Jon Gray was put on waivers on Thursday. Nobody claimed him. A team had forty-eight hours to pick him up. Nobody did. 

So, the Rangers kept him. They even pitched him yesterday. He gave up four runs in 2.1 innings. That kind of performance is why they put him on waivers.

Texas was hoping some team still in contention was desperate enough to pick up a pitcher with a 7.71 ERA because doing so would take them off the hook for the remaining $3.1 million left to pay him in 2025.

Nobody thought a guy with a 7.71 ERA was worth $3.1 million, not even with that lustrous hair. So, now the Rangers are stuck with him. They can’t send him to the minor leagues—he has enough service time to nix that. Besides, what good would that do? If they released him outright, they would still be on the hook for the money. All it would do is free up a spot on the roster, but in two weeks the rosters expand anyway. So, might have well use in to eat up innings in hopeless games, like yesterday’s 14-2 beatdown in Toronto.

Pretty much all they can do is wait it out, see if a contender is desperate for an arm in a few weeks, and put him on waivers again. 

Currently two games under .500, eight games out in the division, and five games out of the third wild card slot, the Rangers are at the point where they will probably try an end-of-the-year blowout sale salary dump. Chances are, they will put other veterans on waivers hoping they get picked up. 

Players need to be an a club’s roster by September 1 to be eligible for postseason. So, don’t be surprised if Adolis Garcia ends up somewhere else, saving the Rangers roughly $1.4 million, or Patrick Corbin.

Other soon-to-be free agents who might help another team, and thus help Texas save some money headed into the offseason and possibly keep them under the luxury tax threshold, are Merrill Kelly, who would save them about a million dollars, as well as Danny Coulombe, Hoby Milner, Phil Maton, and Shawn Armstrong. 

It’s sad that they are pinching pennies at the end of the season but they are in this position because the front office was forced to pinch pennies heading into the season. 

While Chris Young claimed the Rangers were built to win in 2025, the truth is they were built to contend the best they could within the budget constraints they had. 

It didn’t work. 

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