The Texas Rangers spent lavishly in free agency following the opening of their new stadium, inking Corey Seager (10 years, $325M), Marcus Semien (seven years, $175M) and Jacob deGrom (five years, $185M) to mega contracts. They also took on notable salary in trades ( Max Scherzer , Jordan Montgomery ) and doled out more modest but nevertheless notable guarantees for Jon Gray (four years, $56M), Nathan Eovaldi (two years, $34M) and Andrew Heaney (two years, $28M), among others. Generally speaking, they were rewarded.
Texas won the 2023 World Series — the first in franchise history. The sheer magnitude of those expenditures added up, however, resulting in the Rangers paying the luxury tax both in 2023 and 2024. Texas has spent aggressively at times in the past, but not to this extent.
As the Rangers face the potential of a third straight season as a luxury tax payor, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes that one of owner Ray Davis’ top priorities this winter — perhaps even his No. 1 priority — is to duck under the $241M luxury threshold in order to reset the team’s penalty level. For those unfamiliar or simply in need of a refresher, the luxury tax is calculated based on the combined average annual salaries of the players on a team’s roster (plus player benefits and a mandatory payment into the league’s pre-arbitration bonus pool).
The tax threshold climbs every season — at predetermined levels stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement — and car.
