It’s 2024.

Last year is officially over. The World Series glow of 2023 still shines but now it give way to the oncoming lights of the 2024 season. We are closer to the start of spring training than we are to the last out of the glorious World Series.

Exactly how close we are to a second World Series is anybody’s guess. This team came into the offseason with few holes. Somehow, the dreadful bullpen that kept this team from having one of the best records of all time held up in the postseason and allowed this team to have the best ending in franchise history.

They lost their DH, who was extremely productive and a vital part of the winning formula.

And they have half a rotation that will be out half a year, with no real guarantees how they perform when they come back.

So, 2024 is not a slam dunk by any means. But this offseason has been slow. The Rangers made a couple minor moves so far. They added Kirby Yates to the bullpen. Yates was a star reliever in 2019, leading all of baseball with 41 saves. His ERA that year was 1.19.

They also added Tyler Mahle, who has occasionally been very good and occasionally been so-so. He won’t be ready until mid-season or so.

The Rangers real challenge is knowing, or more aptly not knowing, how much TV revenue they are going to have to work with. They are wrestling with Bally, who owes them $111 million in rights’ fees in 2024 but is declaring bankruptcy. Kind of difficult to know how much you can pay Jordon Montgomery when you don’t really know how much you have in the tank.

The good news is, the Rangers come into 2024 with a team that won it all, and very few holes to fill. And, even if they start the season with the roster they currently have, where Duran would slot in as DH, and a rotation of Eovaldi, Dunning, Gray, Heaney, and Bradford, and a bullpen with no real closer, all is not lost. They have a GM who has proven capable of building mid-season.

So, happy new year to everyone on RR3 Nation. Let’s hope 2024 ends just as happy as 2023 did.