{"id":91214,"date":"2025-12-17T10:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T10:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/91214\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T10:03:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T10:03:14","slug":"chris-youngs-passionate-address-on-texas-rangers-low-payroll-sets-tone-for-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/91214\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Young\u2019s passionate address on Texas Rangers\u2019 low payroll sets tone for organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

It isn\u2019t really Chris Young\u2019s<\/a> question to answer.<\/p>\n

Then again with an owner, who often for better, occasionally for worse, likes to remain out of the headlines, there is nobody else around the Rangers<\/a> qualified to do so. It is the one question that has lingered over this offseason of austerity. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

We know the payroll is coming down<\/a> from the $241.3 million the Rangers spent in 2025. It\u2019s really $241.45 million when you factor in the 50% tax penalty for going over the luxury tax threshold for a third consecutive year. We just don\u2019t know why. Not that we haven\u2019t offered Ray Davis the opportunity to explain. He\u2019s declined – politely – as is his usual stance during the offseason.<\/p>\n

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Who knows exactly why it\u2019s coming down, though best guess is a combination of things: While the Rangers Sports Network\u2019s on-air production was a huge improvement over the past<\/a>, the revenue may not have hit projections; the future for RSN is uncertain with Rob Manfred pushing toward getting all MLB teams\u2019 local broadcasting rights under the league\u2019s umbrella; there is the possibility of a work stoppage looming for 2027 and, with it, the possibility of a different salary structure; and there is the fact the Rangers have spent roughly $3 million per win the last two years and haven\u2019t played a postseason game. This season, only three clubs spent more per win than the Rangers\u2019 $2.98 million and didn\u2019t see the postseason.<\/p>\n

But still the question lingers. Why? <\/p>\n

So Tuesday, we asked the only person available to try to explain. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t perfectly answer that,\u201d Young admitted. \u201cI don\u2019t make all the decisions.\u201d <\/p>\n

Then he launched into a two-minute soliloquy full of passion, candor and eloquence. If you listened to the whole thing, darned if you didn\u2019t come away believing his point: It\u2019s not about the payroll; it\u2019s about performance. And Young expects performance to improve in 2026 via changes to the roster still in progress,<\/a> but mostly from repairing internal underperformance. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Rangers<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I will say that ownership has been great, and for three years straight, we exceeded the luxury tax,\u201d Young said. \u201cIt led to a World Series in one of those years and in two of them we didn\u2019t make the playoffs. So, it starts with me. It\u2019s my regret that we did not make the playoffs the last two seasons and that we underachieved what our payroll was.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo as I\u2019ve stepped back and calibrated in terms of what we need and how we\u2019re going to win, it\u2019s not always about the additions. It\u2019s about what we are going to do internally. There were a lot of playoff teams last year that had payrolls significantly lower than where ours is going to be. Spending does not necessarily guarantee success. And there have been teams that spent hundreds of millions of dollars last year and didn\u2019t make the playoffs. We were one of them. So I just have to say that ultimately, I believe in the talent of this team, and I am really excited about our manager, our coaching staff, the alignment from our front office to the staff, to our players, and ultimately, what will decide our fate is our environment and how hungry these guys are.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not one person in this organization that does not have something to prove. And for me, the teams that I\u2019ve been part of, the championship teams that I\u2019ve been part of, they didn\u2019t have the highest of expectations externally, but internally, there was a hunger and a fire and a desire that brought that group together, that allowed them to achieve great things. That\u2019s been my experience my entire life from little league to the World Series. Those are the things I\u2019m focused on. I want to see our group hungry and passionate and fighting and playing with grit and fearless determination. If we do that, I\u2019ll bet on the talent of this club. It\u2019s a disappointment for me that we didn\u2019t exhibit enough of that to get to where we needed to go. We\u2019re focused on getting back to that. And that\u2019s my goal for this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that was edited for brevity.<\/p>\n

More briefly: Young isn\u2019t focused on the payroll. He knows its constraints and the Rangers have done a fine job of operating within them thus far, addressing three holes in the lineup<\/a> and buying a crate of relievers without using a penny more than the $11 million they saved by trading Marcus Semien.<\/a> He has some resources to address further needs, like more bullpen arms, an extra bat and a depth option or two for the rotation. He will operate within the unannounced budget to add them. And he will hope to create some advantages on the margins.<\/p>\n

But, for his money (and the owner\u2019s), the biggest improvements the Rangers can make in 2026 are all well within the margins. The Rangers\u2019 acquisitions, particularly on the offensive side, should go a ways toward fixing their on-base deficiency. They can make bigger gains if Jake Burger and Josh Jung can be more discriminating at the plate. They can make even bigger gains if Evan Carter can stay healthy. They should be, at least in theory, a more well-rounded offense than last year\u2019s one-dimensional emphasis on slugging. Young acknowledged that was an area the Rangers \u201cwhiffed\u201d on in 2025. There was no pun intended.<\/p>\n

Throwing money at something is always the easy attempted solution. It\u2019s not guaranteed. The Rangers have tried that for a couple of years now and, like it or not, are focusing on areas where they believe they can do so more efficiently and cost-effectively. Will it work? Not sure. But it\u2019s the direction in which the Rangers have moved and Chris Young, the leader of the organization, is leaning into it hard. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s what leaders do. They set a tone for the organization. Now, it\u2019s up to the players in the organization to follow that lead.<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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