The General Managers Meetings start today in Las Vegas, an ironic choice of cities considering the gambling scandal going on in baseball now.

Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young and their General Manager nobody has ever heard of Russ Fenstermaker will have the unenviable task of trying to fill out a roster badly in need of an offensive upgrade and a closer, but doing so with much less money to spend. Why Rangers ownership is cutting payroll is a mystery. By how much isn’t known either.

Players you can expect to be gone by opening day include the obvious offensive underachievers in Adolis Garcia and Jonah Heim. Both are arbitration eligible and probably won’t be offered a contract.

Jacob deGrom will most certainly be dealt. After his incredible 2025 season, his value will never be higher. He does, however, have a no-trade contract. But those always seem to be worked out with a few extra million dollars. Pretty much every team trying to win, which is about two-thirds of major league teams, would want deGrom. But only the teams that are willing to spend to win could afford him. And that’s about ten teams.

Don’t be surprised if they deal Corey Seager, either. This would be a horrible move for the franchise, but they have already won a World Series with the Seager-Semien experiment, so they can justify that it paid off. If they are, as discussed, slashing payroll for a youth movement (translation, to save money), they will find teams desperate for the top hitting shortstop in baseball.

They will, no doubt, try to trade Marcus Semien as well. His salary compared to his offensive regression the past two seasons will make it tougher. If there’s one player you could bet on (poor choice of words, sorry, Justice Department) to come back, though, it’s Semien. He has the drive to excel. The question is, does he still have the ability? His pattern has been to alternate an up season with a down season—2025 was supposed to be his up season. It wasn’t.

Don’t expect major trades to happen this week during the GM Meetings. Often, it’s laying the groundwork for later trades. But you can expect some gut punches in the coming months as the Rangers work on being cheaper and dismantling a team that just two years ago won it all. Remember, this is the same front office that went into the trade deadline desperately needing a closer and a bat and coming away with a starter and two set-up men.

There’s no telling what will end up happening. Maybe they come back with six third basemen and a team dog. One thing for certain, though, it’s not going to be fan friendly.