The Rangers made two moves in the last 24 hours, both interconnected. They dealt Nathanial Lowe to the Washington Nationals for a reliever and just signed free agent outfielder Joc Pederson. 

In the end, it wasn’t surprising that the Rangers traded Nate Lowe after making an earlier trade to acquire Jake Burger.

What was surprising is how little they got for him. A run-of-the-mill, shake-a-tree-and-five-guys-just-like-him-fall-out middle reliever.

In the few weeks alone, they have added Jacob Webb and Hoby Milner to the bullpen. In trading Lowe to the Washington Nationals, the Rangers acquire lefthander Robert Garcia, a twenty-eight-year-old reliever with two years of major league experience. Garcia was drafted in the fifteenth round in 2017 by the Kansas City Royals, eventually dealt to the Marlins, with whom he debuted in 2023, getting into one game before being dealt to Washington. 

With the Nationals in 2023, Garcia racked up twenty-three appearances and a 3.69 ERA, with a decent ERA+ of 118. In 2024, Garcia appeared in seventy-two games with the Nationals to a 4.22 ERA and a below average 96 ERA+.

While Lowe was not an All-Star, he was a solid first baseman. 

In Joc Pederson, the Rangers get a thirty-two-year-old lefthand-batting outfielder who can rake against righties. He’s the prototypical platoon player. Elite against right-handed pitching, so-so versus lefties. Last season, in fact, Pederson put up All-Star-caliber numbers versus righties, with a .923 OPS and a .392 on-base percentage. He’s a more successful version of Evan Carter, who cannot hit lefties at all. Pederson at least can be expected to hold his own against southpaws. Pederson DHed for the Diamonbacks last year and seems to be the most likely fit in that role for the Rangers, seeing as how they didn’t have a reliable DH last year.

With the last few round of moves, the Rangers have gotten stronger offensively, replacing Lowe with Burger and adding Pederson as DH. And they got stronger in the bullpen, with Milner, Webb, and now Garcia.

They still lack a closer. But the season doesn’t start for three more months.