years of arbitration eligibility and remain under team control through the 2028 season. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The Rangers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2025\/01\/09\/texas-rangers-arbitration-deadline-2025-leody-taveras-jonah-heim-agreements-contract\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2025\/01\/09\/texas-rangers-arbitration-deadline-2025-leody-taveras-jonah-heim-agreements-contract\/\">haven\u2019t gone to a hearing<\/a> \u2014 in which an independent arbiter decides on a player\u2019s salary based on proposals from both sides \u2014 since 2000 when first baseman Lee Stevens and the club could not reach an agreement beforehand. <\/p>\n<p>Rangers<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__3beff secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-20 text-center text-gray-dark\">Be the smartest Rangers fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__8MgJa flex flex-wrap text-gray-dark secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-10 text-center justify-center\">By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/terms-of-service\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/privacy-policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Burger slashed .236\/.269\/.419, hit 16 home runs and took three trips to the injured list in his first season with the team. Jung, a rookie All-Star three seasons ago, posted a .684 OPS in 131 games and spent time at Triple-A Round Rock to reconfigure his offensive approach last season. Their respective ability to rebound and remain healthy will be critical to the offensive success of the Rangers under first-year manager Skip Schumaker. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Smith and Duran, the former of which has been the club\u2019s super utility player in each of the last two seasons, are both expected to compete for the second base job after the club <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2025\/11\/25\/marcus-semien-trade-to-mets-first-comments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2025\/11\/25\/marcus-semien-trade-to-mets-first-comments\/\">traded Marcus Semien<\/a> to the New York Mets in exchange for outfielder Brandon Nimmo. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The Rangers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2025\/11\/21\/texas-rangers-release-adolis-garcia-jonah-heim\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2025\/11\/21\/texas-rangers-release-adolis-garcia-jonah-heim\/\">non-tendered four players<\/a> who would have been eligible for arbitration \u2014 outfielder Adolis Garc\u00eda, catcher Jonah Heim, right-handed pitcher Jacob Webb and right-handed pitcher Josh Sborz \u2014 before the Nov. 21 roster deadline. <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-subject-tag-list-with-images-list-with-images-module__P4zn3 inline-block pr-8 shrink-0 w-auto flex flex-col\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2026\/01\/06\/texas-rangers-venezuela-strikes-luis-curvelo-david-davalillo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:190 \/ 127\" class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-subject-tag-list-with-images-list-with-images-module__6H-hI dmnc_images-modern-image-module__QFaG- max-w-full h-auto text-white dmnc_images-modern-image-module__9Zlll bg-gray-light object-contain\" width=\"190\" height=\"127\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767902829_93_7YS7SAOS2VFTJNM6FVVLUV65QQ.JPG\" alt=\"A Venezuelan flag waves during a 'No War with Venezuela\u2019 protest at Main Street Garden in...\"\/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2026\/01\/06\/texas-rangers-venezuela-strikes-luis-curvelo-david-davalillo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas Rangers monitoring situation in Venezuela after U.S. military operation<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Two players on the team\u2019s 40-man roster are Venezuela natives as well as several minor leaguers for the organization.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-subject-tag-list-with-images-list-with-images-module__P4zn3 inline-block pr-8 shrink-0 w-auto flex flex-col\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2026\/01\/06\/texas-rangers-winter-warmup-event\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:190 \/ 127\" class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-subject-tag-list-with-images-list-with-images-module__6H-hI dmnc_images-modern-image-module__QFaG- max-w-full h-auto text-white dmnc_images-modern-image-module__9Zlll bg-gray-light object-contain\" width=\"190\" height=\"127\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767902834_645_YO4GFJGCGZAF7EPPWGCFZDFH6A.jpg\" alt=\"The team logo fills the center of the room in the clubhouse of the Texas Rangers newly...\"\/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/2026\/01\/06\/texas-rangers-winter-warmup-event\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas Rangers announce dates, new format for 2026 Winter Warmup events<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The new events will replace the traditional caravan events that they\u2019d held in the past with exact time, location and player lineups to be announced later this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/\">Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The streak lives on. The Texas Rangers finalized deals with their four arbitration eligible players before Thursday\u2019s deadline,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1638,6812,154,27,29,28,429],"class_list":{"0":"post-115918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-brief","9":"tag-rangers","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-headlines","13":"tag-texas-news","14":"tag-texas-rangers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}