{"id":275923,"date":"2025-11-06T21:23:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T21:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/275923\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T21:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T21:23:11","slug":"how-rangers-could-lose-super-utility-star-in-trade-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/275923\/","title":{"rendered":"How Rangers Could Lose Super-Utility Star in Trade This Offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texas Rangers<\/a> are looking to trim payroll this offseason. But would they deal a player that won\u2019t cost them much in 2026?<\/p>\n

Former MLB general manager Jim Bowden of The Athletic<\/a> (subscription required) wrote a piece about all 30 teams and their needs going into the offseason. As he explored what different teams were looking for, a Rangers infielder\u2019s name came up \u2014 Josh Smith. <\/p>\n

Bowden<\/a> was writing about the needs for the Atlanta Braves, which include a shortstop. He sees the Braves making a play for top free agent infielder Bo Bichette along with trying to re-sign Ha-Seong Kim, who opted out of a deal with the team. But, if Atlanta can\u2019t nail down either, he sees Smith as a an \u201cunder-the-radar name\u201d the Braves<\/a> could target.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Smith is a valuable player to the Rangers. He\u2019s turned himself into a super-utility player that can help them at multiple positions. He\u2019s coming off a 2025 in which he emerged as a leadoff hitter and slashed .251\/.335\/.366 with 10 home runs and 35 RBI. He also scored a career-high 70 runs. He\u2019s also inexpensive. As he enters his first offseason as an arbitration eligible player, he is projected to make $3 million per MLB Trade Rumors<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But, as valuable as he is, he doesn\u2019t have a set position. He is considered a middle infielder and right now both second base and shortstop are locked up by Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, respectively. If the Rangers trade either \u2014\u00a0more likely Semien \u2014 then that could open a spot for Smith full-time.<\/p>\n

But if the Rangers retain both, and if the Braves fail in their primary objectives \u2014 they could seek a deal to acquire Smith, as Bowden noted. Smith would then have a full-time role at a set position for the first time in his Major League career. The return for the Rangers would likely be a couple of prospects. Texas would have to determine if that return is enough for one of their best defensive players. <\/p>\n

Smith has been one of the most versatile players in the American League the last three seasons. He\u2019s played at seven different positions, with more than 100 games at both shortstop and third base. He\u2019s also logged 66 games in the outfield. The only two positions he hasn\u2019t played is pitcher and catcher. <\/p>\n

Smith was named the AL Silver Slugger in 2024 as he slashed .258\/.337\/.394 with 13 home runs and 62 RBI. He played considerable time at third base after an injury to Josh Jung during the first week of the season. <\/p>\n

The Rangers acquired the LSU star from the New York Yankees at the 2021 MLB trade deadline in a deal for Joey Gallo. He made his MLB debut in 2022 and in 456 games he has slashed .236\/.327\/.353 with 31 home runs and 128 RBI. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Rangers are looking to trim payroll this offseason. But would they deal a player that won\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-275923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}